Galloway refuses to apologise for ‘anti-Semitic’ tweet

LONDON: George Galloway has refused to apologise for making allegedly anti-Semitic comments online.The former MP was sacked by TalkRadio after celebrating the defeat of Tottenham in the Champions League final because it prevented “Israel flags on the cup”. Asked to apologise, he told Good Morning Britain: “I love Jews. I don’t like Israel.”He claimed that he had not been paid for his radio show “for more than two months”, adding: “There’s much more to this than you know.” Of the rise in anti-Semitic attacks, he told the ITV show: “Don’t talk to me about attacks. I’ll show you my scars”.TalkRadio labelled Galloway’s celebration of Spurs’ loss anti-Semitic, and said it had severed ties with the presenter of The Mother Of All Talk Shows programme. In a statement, the station said: “TalkRadio has terminated George Galloway’s weekly show with immediate effect. As a fair and balanced news provider, TalkRadio does not tolerate anti-Semitic views.”Galloway had posted following Liverpool’s victory in the final in Madrid: “Congratulations to the great people of Liverpool to the memory of the socialist miner Bill Shankley to the fallen 96 to those who fought for justice for them and to the Liverpool dockers. No Israel flags on the Cup!” The former Labour and Respect Party politician said he would see his former employer in court following the news of his sacking.Board of Deputies of British Jews president Marie van der Zyl said Galloway’s tweet was “blatant anti-Semitism”. She added: “We also applaud TalkRadio for taking this poisonous and divisive figure off air. His attempt to bring hatred into a wonderful occasion for English football has attracted the derision it deserves.”Lord Sugar, the former chairman of Tottenham, speaking from his home, criticised Galloway’s tweet, telling Good Morning Britain: “What has Israel got to do with a Champions League game?” Galloway said it was “like being lectured by the Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Lord Sugar sitting there in his expansive drawing room”.He criticised a tweet in which Lord Sugar likened the Senegal football team to beach vendors in Marbella. The Apprentice star said he had immediately apologised for the comment, which he called a “terrible mistake”.

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