George Galloway speaks out against Israeli piracy and murder

George Galloway leads the first Viva Palestina aid convoy from London to Gaza, 14 Feburary 2009

“News has just broken of this barbarous act of piracy conducted by the so-called state of Israel, in which innocent humanitarian aid workers have been cold-bloodedly murdered and dozens wounded. Maybe more deaths to come in the hours that will follow.

“This crime is one of the most dastardly attacks on humanitarian aid workers in recent times, and amidst the wreckage of the Freedom Flotilla is what remains of Israel’s reputation as a member of the international community.

“Israel has grown used to killing people as an answer to their political problems, but now they have moved [on] from killing those Palestinians who have the misfortune to live under their occupation or behind the walls of their siege, and international citizens of 40 countries have come under a hail of gunfire from the so-called Israel Defence Force.

“This crime will not go unanswered. It will not go unanswered by the government of Turkey, which has invested heavily in the international diplomacy to try to come to the aid of the Palestinians under siege.

“But the international community as a whole must respond. Ambassadors should be recalled; Israeli ambassadors should be asked to leave; and a wholesale review of the international community’s relationship with this criminal, pirate state of Israel should now be launched …

“Viva Palestina Arabia was a partner in the flotilla, and we send our condolences to the families of the dead, our sympathies to the families of the wounded, our disappointment to the poor Palestinians under siege in Gaza, who will not now receive the $20m worth of charitable aid given from all over the world to try to make their lives just a little bit easier.

“This disaster cannot go unanswered. [It’s time] for the international community to stand up and be counted, and stop treating this law-breaking rogue state as if it were a respectable member of the United Nations.”

George Galloway speaking from Houston, Texas, at 5.18am (UK time).