"Gaza George": How the war brought Galloway back to Parliament - Newspaper

Former Labor Party member and British politician George Galloway's victory in his country's parliamentary by-elections caused a wave of controversy in international and Arabic newspapers, after he attributed his victory to his advocacy for Gaza. In today's paper, we take a look at how British, American and Arab newspapers covered the issue.

The Telegraph's Nick Guttridge titled his analysis "George Galloway wins Rochdale by-election, as former Labour candidate finishes fourth".

But why is George Galloway, the 69-year-old politician, so controversial?

The Telegraph says Galloway's return to Westminster after nearly a decade comes after appearances on Iranian TV chat shows and the British reality TV show Big Brother.

However, this is not the only reason that makes Galloway controversial in political and media circles, as his political orientations regarding Western countries and Middle Eastern issues tend to side with Middle Eastern countries, as the newspaper notes, Galloway said in his speech moments after his victory: "This is for Gaza."

“High price"
Addressing British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer after the latter announced a position deemed pro-Israel in the Gaza war, Galloway said in his speech, "Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza. You will pay a heavy price for the role you have played in enabling, encouraging and covering up the ongoing catastrophe in occupied Palestine," Galloway said, according to The Telegraph.

Galloway believes that "the Labor Party realizes that it has lost the trust of millions of its voters who have faithfully voted for it. generation after generation."

According to the newspaper, Galloway's campaign to win the election focused "relentlessly on the war in Gaza, openly seeking the large Muslim vote in Rochdale. His leaflets were decorated with the Palestinian flag and renamed 'Gaza George'."

"A controversial familiar face"

George Galloway is a pro-Gaza, anti-NATO activist who was expelled from Tony Blair's Labour Party in 2003 for "damaging the party's reputation," Politico reports.

But Galloway called his expulsion on charges including inciting attacks on British troops a "politically motivated show trial".

The newspaper, which reports part of Galloway's political career, describes him as "a serial rebel and a staunch opponent of Britain's involvement in the Gulf Wars." The newspaper adds that Galloway attracted attention after a trip to the Middle East in 1994 when he told the late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, whom many Western countries describe as a dictator, "Sir, I salute your courage and strength." Galloway insisted that he was praising the Iraqis, not Hussein, according to the newspaper.

Galloway was one of the loudest voices against the Iraq war and opposed the foreign policy supported by then-Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Britain now has a shiny new member of parliament, "a familiar and controversial face," the paper said.

Galloway's political platform promises to "end imperialist wars and financial domination, starting with withdrawal from NATO," and he has declared his support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, the paper says.

"The fight for Greater Manchester [where Rochdale is located] saw an intense focus on the war between Israel and Hamas. The veteran pro-Palestinian politician campaigned heavily on the issue. The veteran pro-Palestinian politician campaigned heavily on the issue in a seat where Muslims make up about 18 percent of the population."

"Not committed to giving my vote"
Al-Quds Al-Arabi says that the political landscape in several Western countries is being affected by the repercussions of the Gaza war. While the American Republican Party and the British Conservative Party, for example, are clearly in favor of Israel, the democratic parties in both countries face divisions on the issue, Al-Quds Al-Arabi says.

The newspaper says: "In Michigan, a state with a large Arab-American population, a campaign to vote 'uncommitted' was launched among those in favor of stopping the war, resulting in nearly 100,000 uncommitted votes being registered, and although the vote did not jeopardize President Joe Biden's chances of winning the presidential nomination, the campaign shook up the White House," the Guardian says.

The newspaper, which titled its article "From Galloway to Uncommitted: Palestine in Democracies", it was notable that "calling for an end to the aggression against the Palestinians was one of the most important points in Galloway's election platform."

French President Emmanuel Macron "is another example of the changes that have taken place in Western democracies. His current stance calling for an immediate ceasefire is a reversal of his government's miserable positions at the beginning of the war, which worked to create a terrible atmosphere of terror against any critic of Israel...".

The writer adds: "The Israeli war on the Palestinians shook the political scene in Britain, which prompted the Scottish National Party to demand a vote on a resolution in the British Parliament demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the collective punishment of Palestinians, which led to a desperate maneuver by the Labor Party in which the Speaker of Parliament allowed an amendment to delete the collective punishment paragraph, a dangerous parliamentary precedent whose effects are still reverberating," Al-Quds Al-Arabi says.

(Source: BBC News Arabia)