THE Scottish Government has said it will take a series of actions against Israel in order to abide by its legal obligations to act in the face of genocide.
Speaking in the Holyrood Parliament on Wednesday, First Minister John Swinney laid out the measures which his SNP Cabinet had agreed to take in response to Israel’s illegal actions in Palestine.
Foreign policy and international trade are reserved to the UK Government, meaning that Swinney was able to only call for action in a range of other areas.
Here is a run-down of the actions that the Scottish Government will take against Israel, and its calls for further action from elsewhere.
The actions the Scottish Government is taking against Israel:
SNP leader John Swinney said he and his ministers had obligations under international law and the ministerial code to act in the face of a risk of genocide.
“The International Court of Justice has made plain that risk exists. Indeed, it has said there is a prima facie case of genocide in Gaza,” the First Minister told MSPs.
As such, Swinney said the Scottish Government will:
- Not give any new funding to arms firms who deal with Israel (or any nation “where there is plausible evidence of genocide being committed”). This will not affect previously agreed contracts or Government-backed apprenticeships.
- Provide £400,000 to the charity Kids Operating Room, which creates field hospitals in areas where they are most needed. This fund will be used to set up a “Gaza HOPES Field Readiness Hub” in Scotland, and help build a rapidly deployable field hospital for Gaza.
- Donate £600,000 to the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) fund for Palestine, which will provide “life-saving health services, food and nutrition assistance, emergency shelter, water and sanitation, protection services, education support and cash for families”.
- Provide medical support for 20 children injured in Gaza to be treated in Scotland, with the first arrivals expected with their families in September.
- Support Scottish legal experts to gather and preserve evidence that can be used in international criminal cases.
- Fly the Palestine flag at St Andrew’s House on September 3 as a gesture of support.
Elsewhere, Swinney also said that the SNP Government will lift restrictions on funding arms companies for military reasons in other cases. This is to help back military campaigns such as Ukraine’s against Russia.
The actions the SNP Government is calling for from the UK:
Foreign policy and international trade are reserved areas, but the First Minister called for the UK Government to:
- Immediately recognise the state of Palestine.
- Strengthen sanctions against illegal settlers in Palestinian territories, and impose sanctions on further Israeli government ministers.
- Withdraw from the UK-Israel Free Trade Agreement.
- Prohibit the import of goods produced in Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
- End arms exports to Israel.
- End all military co-operation with the Israeli government.
- Join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and commit to upholding the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu.
The First Minister said: “The challenge to this Parliament, this Government, the UK Government and governments across the world is – if we agree that we are witnessing an unfolding genocide – then what action should we take?”
