The left-wing British parliamentarian George Galloway has for several years represented the majority-Pakistani electoral district of Bradford West, where he has built a constituency based on his alliances with local clans and his longstanding record of hatred for Israel. Last summer, he declared Bradford West an “Israel Free-Zone.” Ben Judah visited the district and met with members of Galloway’s staff, who invited him to attend a rally the next day:
A . . . press officer for Respect [Galloway’s party], comes up to me: “Who are you, I recognize your face?”
I tell her my full name, Ben Judah. Her face sours. . . . A few months ago I had reported from the city for a Jewish online publication, and had been critical of Galloway’s anti-Zionist rhetoric. I reported that he has inflamed a hissing conspiracy theory where Jews were blamed for 9/11, for all wars all over the world, and were seen as the new Nazis.
The woman from Respect does not approve. I inform her that Respect’s Bradford headquarters has given me the address and told me I could come. She then disappears, makes calls, and talks to several of the Asian men at the doorway. She returns saying I have to leave. I try to explain I am a journalist and this risks looking bad for a party that is frequently accused of inciting anti-Semitism and intimidating journalists. . . .
The press officer—whose name I miss—says she has called Bradford HQ and they now “know who I am”: I must leave immediately.
I walk out and onto the sidewalk, and take a picture of the Respect activists and the seven Asian men milling about outside the church. They have come to see Galloway. The event is described on social media as a rally for supporters.
A burly Asian man in a black suit and sunglasses rushes up and grabs me around the neck, pinning me to a low perimeter wall. “Get out, you fucking Jew,” he shouts. I am being throttled as around ten Asian men surround me. My teeth chatter as a man in a tracksuit punches me in the head.
“Delete, delete,” they shout at me. “Delete the photos.”
Read more on Politico: http://www.politico.eu/article/galloway-bradford-elections-uk-ge2015/