George Galloway – the former British MP and leader of a convoy aimed at breaking the blockade on Hamas in Gaza – was greeted by enthusiastic supporters at Toronto's Pearson International Airport on Saturday. It was his first time in Canada since the Immigration Minister banned his entry due to his alleged support for Hamas. But a recent ruling by a judge noted that Galloway never tried to enter the country since the March, 2009 ban.
Galloway has been traveling with the fourth Viva Palestina convoy en route to Gaza. Hosted by the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, he delivered a speech to a crowd of hundreds on Sunday, praising the judge's ruling and slamming Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who made the decision to try keeping Galloway out of Canada national security grounds:
"I am not, nor have I ever been a terrorist, or a supporter of terrorism, or any kind of security threat to Canada. But I think I am a threat to Jason Kenney's political career. And I intend to continue to be so until he's gone."
Despite his meetings with Hamas officials, providing money to Hamas, and supporting Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, Galloway defiantly declared:
"I am not nor have I ever been a supporter of Hamas. But I am a supporter of democracy. And the only people, the only people entitled to choose the leadership of the Palestinian people are the Palestinian people themselves. That's the long and the short of it. And so we will continue to break this siege until it is ended."
Galloway later proposed a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which calls into question the legitimacy of Israel as a state:
"Let's have one country. Let's have one country in this small land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, one country Israel-Palestine, Palestine-Israel, whichever way you want to look at it, where the Jews, and the Muslims, and the Christians live as equal citizens under the law. One man, one woman, one vote, one government. Why not?"
He continued: "The Palestinian refugees now in their million have a legal, and moral, inalienable ever-lasting right to return to their land and their homes. And that will never ever be relinquished."
Calls for a bi-national state and the Palestinian right of return have been cited as euphemisms for the destruction of Israel – the goal of the terrorist Hamas group. While Hamas fights Israel with violence, Galloway is fighting Israel by elevating the Hamas regime in Gaza.
In his remarks, Galloway threatened to sue Kenney for defamation. Kenney's office didn't seem concerned, but a spokesman reiterated its position on Galloway.
"Our government is opposed to terrorism and to those who support terrorism," Alykhan Velshi said in a statement. "That said, the federal court made a decision on this particular case. We continue to be worried about Mr. Galloway's past actions with respect to Hamas and Israel."