Spiritual Forum

Controversial far-left British MP George Galloway has declared his constituency an "Israel-free zone", in comments that are bound to invite further allegations of racism.

The notoriously anti-Israel Galloway told a meeting of the Respect Party which he heads that Israelis of any persuasion were "not welcome" in Bradford, where serves as MP.

"We have declared Bradford an Israel free zone," he told party activists at the meeting in Leeds.

"We don’t want any Israeli goods. We don’t want any Israeli services. We don’t want any Israeli academics, coming to the university or the college. We don’t even want any Israeli tourists to come to Bradford if any of them had thought of doing so.

"We reject this illegal, barbarous, savage state that calls itself Israel. And you have to do the same."

As noted on the Guido Fawkes blog which initially posted the video, Israeli tourists are hardly going to be rushing to make changes to their holiday plans, as Bradford is not a tourist attraction by any means. Some areas of the city suffering from the worst levels of social deprivation in all of the UK, and is a hot spot for Muslim extremism.

Galloway has a long history of anti-Israeli bigotry. He was branded a racist when he stormed out of a debate after finding out that his opponent was Israel, saying "I don't debate with Israelis." He has also publicly aired several bizarre anti-Israel conspiracy theories, including claims that Israel was engineering unrest in Ukraine, and that the Jewish state hadgiven chemical weapons to Al Qaeda - comments he then deniedmaking despite them having been recorded.

Galloway's latest comments come on the same week as a London theater was accused of anti-Semitism after it boycotted the UK Jewish Film Festival, citing the fact that the festival was partially sponsored by the Israeli embassy.