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Galloway's comments last week about Louise Ellman 'Israel's MP on Merseyside' (sly repetition of the centuries old slander that Jews have divided loyalties, or are loyal only to an unseen supra-national authority, and the concomitant imputation that they are an alien presence in society) reminded me of the sort of filth which spews forth from Chick Publications (http://www.chick.com/catalog/tractlist.asp - no link).
Ms Ellman is the MP for Riverside in Liverpool, a constituency with a significant Muslim population. Evidently none of Ellman's previous opponents have seen 'fit' to bring up her Jewishness while campaigning against her. The implication is clear - that Ellman is more interested in Israel than her own constituents.
This from the man known for his poor voting record and Parliamentary attendance, and his relationships with leaders of totalitarian states.
He claims to have opposed the regime of Saddam Hussein, but nevertheless once spent Christmas as the guest of Tariq Aziz. If one claims to despise a regime one does not go to the home of one of its top ministers and enjoy their hospitality for the holidays - unless one is a base, unprincipled hypocrite. If instead, he had claimed to oppose the South African government in the days of Apartheid, and then spent Christmas with Pik Botha? Yes, he was such a staunch opponent of Hussein and his cronies, he despised the regime so much, that he socialised with Aziz - maybe it's the uniforms, or the boots, or the shiny leather gunbelts, or perhaps he just likes the moustaches.
Ms Ellman has been identified as 'Israel's MP on Merseyside', but what is her position?
The Palestinians must unambiguously accept the legitimacy of Israel; renounce terrorism and preaching anti-Semitic hatred, including Holocaust denial.
The Israelis must explicitly recognise - as most already do - the legitimacy of a Palestinian state based on territories taken in the defensive war of 1967. Jerusalem must be shared.
Ms Ellman has adopted the correct internationalist and Materialist position - what are the existing circumstances, what needs to be done to move forward? Those of us capable of holding more than one idea in our heads at a time find it possible to support Palestinian workers and Israeli workers.
The 'S' in RESPECT is supposed to stand for 'socialism', but the only socialism RESPECT is interested in is the sort which plays to communal, sectarian or national interests - there's another name for that.
Posted by hakmao at June 26, 2005 05:45 PM