by IPT News
Viva Palestina leader George Galloway began a 10-day speaking tour in Canada on Tuesday, marking his latest visit to the country following his debut in Toronto last month.
Galloway was banned from entering Canada in March, 2009 after Immigration Minister Jason Kenney noted Galloway's financial support for Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But a judge ruled in September that the government did not officially exclude Galloway from entering the country, and Galloway never tried to enter the country since the ban.
Despite the ruling in his favor, Galloway has vowed to sue Kenney for slander.
"Mr. Kenney please note: This isn't over yet," Galloway told a crowd of 250 people in Montreal on Wednesday. "I will not allow to go unaccountable the lies and the smears you sent around the world about me."
On Tuesday, Galloway gave a speech to a crowd of 700 at York University in Toronto, where he was also met with chants by protestors outside of the venue. During his speech Galloway promoted dialogue with the terrorist organization Hamas, and refused to condemn the terrorist group's actions.
"I have been asked why I have been dealing with Hamas," he said. "I have news for the people in Ottawa: everybody else in the world is already talking to Hamas. You don't need university education to understand that if you want to resolve a conflict, you have to talk to the people who are engaged in the conflict."
Galloway never said how his convoys to Gaza were helping to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and there's no indication he called on Hamas to cease using violence to achieve its objectives. Rather, Galloway and Viva Palestina intend to "break the siege" on Gaza by elevating Hamas politically and financially. Viva Palestina has delivered millions of dollars to the Hamas regime during its four land convoys to the region, and has met with Hamas leaders including Specially Designated Global Terrorists Khalid Mishaal, Mousa Mohamed Abu Marzook, and Usama Hamdan, as well as Hamas hardliners Ismail Haniyeh, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, Ahmed Yousef, and others.
Galloway described the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as "the centre of the confrontation between the Muslim and non-Muslim world, declaring, "If there is no peace in Palestine there will be no peace in the Muslim world."
He also offered his solution to the conflict - destroy the Jewish State of Israel by granting Palestinians the right of return. "Those who are living in Palestine today, those who have driven from Palestine from 1948 until now have the right to live there but only as equal citizens under the law," he said Wednesday. "Not in a Jewish State, not in a Muslim State, but in a democratic state."
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