May 29, 2005

Terrible twin?

Following George Galloway's mauling of the US Congress a couple of weeks back he addressed a rally at which he remembered the twinning of Dundee with Nablus and Glasgow with Bethlehem and the flying of the Palestinian flag over Town Halls in Scotland. He further pledged
if Respect wins the London borough of Tower Hamlets, we will twin with Jenin, and the Palestinian flag will fly over the town hall of the London borough of Tower Hamlets, and that’s a promise.
Needless to say, this has some zionists a tad hot under the collar with Jewish News. editorialising that the Bethnal Green and Bow MP is somehow failing his Jewish and other non-Muslim constituents. I can't find the editorial online but here's Eric Moonman of the Zionist Federation
He would be making a real blunder if he imagines such talk is popular with the majority of its constituents.

Around one-quarter to one-third of the constituents are Muslim, while the majority are very typical east enders. While he got the majority he needed I’m not sure he was able totally to persuade everyone about his extraordinary attitude to the Middle East and Iraq.
Some explanation is in order for the full quote here. How, for example do Muslim east enders differ from "very typical east enders". Also I gather that Galloway supports a two state solution for Palestine and, of course, his antiwar stance is probably what won him the election. How is this "extraordinary" apart from the fact that it is indeed an extraordinary British politician who risks his career to oppose both Israel and the war on Iraq? Somehow I don't think this is what Eric Moonman had in mind.

A spokesman for the Israeli embassy said
We are sure that his intention behind twinning Tower Hamlets and Jenin is that it will encourage the capital of Palestinian terrorism to adopt the peaceful nature of its British twin. Lets hope that Mr Galloway will be able to see shades of grey rather than his usual monochromatic attitude.
I thought you could see shades of grey with monochrome.

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