twitter trend Israeli ambassador protest galloway

[Bev]

https://twitter.com/search?q=Israeli&src=tren

I saw Israeli trending. On investigating I found:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=yji21wbGct4

Protesters prevent Israeli deputy ambassador to UK from addressing selected Essex University audience

(Wissam Nassar / Maan Images)
Protesters prevent Israeli deputy ambassador to UK from addressing selected Essex University audience
Submitted by Asa Winstanley on Wed, 02/20/2013 - 20:30
University of Essex students protest visit by Israeli deputy ambassador

Israeli deputy ambassador to the UK Alon Roth-Snir was forced to abandon a talk at the University of Essex today after angry International Relations students voiced opposition to his presence.

Students said that Roth-Snir had been due to speak to a selected group in the Government Department, but was forced by protesters in the room to abandon his talk after only five minutes.

Nathan Bolton, the president of the Students’ Union, told The Electronic Intifada that a protest outside was attended by around 200-250 students, despite being organized with only two days notice.

An additional 20-30 students who had been issued with invitations disrupted the deputy ambassador’s talk inside the hall.
Not brainwashed

One member of staff present in the room told me that Roth-Snir had just started saying hello and thank you when he was interrupted by a student protesting: “we are not here to be brainwashed.”

The staff member told me students were “passionate and very measured.”

A Palestinian member of the Palestine solidarity society told me that the room was “90 percent pro-Palestine.” Students read from a prepared statement, calling Roth-Snir a war criminal.

Other students chimed in, all the while explaining why they were opposed to the presence of a representative of a human rights abuser like Israel on campus.

Bolton says that police were called and Roth-Snir was “rushed away” by security guards.

A further attempt to give his talk on “The state and terrorism” to an even smaller group of students also had to be abandoned after 10 minutes.

The deputy ambassador reportedly invited the smaller group to the embassy, but few wanted to give their names.

He then had to leave campus in his embassy car.
Pariah

Bolton said the talk was the initiative of the Israeli embassy itself and had been hosted by Thomas Scotto, the Associate Dean of the Graduate School.

Scotto allegedly threatened students in the room with punishment over the disruption, leaving some students reluctant to let their names appear in public.

The professor of government is now “quite a pariah” within the department according to Bolton, and other faculty members had been against the visit. Students were only told about the visit on Monday, said Bolton.

The Palestinian student said that six or seven lecturers had put up “Not Wanted” posters of Roth-Snir on their office doors.

The Electronic Intifada has seen an email to students from one member of the department stating “the Government Department did not invite the speaker.”

In a statement posted on Facebook quoting student union policy, Bolton explained the students’ opposition to Roth-Snir’s presence on campus:

Israel in its complete disregard of the human rights of the Palestinians and in its illegal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank is in breach of over 30 UN resolutions…

the invitation of a representative of the state of Israel calls into question the ethical practices of the University as an institution and I feel, with the passage of time will reflect badly on the University. My question is – would we have invited a representative of the apartheid regime in South Africa in the 1980s?

We should be proud that University of Essex Students’ Union has policy to boycott Israeli goods and also to be part of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), but policy alone is not enough.

Response

Scotto could not be reached by phone. He replied to an emailed request for comment saying he was “not yet in possession of all the facts,” referring me onto the communications department.

University of Essex Head of Communications Jenny Grinter said it was “a noisy but peaceful protest” and there had been no arrests.

She confirmed that the “event did not follow the original program because of disruption caused by students protesting … it is disappointing that some students prevented those wishing to engage in this way from being able to do so more fully.”

She dismissed the unattributed claim by one Jewish Chronicle journalist that protesters had tried to “attack” the deputy ambassador as “an exaggeration.”

This Israeli strategy of trying to “explain” away war crimes to increasingly unreceptive student audiences has a precedent.

Roth-Snir spoke at Kings College, London in December. But in October last year, Scottish students disrupted a speech by ambassador Daniel Taub at Edinburgh university.

