Character Assassination Attempt Has failed by those that try to Silence legitimate Critics of Israel

Anti-semitism slur seriously libeled Galloway, says leading judge

A High Court judge yesterday ruled that Respect MP George Galloway was seriously defamed when a radio station broadcast a programme containing a character called "Georgie Galloway", who spewed out vile and violent anti-semitism.

Judge Eady, who also heard Galloway's libel action against the Daily Telegraph three years ago, said that the sick spoof character, whose catchphrase was "kill the Jews, kill the Jews", was "in appalling taste". It clearly implied that there was a streak of anti-semitism, which was then exaggerated in the spoof character. Eady said that the initial claim by the radio station, Jcom, that its broadcast was not defamatory was "absurd".

In an unequivocal finding that sets a benchmark for the wider media, Eady said, "Mr Galloway is the founding member of the Respect Party and is prominent in denouncing racism and discrimination, and has no anti-semitic or racist views."

He awarded Galloway £15,000 in damages, plus costs.

Responding to the judgment Galloway said, "I'm pleased that this judgment has categorically crushed the slur of anti-semitism. I have fought racism, all forms of racism, all my political life. I continue to do so and will also continue to vigorously defend my reputation.

"I cannot accept that the accusation of anti-semitism is part of the badinage of political debate. It’s a most serious allegation and hurling it at critics of Israel and its policies does nothing other than belittle victims of genuine anti-semitism down the decades, who are numbered in their millions.

"The station, Jcom, initially brushed aside my complaint about the broadcast, then refused to agree a form of words by way of apology, then published on its website (but did not broadcast) a form of words that I found unacceptable, leaving little option but legal action.

"In Britain there is a party, the BNP, led by a convicted Holocaust-denier, which really is spreading the poison of race hatred. It is focusing on Muslims, the whipping boys of our age, but it is motivated at its core by a white supremacism that regards Jewish people, black people, Roma, disabled people, gay people, and others as inferior, as subhuman.

"All those who are the targets of this bigotry and racism have an interest in banding together to resist it and to stop the BNP exploiting people’s despair.

"In parliament I represent the East End of London. In the 1930s, Jews and communists came together to stop the British Union of Fascists. In the 1970s and 1990s newer arrivals from Bangladesh and the sub-continent joined forces with the labour movement and socialists to stop the National Front and BNP. We in Respect are keeping every aspect of that tradition alive today."