The George Galloway Sky Interview. *UPDATED*

I upload that politician, for speaking up about whats happened. May I ask what channel that was?

Don't know how I managed to type upload; I meant to put applaud. :P

Hats off to you George - Well done!

The clip is from Sky News

Oddly enough, I was a bit disappointed - he's making all the good points, but the shrillness puts me off a bit...
...until the last 20 seconds, which is possibly the best bit of political/media analysis I've heard in ages. Deserves to be seen more widely, but a lot of people won't make it through.

George's anger is certainly justified, but it does play up to those who think he's barking mad. The real shame is he is the only politician who won't stand for the bullshit the pervades the media.

BTW what's happend to that old bloke who runs the Lib Dems?

Yes, that's a point. I think they got scared to be associated with the 'terrorist friends' as people like, well, me, have been labelled, plus it's the holidays (the timing of the invasion is, I think, not entirely coincidental). There were LibDems on the march on Saturday, with a prominent banner, however.

Oh, and related to that, the reason Gorgeous George is the only one who'll speak out is precisely because he's the only one not scared of media smears - after all he's been on the receiving end of shit from the Sunday Telegraph and the Fake Sheikh, plus both sides of the House of Commons plus the US Senate and emerged with his reputation enhanced, so he hasn't got much fear of attack. His biggest enemy is still himself, though, but he's bright enough to beat most of the other idiots.

Galloway makes some telling points about the Western 'mindset' in relation to the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Israel is a terrorist state, founded on terrorism, and led by ex-terrorist warmongers such as Shamir, Begin and Sharon. How many in the West know the detail of the history of Palestine in the period 1944-48: a British minister asassinated, one hundred British nationals murdered in the King David Hotel attack, and the IDF campaigns against the Arabs?

George Galloway also neatly exposes the built-in cynicism and hypocracy of much of the Western media, led by Fox and Sky. The 'Beeb' is not blameless either!

There has to a campaign for greater integrity in much of the news reporting from the Middle East. The problem is too often trivialised, through selective reporting, as a war between 'the bad guys' and 'the good guys', when it's ultimately about access to scarce economic resources, i.e. OIL!

Well done George! Although I'm with Tom about the shrillness, which goes with the turf. I can't discuss this topic and the mis-truths reported without getting more than shrill. Anyone heard Netenyahu and his cancer/cleansing/purification schtick? Shrill. Or that venal little fuck Israeli Military spokesman? He makes Galloway appear measured....

The clip is great.
Sky Pop Tart: "Do you think the last 4 weeks have set back Hizbollah's ambitions?"

Boy oh boy oh boy oh boy. They sure do breed 'em stupid at media school.
Do you think they get specific courses in "Grabbing the wrong end of the stick" or "Being unable to find the truth with both hands and a torch"?

"...when it's ultimately about access to scarce economic resources, i.e. OIL!"

Or, in this particular situation, water

which may explain why Israel wants to get to the Litani river?

Water is indeed a part of the conflict; in Lebanon, Palestine and Syria and it has been for years. Here are some sources (some are a bit old but still relevant).

Peace with the Golan
Water Wars
Water Issues
New Scientist
Water In the Middle East Conflict
The world's water hotspots

Jeez, everyones a geo-political analyst these days! Get a grip people this is about oil not water. Sure water is an issue to the Israelis, I myself posted this link a while back, which mentions Israeles water situation and mentions the Litani by name.

http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2088

In fact the Litani flows within a few miles of the Israeli border where it makes its 90 degree turn towards the med, close to where the Cheeba Farems are. Israel already controls the Farms exactly because of its strategic location regarding the Litani.

Now, if your telling me that Israel is bombing Beruit to get access to the Litani then you're nuts.

What must be remembered here is that Israel is conducting it's operations on US orders to provoke Syria, which in turn is to provoke Iran. Read the following which is the best analysis I've seen on the web to date.

http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2006/08/05/5202.shtml

The Shanghi Cooperation Organisation is the real target in this war, or rather resting oil supplies away from it is and is part of the declard PNAC ambition of US global domination. Water LOL.

