George Galloway party activists and prospective candidate charged with anti-Semitism

[caption id="attachment_6435" align="aligncenter" width="770"] George Galloway[/caption] According to The Telegraph, activists and potential candidates for George Galloway's political party have spread "repulsive" conspiracy theories that include anti-Semitic stereotypes. A potential parliamentary candidate for the Workers Party of Britain asserted that Zionists, who controlled the media, banks, and big businesses, also controlled British politicians. Meanwhile, another activist labelled Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak as “foreign agents” who worked for Israel. In February, Mr Galloway sent shockwaves through Westminster by winning the Rochdale by-election on a platform which was defined in large part by opposition to Israel’s military actions in Gaza. The veteran hard-Left politician has since vowed to run dozens of candidates against Labour MPs in this year’s general election. An investigation by The Telegraph has found that a number of Workers Party activists have promoted conspiracy theories involving Jewish control. James Rossi, who has said he is a prospective parliamentary candidate in London, recorded a video in February in which he claimed that the UK has been supportive of Israel because British politicians are “bought by Israel”. Deploying a trope about Jewish control of global financial institutions, he said Britain also backed Israel because “the Rothschild family... control the world banks”. “If you control all the world banks and a country is not doing what it’s told, you can bankrupt that country essentially,” he said. In another comment posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, he said politicians were “controlled by rich and wealthy Zionists that effectively control the banks and big businesses and the media”. Mr Rossi has also repeatedly compared Israel to the Nazis – something which the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance has said can constitute anti-Semitism. In December he said: “Israel today is in my opinion no different to the National Socialist Party of Germany from 1933-1945.” In October, he said that he would not be surprised “if Israel started the final solution” in the occupied Palestinian territories, and in February he tweeted: “The Zionists should be put on trial at Nurenburg [sic], and then hung for war crimes. Same as the Nazis.” Thomas Darksen, a Workers Party activist who stood for the party in local elections in Rotherham in 2021, has posted a number of controversial comments about Jews. Commenting on a story involving UK Lawyers for Israel, he tweeted: “The Jews are making enemies for no good reason. Again.” He told someone who had made a supportive comment about the Israel Defense Forces: “Jews will be attacked in this country because of the likes you [sic]” , and on another occasion said he was “sick of Jews of the Zionists [sic] brand murdering kids”. Lisa Roddy, a Workers Party activist who stood for the party in Oldham in 2021, said that Mr Sunak, Sir Keir and Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP, were “foreign agents”. In January she sent a tweet to the Metropolitan Police saying: “Can you please advise what you are doing about the politicians in Westminster who are foreign agents acting on behalf of Israel and lying to our Parliament and people.” Asked about her comments by The Telegraph, Ms Roddy said: “What else are we meant to think when they wholeheartedly support the Zionist regime’s genocide.” “I refuse to stay silent when our money is paying to support genocide,” she added. Another Workers Party organiser, Hussain Shafiei, said that Zionists wanted non-Jews as their “slaves”. Last year he tweeted: “Zionists are the biggest racist [sic] in the world today. They just want all the Goyim as their slaves.” On Oct 7, he responded to a tweet by Mr Sunak condemning Hamas’s attack by saying the Palestinians “have an absolute right to resist occupation, which is what they’re doing right now”. In an expletive-laden YouTube video last month, he attacked David Cameron for calling for the release of Israeli hostages, mocking the hostages and claiming those that had been released had been paid to lie about their experiences. He said: “Every single person has turned round and said ‘I was treated really well’, but after three or four months these hostages, one or two of them, obviously getting a nose job, paid good money, can turn around and do whatever the f--- you want them to do, and create videos and go to the Oscars and tell us about how they were this and that, it’s all f------ lies.” A spokesman for the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: “The comments made by candidates for George Galloway’s Workers Party are utterly repulsive, but not in the least surprising. Any serious political party would be distancing itself from such statements and candidates.” A spokesman for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “From conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the world and comparisons of the Jewish state to Nazis, to justifications of the barbaric 7th October attacks carried out by Hamas, an antisemitic genocidal terror organisation, these statements are a bingo card of anti-Jewish tropes.” They added: “The prospect of these individuals joining Mr Galloway in Parliament is frankly alarming.” A spokesman for the Workers Party told The Telegraph: “We have over 350 candidates whose applications are currently under review by the selections committee. Of the four candidates you name, only one has made an application to stand for the Workers Party in forthcoming elections. “Our process is internal and private, and the party has announced no individual details.” James Rossi, Thomas Darksen and Hussain Shafiei were approached for comment. Source: Telegraph