“Brand Israel” was not welcome today at Essex University, it seems.

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/...selected-essex

[Bev]

Galloway storms out of debate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=AzIXdQiaRBc

"I don't debate Israelis"

[Bev]

George Galloway ‏@georgegalloway

Israel: simple, No recognition No normalisation. Just Boycott, divestment, sanctions. Like Apartheid SA. No Apartheid in Israel-Palestine.

https://twitter.com/georgegalloway

[Bev]

George Galloway refuses to debate with Israeli student at Oxford

Respect MP accused of racism after walking out of West Bank debate at university, saying: 'I don't debate with Israelis'


George Galloway
George Galloway wrote on his Facebook page: 'I refused this evening at Oxford University to debate with an Israeli, a supporter of the apartheid state of Israel.' Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

George Galloway has been accused of racism after walking out of a debate at Oxford University after discovering that his opponent was an Israeli citizen.

The Respect party MP for Bradford West – a vocal critic of Israel and its treatment of Palestinian people – had been taking part in the debate at Christ Church college, speaking for the motion that "Israel should withdraw immediately from the West Bank", when he learned that Eylon Aslan-Levy, a student opposing it, was Israeli.

Galloway interrupted the third-year philosophy, politics and economics student at Brasenose college when Aslan-Levy used the word "we" in reference to Israel.

"You said 'we'," said Galloway. "Are you an Israeli?"

"I am, yes," Aslan-Levy replied.

"I don't debate with Israelis. I have been misled, sorry," Galloway said, standing and putting on his coat, then reiterating as he walked out: "I don't recognise Israel and I don't debate with Israelis."

The Oxford student newspaper Cherwell – which has video footage of Galloway's exit – quoted Aslan-Levy as saying afterwards: "I am appalled that an MP would storm out of a debate with me for no reason other than my heritage. To refuse to talk to someone just because of their nationality is pure racism, and totally unacceptable for a member of parliament."

The debate organiser, Mahmood Naji, told Cherwell.org: "At no point during my email exchange with Mr Galloway's secretary was Eylon's nationality ever brought up or mentioned." He added: "Nor do I expect to have to tell the speaker what his opponent's nationality is."

Galloway said on his Facebook page: "I refused this evening at Oxford University to debate with an Israeli, a supporter of the apartheid state of Israel. The reason is simple: no recognition, no normalisation. Just boycott, divestment and sanctions, until the apartheid state is defeated. I never debate with Israelis nor speak to their media. If they want to speak about Palestine – the address is the PLO."

The incident prompted a flurry of Twitter exchanges, with many people expressing surprise and anger at Galloway's behaviour.

"George, refusing to debate someone because he's Israeli is absurd," wrote Christine Quigley, a former Labour London assembly candidate. "Would you condone if any other nationality?"

She added: "As a former constituent of @georgegalloway and pro-Palestinian, I'm deeply unimpressed he refused to debate someone because he was Israeli."

Another Twitter user, who describes herself as a "proud mum" and "progressive Jew", asked Galloway: "Out of interest would you refuse to meet with a constituent if they had Israeli citizenship?"

Galloway reiterated his earlier points in his replies to his questioners, tweeting: "No recognition of Israel. No normalisation. Christ Church never informed us the debate would be with an Israeli. Simple."

The MP has long been a staunch supporter of the Palestinians and trenchant critic of Israel, speaking of his hatred for the "Zionist state" and calling for its dismantling.

Aslan-Levy told the Guardian he had in fact been calling for a solution that would recognise both states.

"As opposition speaker, my case was not that Israel should remain in the West Bank, but that such a withdrawal should not be immediate – ie unilateral – but in the context of a negotiated peace treaty, which would recognise both Israeli and Palestinian states."

The student moderating the debate also expressed his disappointment at Galloway's actions, and urged him to think again.