I did say *part* of the conflict.

It's not even a part of it I'm afraid, one of conclusions from the sources above states:

"It is a political problem more than an objective resource problem. If there is a water war, it will not be the water that caused the war, but rather a war that was in search of an issue, and found water. The technical solutions exist, if only our hearts would accept them!"

Anyway, it's early here and I was feeling ratty :) Sorry for the dismissive tone.

Intersting video, he does havesome valid points - But i guess the media will portray him as a bad guy surporting terror or some rubbish like that. It is a shame when a person is ridiculed for speaking the truth. It amazes me that this man is not a a Muslim.

We need more non-muslims who are willing to speak out and not afraid to speak the truth. Because if it was a muslim in his position saying these words they would most certainly be branded an extremist or fundamentalist.

Sky, BBC, MSNBC, FOX NEWS, ALJAZEERA are most definately biased - i dont think there is a news company that isnt.

I hope that the situationnin lebanon eases and the war ends. I dont see any benefit from it. It seems as though people have lost the understanding and the value of a human being regardless of religion. May Allah (god) bring peace to all of mankind. Ameen.

George Galloway is an opportunistic charlatan whose only interest is his own advancement. While the behaviour of The State of Israel since its first existence has been far from perfect this does not justify the bombing of innocent civilians with rockets or for that matter suicide bombers in bars and on busses by Hezbollah. It is just murder and as such it is used by Israel wrongly as an excuse to carry out their own atrocities. On the whole I don’t watch Sky news and with reporters like the woman who interviewed Galloway I don’t intend to start now, but on the whole I think the news reporting from the press as a whole has been rather surprisingly balanced over the last four weeks. I just wish they would stop giving air time to a man who just like Hezbollah is doing the Lebanese cause no good.

My reply is in reference to the published material at 22:57 on 09/08/06 by a typically Anonymous narrow minded fool.

I quote: "George Galloway is an opportunistic charlatan whose only interest is his own advancement. While the behaviour of The State of Israel since its first existence has been far from perfect this does not justify the bombing of innocent civilians with rockets or for that matter suicide bombers in bars and on busses by Hezbollah. It is just murder and as such it is used by Israel wrongly as an excuse to carry out their own atrocities. On the whole I don’t watch Sky news and with reporters like the woman who interviewed Galloway I don’t intend to start now, but on the whole I think the news reporting from the press as a whole has been rather surprisingly balanced over the last four weeks. I just wish they would stop giving air time to a man who just like Hezbollah is doing the Lebanese cause no good."

What a load of absolute and total Bullshit. If you have an issue with Mr Galloway, do not even bother allowing this to detract from the situation at hand which is the illegal ATTEMPTED Israeli occupation of Lebanon. Israel kills roughly a minimum of 5 lebanese civilians (amongst which a large amount are either women or children) to 1 Israeli soldier/civilian that is killed. It is a sickening ratio, but all narrow minded brats like you can point out is the actions of Hizbollah. Highlighting them as terrorists certainly lay no basis to the conflicts history what so ever. Palestinians and Lebanese blood is spilt, but somehow this isn't counted as murder in your eyes is it? Hizbollah are not merceneries. They fight and defend their land for Allah, for honour, for pride and for rightiousness. In no way can that be a terrorist act. If a burglar tried to break into your house and you fended them off, is this not self-defence of what is rightly yours? Or I suppose you feel that the action of somebody robbing you can also be justified. George Galloway is a complete credit to society. He isn't a fearful coward who must watch what he says. He tells it how it is, and whether or not you like to hear it, its the truth. End of. The man should be congratulated and honourned for his honest and timely contribution to the resistence of this flawed and fruitless Israeli occupation of Lebanon.

As a resident of Bow and Bethnal Green I am most proud to call George my local MP.

