Proving that what goes around, comes around, Scottish socialist MP George Galloway is reportedly seeking legal advice following a comment from charismatic American actor John Malkovitch to the effect that both he and Robert Fisk were “the two people he would most like to kill”
“The source of Malkovich’s anger appears to be Mr Galloway’s condemnation of Israel’s action against Palestinians and his criticism of the west’s policies on Iraq.
What I find most striking about this is the uncanny counter-echo of Oxford-based Irish poet Tom Paulin who recently denounced Israeli West Bank settlers as ‘Nazis’ and called for them to be shot. Is there any difference? Well, as a matter of fact, yes there is. Mr.Malkovitch is highly unlikely to turn his words into action; if he did he would be guilty of murder and neither I nor anybody else could possibly even begin to excuse or rationalise it. Contrast to Mr.Paulin’s threats which were quite explicity acted out a few days later when a Hamas Death Squad shot dead four Israeli settlers in their beds, including a five year-old girl. There’s the difference. Regardless of the utterances made by John Malkovitch, Mr.Galloway will be sleeping safely in his bed. The gravest threat he faces is one of running up a large legal bill.
Oh, and by the way, at least Mr.Malkovitch had the guts to say that he’d be prepared to do the job himself.
[My thanks to the Brothers Judd for the link to this story]
