Galloway Turns Anti-Semitism Into Electoral Strategy

British Leftist Pol Turns Anti-Israel Stance Into Electoral Strategy
By NATHANIEL POPPER in The Forward
July 1, 2005

George Galloway, a leftist British politician who recently launched his own party, never has been much of a supporter of Israel, but in the last two months his political star has risen after a series of confrontations with Jewish politicians.

First, in early May, Galloway won a seat in parliament by unseating Oona King, a black-Jewish member of the Labour Party who had supported the Iraq war. A few weeks later, he scored a political coup when he turned an appearance in front of a U.S. Senate committee into a chance to excoriate American leaders and the committee chairman, Jewish Republican Norm Coleman of Minnesota, over American policy in Iraq.

In his latest salvo, Galloway shifted his focus from Iraq to Israel when he challenged another Jewish member of Britain's parliament, Louise Ellman. Ellman is one of 21 Jews in the 646-person House of Commons, and vice chair of Labour Friends of Israel. At an appearance in Ellman's hometown of Liverpool last week, Galloway called Ellman "Israel's MP on Merseyside," referring to the city's river, and said his Respect Party would challenge her in the next elections, which will probably be in four years.

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