His comments made about the history of Israel over the years are 100% true and cannot be dodged, discarded or glossed over. No defense can be made. As he said, the ONLY solution is FULL withdrawal from all Occupied territories and release of all political prisoners held in torrid conditions. Lets not forget the granting of full citizen rights to 'Israeli Arabs', who are currently persecuted and 2nd class citizens under 'Jewish' rule.

The below book talks a lot about these persecutions that happen to this day.
Blood and Religion: The Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State (Paperback)
by Jonathan Cook

The fact of the matter is, Israel is the true terrorist state, and has been since its birth in 1948.

I can list scores of massacres made by IDF over the last 50 years, ethnic cleansing campaigns and all sorts of other horrors I daren't mention.

As my opinion reflects that of most Arabs, I am absolutely outraged by the civilian loss in life in Lebanon.

Hezbollah are already winning the war and Israel are expanding their campaign in sheer arrogance, in an attempt to grasp a victory they will never grasp. 1 month on, and Hezbollah still hold all border towns. What have 2,500 air sorties achieved? Massive loss of civilian life and infrastructure.

David is truly kicking Goliath's ass.

The whole Israeli cabinet should be tried and put to death for war crimes.

I truly hope we see a truly humiliating Israeli defeat.

What GG said was correct all the way through. His mode of speaking is strong; which in my view is good as one sometimes needs emotion to liven things up a little. News; Hizbullah also halted their rockets firing into israel during israels 2 day partial halt of bombardment into lebonan. The arrogance of Israels PM led him to believe and shout to the world that Israel succeeded in destroying all of Hisbullah's military infrastructures. Which wasn't true. Hisbullah carried on to fire over 300 rockets after Israel resumed their attacks. They did this, even though they were outdone militaraly. Israel must be seen for what it is.

Oh dear. Hizbollah don't, as I understand it, indulge in terrorist bombings in Israeli bars and buses, you're thinking of the Palestinian groups - their primary (and perfectly legal) aim is Lebanese territorial integrity rather than wiping Israel off the map (which they have no chance of doing anyway).

It's pretty well established by now that there have been minor skirmishes around the border for some years (on both sides), culminating in an entirely *military* operation to kidnap two soldiers, in response to which Israel reduced the country's civilian infrastructure to rubble. *In response to this* Hizbollah launched rockets (which is a war crime, since even if you launch them at military targets it's likely they'll miss). Most have missed absolutely everything, but it's clear Hizbollah are fighting the Israeli military rather than civilians - the casualty figures are the giveaway there, and it's also clear that the crimes of Israel dwarf those of Hizbollah.

This begs the question as to what the hell is going on - if Blair and Bush really believe that spread freeman'demoxy to the Middle East is their mission, why allow Israel to demonstrate that being a 'mature democracy' results in you being a violent, ideological menace to life and limb. People are, after all, using the Syrian dictatorship as a safe haven from our attempts to spread the light of Western civilisation in Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq. Does that not strike you as counterproductive and extremely dangerous?

GO FOR IT GEORGE!

I think you will find that I didn’t condone Israeli behaviour; in fact I deplore their behaviour, as I do any one who murders civilians whether it is for Allah, god, land or for that mater the protection of property. As for pride and righteousness, those are probably the worst reasons I have herd so far. Just because Israel has killed more civilians than Hezbollah that does not excuse killing just because Hezbollah have killed less. Killing civilians is immoral both to do or condone whatever your reasons. To condone it of anyone makes you no better than Blair, Bush or Israel.

I just watched a much calmer George Galloway have a very rational interview about radicalised Muslims with a more intelligent interviewer on Sky. I can't find a video clip on the website, maybe it will appear later. I think someone has had a quiet chat with him.
Worth looking for.

I find it funny that he hasn't done much research into the land occupied by Israel, that Lebanon makes claim to. This is Syrian land, and is shown on Syrian maps as being their land. The UN has also ruled that this is Syrian land, and Israel itself says that it occupies Syrian lands. Syria have never officially acknowledged Lebanons claim to those lands, despite requests by both the UN and individual countries to do so.

