UK must end arms sales to Israel, Scottish Government must cut off complicit companies
All governments have a moral and legal responsibility to end arms sales to Israel and any other form of support for the genocide unfolding in Gaza, say the Scottish Greens.
The call comes as Israeli forces intensify their attacks on Rafah. Over 34,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel over seven months of collective punishment and bombardment. The United Nations has recently confirmed the discovery of hundreds of bodies of Palestinians, some with their hands tied behind their backs, buried at Nasser and Al-Shifa hospitals.
UK government statistics, compiled by Campaign Against Arms Trade, show that in the last 10 years, the UK has licensed at least £500 million worth of arms to Israel.
In November, Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer highlighted to the then-First Minister Humza Yousaf the list of around ninety companies identified by the United Nations as being complicit in Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank of Palestine.
Mr Greer called for the Scottish Government to ban all companies on the list from receiving Scottish Government grants or contracts. Mr Yousaf agreed to this position in principle, stating that those profiting from illegal occupations should not be able to profit in Scotland. Seven months later however, the Scottish Government has failed to take action.
Scottish Greens external affairs spokesperson Ross Greer MSP said:
“The evidence of Israel's war crimes is overwhelming and unquestionable, and everyone who has chosen to arm and support the Israeli government has made themselves complicit in the killing.
“The assault on Rafah is a humanitarian disaster in the making and yet another Israeli war crime. 1.5 million people are trapped. They have nowhere to go and are now being relentlessly bombed by one of the world’s most powerful militaries.
“Israeli forces have shown total contempt for international humanitarian law and the rights of Palestinians. They have used an arsenal of high-tech weaponry to knowingly inflict some of the most horrific crimes of the 21st century, often recording and publishing the evidence of their own crimes for the world to see. No one can claim they were unaware.
“At Westminster both the Tories and Labour have behaved shamefully, with Keir Starmer clearly wishing we would all just forget his initial unequivocal defence of Israeli war crimes. In contrast, Humza Yousaf offered clear moral leadership in his consistent calls for a ceasefire.
“The people of Gaza need us to take every action we can in their defence though, so I am hugely frustrated that seven months after the then-First Minister agreed to my proposals to cut off complicit companies from public funding, no further action has yet been taken.
“The Scottish Government must now immediately move to disqualify every company identified by the UN as complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian communities.”