Michael Baldwin, a third-year student at New College, noted that Galloway had once been given an honorary Palestinian passport, and said the MP would be "rightly indignant" if someone refused to debate him because of it. He added: "I would encourage Mr Galloway to reconsider his position, which is open to accusations of xenophobia."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...medium=twitter

[Bev]

As we reported earlier, George Galloway stormed out of a debate last night when he discovered that the other participant was Israeli. Seemingly Galloway won’t take part in any debate with an Israeli citizen, and so dual national Eylon Aslan-Levy was left to continue as the Bradford West MP stormed off.

But it seems Galloway went on to debate with another Israeli later that night – so much for his boycott. My good friend (and Labour activist) Alon Or-Bach (who like Aslan-Levy is a British Israeli and was born in Israel) challenged Galloway over his walk out in Oxford. Here’s the back and forth between the two:



So Galloway got into a debate with an Israeli about his reasons for refusing to debate with Israelis – it’s hard to boycott entire nationalities online isn’t it?

Speaking to LabourList this morning, Or-Bach said:

“I was somewhat bemused that Galloway broke his rule not to deal with Israelis in order to tell me about it. The attitude he and his ‘Respect’ colleagues hold towards Israelis cannot be squared with claiming to support equality. The hatred he spreads towards anyone with an Israeli background should be called out for the bigoty that it is, and does not belong on the left – let alone in Parliament.”

Incidentally, David Boothroyd notes that in the recent census 5 Bradford West residents have said Hebrew is their main language, suggesting Galloway has Israeli constituents. Will he refuse to speak to them too?

h t tp ://labo url ist. org/2013/02/galloway-expla ins-why-he -wont-debate-with-israelis- by-debating-with- an-israeli/


url killed on purpose

[Bev]

George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bradford West, has been accused by Oxford students of anti-semitism.

Mr Galloway “stormed out” of a debate at Christ Church on Wednesday evening, upon finding out that his opponent, Eylon Aslan-Levy, a third-year PPEist at Brasenose, was an Israeli citizen.

Mr Galloway had spoken for ten minutes in favour of the motion 'Israel should withdraw immediately from the West Bank', before giving way to Aslan-Levy.

Less than three minutes into Aslan-Levy’s speech against the motion, Galloway was made aware that his opponent was an Israeli citizen.

“I have been misled,” Mr Galloway then commented, interrupting Aslan-Levy’s speech. “I don’t debate with Israelis”. He then left the room with his wife, Putri Gayatri Pertiwi, and was escorted out of Christ Church by a college porter. When prompted to explain why Aslan-Levy’s nationality prompted him to abandon the debate, Galloway stated that “I don't recognize Israel.”

In a statement late on Wednesday evening Galloway explained that "I refused this evening to debate with an Israeli, a supporter of the Apartheid state of Israel.

"The reason is simple; No recognition, No normalisation. Just Boycott, divestment and sanctions, until the Apartheid state is defeated." Mr Galloway is a leading political proponent of the campaign to ‘boycott’ Israeli goods, services and – it emerged tonight – people.
After the debate Aslan-Levy said that "I am appalled that an MP would storm out of a debate with me for no reason other than my heritage.

"To refuse to talk to someone just because of their nationality is pure racism, and totally unacceptable for a member of parliament."

Mahmood Naji, the organiser of the debate, told Cherwell that he "condemned Mr Galloway's walkout, on the basis of his opponent's nationality."

He went on to deny that he had "misled" the MP. "At no point during my email exchange with Mr Galloway's secretary was Eylon's nationality ever brought up or mentioned." He added, "nor do I expect to have to tell the speaker what his opponent's nationality is."

http://www.cherwell.org/news/uk/2013...tiisrael-storm


thinking of pre-emptively banning certain people from this thread.....

Don't get me wrong, I think Galloway is a twat of the highest order, but how come he is automatically the evil guy in this? /rhetorical

[Bev]

No politician is as demonised or as despised by the political and media establishment as George Galloway.

