Scottish Government must offer more than words on Palestine
We need action and not just words from the Scottish Government when it comes to standing with the people of Gaza, says Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer.
Speaking ahead of a national march for Palestine in Edinburgh that he will be addressing this afternoon, Mr Greer called for the Scottish Government to stop handing over public cash to companies that are arming Israel.
This follows recent revelations that the Scottish Government’s business agency, Scottish Enterprise, has given hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of grants to companies arming Israel since the genocide in Gaza began last October.
Mr Greer has also reiterated Green proposals for the Scottish Government to ban companies identified by the UN as complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine from receiving public sector grants or contracts.
Previous First Minister Humza Yousaf agreed to this suggestion in principle, stating that no company who profits from occupation should be able to profit in Scotland. Despite this and meetings being arranged between Mr Greer and Scottish Government Ministers, no action has been taken.
Mr Greer said: “We need action and not just words from the Scottish Government. Unfortunately, the SNP seem to prefer the latter. Successive First Ministers have rightly supported calls for a ceasefire and a halt to UK arms sales, but when it comes to areas under their direct control, action is almost non-existent.
“We have a situation where the SNP is rightly calling for the UK to halt arms sales to Israel whilst they themselves pour public money into the companies making the weapons used to slaughter Palestinians in Gaza. They are calling for peace while supporting those complicit in war.
“People across Scotland are horrified by the brutality of Israel’s bombardment, and the last thing they want is to see their money being handed to the companies fuelling it.
“Those who stand for peace should be calling for sanctions against Israel, yet it is only two weeks since the SNP’s minister for external affairs met with a senior Israeli diplomat to discuss ‘mutual interests’ like energy and culture.
“For almost 12 months Israeli forces have inflicted some of the worst war crimes of this century on the people of Gaza. It is a source of immense international shame that this has gone on for so long and that so many governments have stood back and let it happen.
“The Scottish Government deserves credit for the moral leadership it showed under Humza Yousaf, but it is long past time to move from words to actions.”