RESPECT MP George Galloway and a senior county councillor called on the government to forge a fresh relationship with Israel to combat homegrown extremism, at an anti-terrorism seminar in East Lancashire.

The Bradford West representative and Cllr Azhar Ali, cabinet member for health and wellbeing, were the keynote speakers at the gathering at Nelson’s ACE Centre.

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Promoted by the Carr Road mosque and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek UK, the national arm of a political party on the sub-continent, the event covered a range of atrocities from the 9/11 attack, the 7/7 bombings, the Anders Breivik shootings in Norway and Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris.

Afterwards, Cllr Ali said that terrorism was not the domain of any one creed or colour but there was a duty to work hard to ‘stop people exporting these views’.

And the Labour parliamentary candidate for Pendle also said that issues such as the conflict between Palestine and Israel were central.

Cllr Ali added: “This dispute is acting as a recruiting sergeant for terrorism and the West has got to work hard to place pressure on Israel to see that there is a resolution to this. It is very difficult to quell the rise of terrorism without this.”

Mr Galloway, who was interviewed by Pakistani TV after attending the Nelson seminar, echoed Cllr Ali, and said he hoped to work with him if both are elected to Parliament in May.

The MP added: “Israel is only allowed to murder children in Gaza because it has unlimited money and weapons from the US, UK and EU, otherwise it couldn’t do it.

“We must struggle for a different role for our own country, and if we did we would see this phenomenon of extremism shrink before our very eyes, and quickly.

“If we had a government who could speak like Cllr Ali, or me, how many extremists would find takers for their ugly prospectus?”

Galloway also said state-sponsored terrorism could exist internationally, with ‘tyrantsand corrupt kings’ ruling virtually the entirety of the Muslim world.