George Galloway wasn’t misled into speaking to Eylon Aslan-Levy: he just never did his research
THEY’RE laughing at your, George Galloway. They’re laughing at you.
At Christ Church College’s Blue Boar lecture theatre at Oxford University, the Respect party MP tells 21-year-old student Eylon Aslan-Levy: “I don’t debate with Israelis.”
Mr Galloway had already given his speech. For ten minutes he gave his viewpoint.
Then Eylon Aslan-Levy began speaking against the motion “Israel should withdraw immediately from the West Bank”.
Galloway heard Ashlan-Levy refer to Israelis as “us“. He threw a hissy fit and flounced out:
“I don’t debate with Israelis, I have been misled. I don’t recognise Israel and I don’t debate with Israel.”
Galloway then tweets:
“No recognition of Israel. No normalisation. Christ Church never informed us the debate would be with an Israeli. Simple.”
Michael Baldwin, the debate moderator, opined: “As moderator of this debate, I was disappointed that a possibly fruitful discussion was prematurely ended by Mr Galloway’s refusal to debate someone just because of their nationality. As he himself is a Palestinian citizen, he would rightly be indignant if an opponent of his were to refuse to debate him on the basis of his passport. I would encourage Mr Galloway to reconsider his position, which is open to accusations of xenophobia.”
All a bit odd, really. The event was billed thus:
MOTION: ‘Israel should withdraw immediately from the West Bank’
PROPOSITION: George Galloway – author, journalist, broadcaster, and Respect MP for Bradford West.
OPPOSITION: Eylon Aslan-Levy – final-year PPEist at Brasenose College.
The third in our series of student versus public figure debates.
Galloway should do his reasearch. Had he done so, he would have learnt that Aslan-Levy has <ahref=”http://www.thejc.com/campus/fresher-focus/49234/marking-ups-and-downs” target=”_blank”>written about being an Israeli:
The switch to Yom Ha’atzmaut was inevitably schizophrenic, as it is in Israel. Draped in Israeli flags we went to a cocktail bar, where JSoc had organised a perfect “Tel Aviv” night, with an exclusive blue and white (well, blue and ice) cocktail on the specials board: the Hebrew Hammer. Next year, we’ll have to work on mixing the Zionist Zinger and Judean Juicer.
It was no secret. He was not tricked.
Still. He does so love to be talked about.
Posted: 21st, February 2013 | In: Politicians Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