This is the dispute that allows Hezbollah to continue its war with Israel, despite Israel withdrawing to behind the Blue Line stipulated by the UN, and certified as doing so. I'm not going to argue about the prisoners, since thats wrong. But the least he can do is get his facts straight.

Also this current conflict started due to Hezbollah's actions. The heavy casualties caused by Israel are terrible, and shouldn't have been allowed to occur. However I'm amazed you can all blindsight yourselves into believing that Israel caused this conflict, considering the actions of Hezbollah.

Sorry guys. get a grip. Israel is in the wrong for its original actions in Lebanon, and its current air campaign. However Hezbollah are in the wrong for setting themselves up in civilian areas, and by restarting this conflict. At least try to have a semi-balanced view, without blinding yourselves to how the chips actually lie.

I've seen pretty good evidence that it's *Lebanese*. It certainly isn't Israeli, though, and it isn't particularly relevant to a conflict where the IDF is 10km inside Lebanon, having invaded from inside, er, illegally annexed Syrian land. Bit of a poser, really.

However, I've not seen any good evidence that Hezbollah are setting themselves up in civilian areas - it's too bloody dangerous, and militarily unnecessary. They're a guerilla army, not a bunch of lads out on the piss. Civilians get in the way, attract attention and certainly contain spies. The last thing you'd want to do is pop up where people can see you.

On the other hand, Israel is stuffed full of military installations next to civilian infrastructure (I recommend a quick peak at Google Earth). How are those chips coming along there?

I am glad to finally hear some truth on the television

this was a sky new interview
here's the original link : http://news.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,31200-galloway_060806,00.html

this was a sky new interview
here's the original link : http://news.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,31200-galloway_060806,00.html

This interview should go down in history as the most honest and most powerful statements in the history of the middle east crises, hats off to you George, I wish the all the politcal leaders from the west as well as arab leaders who have the authority to make changes would learn something from you. At last someone has the balls to speak the truth.

Galloway you are a star!! If only the world had more people like you who say's it like it is. I can guarentee you, you have gained loads of new supporters.

Thank god we still have politicians like you around who are not American stooges.

God bless you George Galloway.

As a person of faith, I have come to the conclusion that over the past century, the progress of Justice has been upheld by a select few having no self gain. I believe that in the case of Mr Galloway, he rates amoungst the very few who would have the courage to postively asert his view in a constructive manner. He does this by challenging the media and propaganda many of us are forced to believe, merely by the availablilty of information on current matters. In my opinion his views are clear, precise, logical, methodical and within context of the greater picture. I would like to hear the rebutal of his views by persons to the like of pro Isreali supporters. Many thanks Mr Galloway for your invaluable contribution. Bless your heart!!!

BIG UP GEORGE GALLOWAY! HERO!

Id like to make a quick point about people commenting that galloway is an opportunist to gan political advantage. Firstly, unless your thick, you can see that his political views have brought him nothing but political seclusion, media smearing, many death threats, and false accusations from a number of institutions such as:

The christian science monitor (later apologised)
The daily telegraph (paid galloway damages)
The U.S senate (lawmakers decided therewas no basis for prosection)

Not to mention the fact that he was thrown out of his own party for disagreeing withtony blair. Galloway gts angry easily on this issue primarily because he has family and friends in the region, including lebanon and iraq. He isnt just an observer like most of us, it ACTUALLY MEANS A LOT TO HIM. Also his relentless barage of opinions, in my own opinion, is perfectly justified as no-one else with a mouthpiece seems to give a bloody rats ass about anything except top up fees, congestion charges, tony blairs leaving date, prescott being a bum. He hits the nail on the head, and thats what we pote him thre for. Well done bethnal green, without you we prob wouldnt have this clip to enjoy and share.