George Galloway’s deputy has refused to condemn the October 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel, in a sign of the controversy surrounding his Rochdale by-election win.
As Mr Galloway prepares to return to parliament, the deputy leader of his Workers Party suggested Israel should have “expected” the attacks.
Former Labour MP Chris Williamson also accused the government and Labour of “effectively facilitating the genocide in Gaza”.
The former Labour MP for Derby North refused to condemn Hamas’ terror attacks
His remarks were condemned by Labour’s Ellie Reeves, who said it was “utterly appalling” for Mr Williamson not to condemn the 7 October atrocities.
It came as the Board of Deputies of British Jews hailed Mr Galloway’s election win as a “dark day” for the UK’s Jewish community.
And the Campaign Against Antisemitism said Mr Galloway’s “endurance in our public life serves to exploit extremist sentiment and divide communities”.
Following Mr Galloway’s win, Mr Williamson took to the airwaves to describe his boss as “probably the best orator in the world”.
He also said Mr Galloway, an alleged antisemite notorious for stoking division and courting controversy, will “be able to speak truth to power” in Westminster.
And, when asked about October 7, he refused to condemn the Hamas attacks.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “You can’t expect to live in a situation where people have been oppressed for 75 years and not expect a reaction.”
“In international law, oppressed peoples have an absolute right to armed resistance,” Mr Williamson said, before going on to claim that the majority of those innocent people killed on October 7 were killed by Israeli forces.
Ms Reeves, Labour’s deputy national campaign coordinator, said she was “utterly appalled by Chris Williamson’s failure to condemn Hamas attacks on the seventh of October, and likewise his failure to distance his party from the endorsement of [former president of the far-right British National Party] Nick Griffin”.
George Galloway declared his by-election win was ‘for Gaza’ in a challenge to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer
Mr Williamson is a former close ally of Jeremy Corbyn and was suspended from the Labour party for claiming it had “given too much ground” and been “too apologetic” in tackling antisemitism.
He is now the deputy leader of Mr Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain.
The ex-Labour MP for Derby North had faced previous criticism for incidents of alleged antisemitism, including offering to host a parliamentary screening of a film by a Labour member suspended for claiming Jews had been the “chief financiers” of the slave trade.
Mr Galloway won the Rochdale by-election with just under 40 per cent of the vote, a majority of 5,697 over second placed David Tully, a local businessman and independent candidate.
In his victory speech, he said: “Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza.” It echoed the message Mr Galloway sent upon his 2005 win in the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency, when he said: “Mr Blair, this is for Iraq.”
He added: “You have paid, and you will pay, a high price for the role that you have played in enabling, encouraging and covering for the catastrophe presently going on in occupied Palestine in the Gaza Strip.”
Labour’s former candidate Azhar Ali, who was suspended for making antisemitic comments, came fourth.
