UK GOVERNMENT MUST END ARMS SALES & RECOGNISE PALESTINE
Ruth Maguire MSP has echoed First Minister John Swinney’s powerful statement on Palestine, urging the UK Government to take immediate action and outlining the action that the SNP will take with the powers Scotland has.
The genocide in Palestine has already claimed more than 63,000 lives. Famine is spreading throughout a ruined Gaza. While the Palestinian flag was raised at St Andrew’s House, the First Minister set out Scotland’s humanitarian response and demanded action from Starmer’s government.
The SNP is demanding that the Labour UK government:
- Immediately recognise the State of Palestine within the 1967 borders.
- End all arms sales to Israel and withdraw from the UK-Israel Free Trade Agreement
- Impose sanctions on members of the Israeli government complicit in war crimes and illegal settlements
- Ban imports of goods from illegal Israeli settlements, following Ireland’s lead
- Support international justice, including backing South Africa’s case at the ICJ and implementing ICC arrest warrants.
The actions that will be taken by the SNP Scottish Government include:
- Trade and arms restrictions: New public funding will be paused for arms companies whose products are linked to states accused of genocide, including Israel. Any defence companies seeking support from the Scottish Government must prove that they are not supplying the Israeli military.
- Medical support for children: Scotland will provide treatment for up to 20 injured children from Gaza, who will arrive with their families to Scotland from mid-September.
- Support for students: working with universities to ensure Gazan students can attend Scottish universities if offered a place.
- Justice and accountability: exploring how Scotland’s legal community, universities, and civil society can contribute to preserving evidence for international criminal cases.
Speaking at the First Minister’s Statement on Gaza, Ruth Maguire MSP welcomed the Scottish Government’s announcement to pause public funding for arms companies whose products are linked to states accused of genocide, including Israel, and urged the Scottish Government to do all they can do in solidarity with the Palestinian people:
“The crimes of Israel against the Palestinian people demand concrete action from the international community, such as the welcome pause in awards to arms companies that were outlined by the First Minister.
Boycott, divestment and sanctions are a peaceful and effective way to encourage compliance with international law.
Will the First Minister instruct his government to ensure that it is deploying against Israel, and all those profiting from the genocide, every single non-violent, punitive measure at its disposal until such a time as Israel ends its brutal and violent, illegal occupation of Palestine, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity?”
Responding to the question, the First Minister detailed that the government’s recently announced economic, humanitarian and diplomatic measures would ensure that the Scottish Government was doing all it legally could to ensure it was in no way complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Ruth Maguire MSP (SNP) 