Oh, I dunno, I can think of a couple.

It is only partly because he is afflicted with the disease of charismatic British left-wing political figures, which is to provide ample self-destructive material to feed his many enemies. He was mocked for a largely disastrous appearance on Celebrity Big Brother. He has made unacceptable comments about rape – “not everybody needs to be asked prior to each insertion” – that repulsed virtually everybody. He has made apparently sympathetic remarks about brutal dictators (although, unlike some of his detractors, he hasn’t sold them arms, funded them or even been paid by them).

A few weeks ago, he stood in Parliament to demand David Cameron explain why Britain was apparently intervening to save Mali from Islamist thugs, when it was supporting very similar groups in Syria. “Wherever there is a brutal Arab dictator in the world,” the Prime Minister spat back, “he will have the support of [Galloway].” All sides of the House roared their approval: and so the political elite closed ranks against a man sent by the people of Bradford to express their disgust with the Westminster club.

Surprising, then, to see the response he attracted on last week’s Question Time. Yes, when he first appeared on the nation’s TV screens, a debate raged on Twitter about whether he looked more like Dr No or Ming the Merciless. And yet he was met with repeated, resounding applause from the audience. The answer is clear. Labour’s representative on the panel, Mary Creagh, spoke the language of the political elite – technocratic, stripped of passion, with too much jargon and management speak, with phrases like “direction of travel”. But Galloway offered direct, clear answers; he spoke eloquently, and with language that resonated with non-politicos; he had enthusiasm, conviction and – to borrow a Tony Benn phrase – said what he meant and meant what he said.

A lesson for Labour, then. Even a figure with a long-haul flight’s worth of baggage can be cheered if they use populist language that connects with people and their experiences. But as New Labour remorselessly helped to professionalise politics, it bred a generation of “on-message” politicians with focus group-approved lines. Verbless sentences – “new challenges, new ideas”; macho cliches – “taking the tough decisions”; platitudes like “fairness”. A new breed of political Kreminologists were assembled to decipher insufferably dull speeches and articles by politicians.

In truth, the Right is better at communicating because it uses stories so much; the Left often rely on cold facts and statistics. But people connect better with stories. The classic right-wing story of our time is to compare the national deficit to a household budget. Any serious economist will tell you this is gibberish – which house has a money printing press, and will mum get sacked if young Dan stops spending his pocket money? – but it resonates with people. “Of course – if I’m in debt, why would I borrow even more money to get out of it?” voters think, even as the Government is forced to do exactly that because of the failures of austerity. The same goes with relentless examples of scroungers in mansions full of feral children and plasma TVs. A tiny unrepresentative minority are portrayed as the tip of an iceberg, scrubbing away the reality of unemployed and disabled people; but because it taps into a very small element of truth, it resonates.

Not that I’m saying the Left should indulge in casual dishonesty or inaccurate generalisations. But policies can seem pretty abstract until they relate to human beings. Take the poisoned welfare debate: the scrounger caricature needs to be smashed with stories of low-paid workers struggling to make ends meet; unemployed people desperately looking for work; disabled people having their state support removed – all of whom are having their benefits slashed.

“Facts and figures, when used, should create a moral point in a memorable way,” explains US political linguist George Lakoff. His point is that “framing” is key: that is having, an over-arching narrative, or story. When you start using the language of your opponent, you have lost. This is exactly what several senior Labour politicians have a habit of doing. The “debate” on the welfare state is a classic example. Management-consultants-turned-politicians like Liam Byrne accept political goalposts set by the Right, de facto accepting the “scrounger” or “skiver” caricatures, leaving them playing on territory where the Tories will always win.

