Go Canada! The Daily Mail reports that our neighbors to the north have told British MP George Galloway in no uncertain terms that he is persona non grata in the Union. His ties to terrorist organizations such as Hamas make him a security risk:
Outspoken anti-war MP George Galloway has vowed to fight an ‘outrageous decision’ to ban him from Canada on the grounds of national security.
Mr Galloway said the ban was ‘not something I’m prepared to accept’ and pledged to use all means at his disposal to challenge the ruling.
But a spokesman for Canada’s immigration minister Jason Kenney insisted the decision, taken by border security officials, would not be overturned for a ‘infandous* street-corner Cromwell’ (*’infandous: too odious to be expressed or mentioned).
Wow! And here we thought that Canadians had more Minnesota Nice than Minnesota. The minister’s office says it has an obligation to enforce section 34(1) of their immigration code to protect Canadians from terrorist sympathizers and fundraisers, and while it can issue waivers, it has no intention of doing so for Galloway.
In fact, they’re being rather blunt about it, and about Galloway himself:
Mr Velshi said: ‘We’re going to uphold the law, not give special treatment to this infandous street-corner Cromwell who actually brags about giving ‘financial support’ to Hamas, a terrorist organisation banned in Canada.
‘I’m sure Galloway has a large Rolodex of friends in regimes elsewhere in the world willing to roll out the red carpet for him. Canada, however, won’t be one of them.’
It provides an interesting juxtaposition to Britain’s decision to ban Geert Wilders, the Dutch parliamentarian, for his alleged extremist ties. One has to wonder whether that prompted a diplomatic backlash, although I don’t see what dog Canada has in that fight. The two are hardly analogous, as Wilders hasn’t gone around hugging Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader in Gaza, or profiting off of the oil-for-food program by acting as Saddam Hussein’s lackey. It is, however, a great example of karma.
Galloway wants to fight this decision, but perhaps he’d be better off trying to figure out why no one wants him around. Well, no one but terrorists, anyway.
And I think “infandous” will be the word of the day today. I’m going to see how often I can work it into my show this afternoon, starting at 3 pm ET right here at Hot Air.
Update: The pic at the Daily Mail has Galloway hugging Ismail Haniyeh, not Khaled Mashaal as I first wrote. He may hugged Mashaal at some point, too — I wouldn’t put it past him — but I figured I’d be accurate.
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