Rubin Burstyn

National Post

Re: Galloway Suing Head Of Jewish Group, CTV, April 3.

For those who were trying to make George Galloway into the new poster boy of free speech, this article should serve as a true lesson in the British MP’s double standards.

Mr. Galloway claims that because he was not permitted into Canada his right of free speech has been curtailed. Yet he has spoken quite freely in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver via video Web link. Meanwhile, he has announced his intentions to sue Bernie Farber (CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress), Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and CTV for claiming that he has raised money for terrorist causes such as Hamas. This despite the fact that there is a widely viewed YouTube clip of him handing over $50,000 to Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas.

Bernie Farber has been the most consistent critic of Mr. Galloway’s money-raising efforts on behalf of Hamas, so it appears that the British MP had to find a way to shut him up. He chose “libel chill.”

It seems the only free speech Mr. Galloway is interested in is his own.

Rubin Burstyn, Thornhill, Ont.