New Labour ideologues always feared policies that sounded too left-wing, but the truth is most voters do not think in terms of “left” and “right”, they think in terms of issues that have to be addressed, with policies that are coherent, convincing and make sense with their own experiences. The Right have a habit of using moderate language to sell radical ideas; the Left would do well to learn from them. It needs to drop clinical terms: use the price of bread or vegetables or surging energy prices rather than “inflation”, for example. The Right often use hooks in the news – like the horrific cases of Karen Matthews or Baby P – to make a wider point, as though they reveal an otherwise ignored truth about “the other Britain”. The Left certainly should not go to such crass or tasteless lengths, but the principle remains.

The Right have turned having outriders into an artform. Take the Taxpayers’ Alliance, a big business-funded hard-right lobby group posturing as the voice of people who pay taxes. They float radical right-wing ideas impossible for a mainstream Conservative politician to propose. In doing so, they shift the goalposts of debate to the Right. “I wouldn’t go quite as far as that, however...” a Tory MP can say, making a previously radical idea seem moderate.

The appetite for left-wing populism is greater than it has been for a generation. Much of the Establishment – from banks to the media – have been discredited by scandal. Free-market capitalism is a wreck. But the Left is a long way from learning how to put its case. Gorgeous George is one of the most charismatic politicians of our time, but also one of the most divisive, and still manages to win over the audience. You don’t have to like him; but, if you want to change the world, you do have to learn from him.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/...y-8498536.html

[Dawn Cannon]

Originally Posted by Bev

Galloway storms out of debate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=AzIXdQiaRBc

Poor George. Not a very friendly audience.

[Bev]

https://twitter.com/citizenx99/statu...75100903104512

Totally agree with the stance of @georgegalloway on Israel. Typical response to scream racism. Since when was Israeli a race?

+1

[Bev]

Originally Posted by Dawn Cannon

Poor George.

Can't argue with that, even though I don't like him.

[Bev]

The Daily Mail seems to be all about terrorism today - they have so many terrorist stories they don't seem to have room to have covered the Galloway caper.

[Bev]

DM has caught up.

No prizes for guessing which side they've taken.

George Galloway has been caught on camera storming out of a debate simply because the other speaker was Israeli.

The outspoken MP was speaking at an event at Oxford University last night when he discovered that the student who was debating against him was a citizen of the Jewish state.

He immediately left the room, saying: 'I don't debate with Israelis,' in explosive scenes caught on camera by the student newspaper.




Mr Galloway, elected MP for Bradford West in a by-election last year, had already spoken for 10 minutes on the motion that 'Israel should withdraw immediately from the West Bank' at the time of the incident at Christ Church, an Oxford college.

Eylon Aslan-Levy, a third-year student, stepped up to the podium to respond, but after he used the word 'we' to refer to Israel, Mr Galloway interrupted him.


'You said "we",' the MP said. 'Are you an Israeli?'

'I am, yes,' Mr Aslan-Levy replied.

'I don't debate with Israelis,' Mr Galloway muttered as he stood up and put on his coat. 'I have been misled, sorry. I don't recognise Israel and I don't debate with Israelis.'

He then left the room followed by his wife, Putri Gayatri Pertiwi, as shocked students who were attending the debate looked on.

Speaking after the debate, Mr Aslan Levy - who studies Philosophy, Politics and Economics at David Cameron's alma mater, Brasenose College - said: 'I am appalled that an MP would storm out of a debate with me for no reason other than my heritage.

'To refuse to talk to someone just because of their nationality is pure racism, and totally unacceptable for a Member of Parliament.'

Mr Galloway, a former Labour MP who was expelled from the party and helped set up the far-left Respect, is a strong opponent of Israel's policy towards the Palestinians, which he has repeatedly denounced as 'apartheid.'


He wrote on Facebook: 'I refused this evening at Oxford University to debate with an Israeli, a supporter of the apartheid state of Israel.

'The reason is simple: no recognition, no normalisation. Just boycott, divestment and sanctions, until the apartheid state is defeated. I never debate with Israelis nor speak to their media.'

The strident socialist later tweeted: 'Christ Church never informed us the debate would be with an Israeli.'

