Hansard

I welcome the Parliament’s having the opportunity to debate and vote on this critical matter.

There are people who say that whatever we say or however we vote today will have no impact. I believe that that is not the case. Words matter. The Parliament matters, what the Scottish Government says matters, and what the UK Government and the official UK Opposition say and do matters. International diplomacy and international pressure matter. No country exists in a vacuum, particularly one that is so heavily dependent on international support and funds.

We condemn the Hamas terrorist attacks of 7 October—we all agree on that—and we call for the release of hostages. However, we also condemn the slaughter that continues in Gaza on a daily basis. We condemn the breaking of international law; the collective punishment; the withholding of water, food, fuel and electricity; the bombing of hospitals, schools and ambulances; and the forced displacement of a civilian population. It would take more than six hours to read out the names of all those who have been killed so far.

Make no mistake: those are war crimes. Those who perpetrate those crimes are guilty, and those who enable them and commentators who apologise for them are culpable. People need to stop convincing themselves that Palestinian lives somehow do not matter.

Let us be clear on the legal position. The commission by one party to a conflict, including an armed group, of serious violations of international humanitarian law does not justify their commission by another party.

We also condemn what has been happening on the west bank, where settler violence continues. More than 300 Palestinians have been killed so far this year, most of them prior to 7 October. That gives the lie to those who argue that Israeli violence has been only in response to the events of that day. Make no mistake: violence against Palestinians, the stealing of their land, ethnic cleansing and illegal occupation did not start on 7 October. That is a deliberate policy that has gone on for over 75 years.

Ross Greer rightly highlighted the activities of the Irgun Jewish terrorist militia—its killing of civilians, the bombing of the King David hotel and many other incidents. Unfortunately, terrorism in that part of the world is not new.

Much has been said—rightly—about the need for community cohesion in Scotland and the need to call out antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism in all their forms. That is of critical importance. We need to listen to all voices from those communities and recognise that those communities are not monolithic blocs but contain people with diverse opinions.

I was proud to join many thousands of protesters in Glasgow at the weekend to call for an immediate ceasefire. I was especially moved to hear Gordon Maloney and Haim Bresheeth speaking at the march. Scottish-Jewish Israelis supported the call for a ceasefire and criticised the actions of the far-right Netanyahu Government and its murderous policies, which are not only immoral but ineffective in making Israelis safe.

My colleague Anum Qaisar MP has organised an online meeting on Thursday this week with Breaking the Silence, which is an organisation of ex-IDF members opposed to the occupation of Palestine—Pauline McNeill has already referenced it. I encourage members to join that event.

I commend the work of the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, which I met in Jerusalem in 2018, and the work of the many young American Jewish activists whom I met in villages on the west bank on that visit and who supported Palestinians facing daily attacks from settlers backed by the Israeli army. I also commend the Jewish voices who are no longer with us but deserve and need to be heard.

The Labour MP Gerald Kaufman spoke in a debate in the House of Commons during an earlier Israeli assault on Gaza—there have been many such assaults. He said:

“My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town of Staszow. A German soldier shot her dead in her bed.

My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza.”—[Official Report, House of Commons, 15 January 2009; Vol 486, c 407.]

Marek Edelman, one of the leaders of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, said:

“To be Jewish means always being on the side of the oppressed and never the oppressor”,

and Dutch Holocaust survivor and theoretical physicist Hajo Meyer said, “Never again, for anyone.”

Their humanity stands in stark contrast to the words of the Israeli Minister of Defence, who said that the Israeli army is

“fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly”

and that its plan is to “eliminate everything”.

The reality is that there is no military or security solution to the conflict. Earlier military incursions into Gaza have failed to deliver peace. The events of 7 October were horrific and unjustified, but they were also undeniably a failure of Israeli military intelligence and security.