George Galloway has announced in a four-page statement that he will not be suing Momentum chief Jon Lansman after all, having said he would sue Mr Lansman for accusing him of antisemitism. Mr Galloway insisted that his claim would have been perfectly valid but said: “Acting upon political advice I have concluded that the depth of my knowledge about Jon Lansman, going back nearly 40 years, was more valuably employed in the political attack on him which I shall now make.”
The case had promised to be quite the spectacle, with Mr Galloway claiming that he would call Jeremy Corbyn as a witness. Mr Galloway and Mr Corbyn used to sit together as Labour backbenchers.
In a fiery exchange on Twitter, Mr Galloway, the former Labour and Respect MP had said he would sue Momentum Chair and Labour National Executive Committee member Jon Lansman for calling him out over a now-deleted tweet aimed at Jewish comedian David Baddiel. Mr Galloway had initially tweeted at Mr Baddiel that “There will be no supporter of the Palestinian people marching behind vile Israel-fanatic ‘comedian’ David Baddiel. There will be no opponent of Imperialist wars marching behind Stella Creasy [Labour MP for Walthamstow]. #JustSaying.” This appears to be in reference to a planned protest of Donald Trump’s visit to the UK later this year, which Mr Baddiel and Ms Creasy have both shown support for.
Mr Baddiel took issue with this, pointing out that he has not shown much sympathy for Israel, and that the targeting of him as a Zionist could be based on his Jewish identity, firing back: “Since I’ve always made it entirely clear that my attitude to that country [Israel] is entirely meh, I think we can only conclude that by ‘Israel-fanatic’ George just means Jew. Vile Jew. And that therefore he is an antisemite. Now let him come at me with his stupid f***ing lawyers.”
“Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations” is antisemitic under the International Definition.
Mr Baddiel received a plethora of support, including from The Sun when it reported on the row, at which point Mr Galloway accused Mr Baddiel of defaming him: “Badiel has repeatedly defamed me as an antisemite on Twitter and Facebook long before The Sun reported his vile falsehood today. Such slander or the violence it can encourage (I could show you my scars) will not silence me. The last word on my lips – G-d willing – will be Palestine”.
It was then that Jon Lansman waded into the fray, tweeting: “Solidarity with Baddiel – since he’s a Jew who’s talked about being non-Zionist, there’s no possible reason to call him a ‘vile Israel-fanatic’ other than antisemitism”, adding that there should be no place for Mr Galloway within the Labour Party or on Talk Radio, where Mr Galloway hosts a weekly show.
The next morning, Mr Galloway reached for his lawyers, tweeting: “I have never said an antisemitic word in my life. I have to the contrary fought fascism and antisemitism as adjudged by Justice Eady in the High Court. I will prove this again in my legal action against Jon Lansman, owner of Momentum, and will call Jeremy Corbyn as my witness.” Minutes later he returned to tweet: “The use of the defamatory smear of antisemitism against supporters of the Palestinian people has at least for me gone far enough. I have instructed solicitors to bring a case for defamation against Jon Lansman owner of Momentum. I will be calling Jeremy Corbyn as a witness.”
Mr Galloway, who blocks Campaign Against Antisemitism on Twitter, was back an hour later to recognise his own error in targeting David Baddiel, although he did not apologise for the tweet.
Solidarity with @Baddiel - since he’s a Jew who’s talked about being non-Zionist, there’s no possible reason to call him a “vile Israel-fanatic” other than antisemitism. There clearly should be no place for @georgegalloway in @UKLabour or in the employment of @talkRADIO
I have never said an anti-Semitic word in my life. I have to the contrary fought fascism and anti-Semitism as adjudged by Justice Eady in the High Court. I will prove this again in my legal action against Jon Lansman owner of Momentum and will call @jeremycorbyn as my witness
The use of the defamatory smear of anti-Semitism against supporters of the Palestinian people has at least for me gone far enough. I have instructed Solicitors to bring a case for defamation against Jon Lansman owner of Momentum. I will be calling @jeremycorbyn as a witness.
I was wrong to tweet that David Badiel was an “Israel-fanatic”, he is not and I have deleted it. I should have said that David Badiel routinely slanders Israel-critics like me as “anti-Semites”.
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