Mahmood Naji, who organised the debate, told student newspaper Cherwell: 'At no point during my email exchange with Mr Galloway's secretary was Eylon's nationality ever brought up or mentioned.

'Nor do I expect to have to tell the speaker what his opponent's nationality is.'

Michael Baldwin, a third-year student who was moderating the debate, said: 'I was disappointed that a possibly fruitful discussion was prematurely ended by Mr Galloway’s refusal to debate someone just because of their nationality.

'As he himself is a Palestinian citizen, he would rightly be indignant if an opponent of his were to refuse to debate him on the basis of his passport. I would encourage Mr Galloway to reconsider his position, which is open to accusations of xenophobia.'


Advert: A poster promoting the debate between the left-wing MP and the Oxford student

Mr Aslan-Levy, who is a citizen of both Israel and the UK, argued that Mr Galloway should be barred from the House of Commons.

'He clearly had a problem not because I am Israeli - I'm sure he would have talked to an Israeli Arab, he didn't want to talk to me because I am an Israeli Jew,' he said.

'I absolutely do not think someone with those kind of views should be allowed to continue as a Member of Parliament.

'He clearly had some very hardline views and I do not think any good would come of him saying he would come back to debate with me.'

The MP faced a backlash over his comments from his followers on social media.

Christine Quigley, a former Labour candidate for the London Assembly, wrote: 'As a former constituent of George Galloway and pro-Palestinian, I'm deeply unimpressed he refused to debate someone because he was Israeli.'

When asked whether or not he would agree to represent an Israeli living in his constituency, Mr Galloway replied: 'An Israeli citizen could not by definition be my constituent.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-Israelis.html

Few comments:

I'm amazed that he hasn't been assassinated. Yet.

I hadn't realised George leads the National Socialist Party.

I used to listen to George on his Radio show, I never once heard him lose an argument, and he always let his callers have their say...I also remember him standing up to Congress when the Americans were accusing him of taking bribes and easily winning, even if you don't agree with him, you have got to sometimes admire him..

Most of us haven't seen what he has. If we educated ourselves a bit more on what's happening in those countries, we might have a better understanding.

[Bev]

When asked whether or not he would agree to represent an Israeli living in his constituency, Mr Galloway replied: 'An Israeli citizen could not by definition be my constituent.'

If true, I suspect there may be fireworks and possibly an election when the Phillips mob get hold of this.

[joefrombradford]

If Nick Griffin had stormed out of a debate because he "Doesn't debate with Pakis" then George Galloway would have been all over it and calling for him to be arrested.

Hopefully the cunt has made a rod for his own back. I would LOVE to see George Galloway, one of the most despicable reds in the country, get put in prison for being racist.

[Bev]

Originally Posted by joefrombradford

If Nick Griffin had stormed out of a debate because he "Doesn't debate with Pakis" then George Galloway would have been all over it and calling for him to be arrested.

Hopefully the cunt has made a rod for his own back. I would LOVE to see George Galloway, one of the most despicable reds in the country, get put in prison for being racist.

I don't disagree with your disliking him sentiment but he wasn't racist.

From earlier post:

Totally agree with the stance of @georgegalloway on Israel. Typical response to scream racism. Since when was Israeli a race?

[joefrombradford]

He wasn't racist in my opinion either.

However under the current PC system we have, a system that prosecutes people for racism for beeping their car horn in a racist manner and prosecutes people for racism just for having Rita, Sue and Bob Too as their ringtone, I would say that there is a good chance that the Race Industry (that he fully supports) will see Mr Galloway's behaviour as racist and try to prosecute him for refusing to share a platform with a man purely because of his Nationality, religion or race.

And if they do, wouldn't it be ironic to see them prosecuting one of their most staunchest supporters?

[Zander]

Debating with yids means..agree with me or i'll call you a racist/anti-semite. Hope mossad don't top gorgeous George, that would be a real tragedy!