George Galloway has returned to the U.S. for a speaking tour which began on Saturday, following a crushing defeat for re-election in the UK Parliament.

Galloway, the head and founder of Viva Palestina, an organization that supports the terrorist organization Hamas, was banned from entering Canada last year, and was declared "persona non grata" by the Egyptian foreign ministry in January, barring him from entering the country again. A Canadian judge is currently deciding whether to uphold the ban against Galloway.

Galloway has 11 speaking engagements planned, eight of which are organized by the Chicago-based group American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) as part of its "Al-Nakba Commemoration Campaign." The other three events are organized by the Muslim Legal Fund of American (MLFA), an organization which has expressed its support for groups including the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), which saw five former officials sentenced by a federal judge last May for providing material support to Hamas; Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman convicted of attempted murder of U.S. citizens in Afghanistan; and the Islamic American Relief Agency, designated by the U.S. Treasury in 2004 for its support for a variety of terrorist organizations.

During Galloway's last visit to the U.S. in January to raise money for Viva Palestina, he praised Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and vilified Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for his "tin pot tyranny."

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) issued a press release expressing concern over Galloway's entry into the country. AJC Executive Director David Harris asked, "Only a few days after voters ousted George Galloway from the British Parliament, has he returned to our country to seek additional funds for Hamas, which the U.S. government has designated a terrorist organization?"