Talkradio sacks George Galloway over ‘Israel flags’ Champions League tweet

Talkradio has sacked host George Galloway over his reference to Israel flags in a tweet about the Champions League final, saying it “does not tolerate anti-Semitic views”.

The talk show host tweeted “no Israel flags on the Cup” after Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur, which famously has ties to the London Jewish community, in Saturday’s final.

Tottenham described the remark as “blatant anti-Semitism” in a statement to Sky Sports News yesterday.

Talkradio is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, which also publishes the Sun and Times newspapers.

A spokesperson said: “Talkradio has terminated George Galloway’s weekly show with immediate effect. As a fair and balanced news provider, Talkradio does not tolerate anti-Semitic views.”

Galloway tweeted the news of his sacking and said his talk show, The Mother Of All Talk Shows, “will not be silenced”.

The former MP added: “I’ve been given a red card from Talkradio for ‘over-celebrating’ Liverpool famous victory over Spurs. Not sure it’s the wisest move Mr Murdoch’s team ever made given the history and all.”

The last line appears to be a reference to the Sun’s infamous front page coverage of the Hillsborough disaster in which it wrongly accused Liverpool fans of disgraceful acts. Despite a front page apology, the city council moved to ban the newspaper from shops in 2016.

Ofcom threatened sanctions against Talkradio in March after ruling that Galloway had made “serious breaches” of its impartiality rules in two shows about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.

Galloway described the suggestion that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hated Jews as a “Goebbellian lie” and described an anonymous viewer who disagreed with him on the issue as an “ignorant moron”.

Talkradio accepted that the shows broadcast on 27 July and 6 August last year breached Ofcom impartiality guidelines and said Galloway had “crossed the line”.

The presenter did not see it the same way, suggesting that Ofcom “toe the Israel-lobby line” and was “deeply prejudiced” against Palestinian people.

Ofcom found that Galloway had broken impartiality rules during a show on the Skripal poisonings last year and similarly threatened sanctions.

Picture: Talkradio/Youtube