Gordon Brown’s hypocritical Presbyterian cant: ‘Suffer little children to come unto me’ – ‘Where are you going, Ali!’

SPSC PRESS RELEASE: 12 October 2007

In his speech to the Labour Party conference the Prime Minster said, "We all remember the biblical saying ‘suffer little children to come unto me’. No Bible I have read says ‘bring just some of the children’". Scottish PSC points out that the JNF in Israel is saying just that – ‘bring me only Jewish children to enjoy the land and resources of Israel and the occupied territories’.

Gordon Brown has been challenged to reverse his decision to become a Patron of the Jewish National Fund – UK (also known as KKL or Keren Kayemet Le’Israel or Perpetual Fund for Israel). Shortly after becoming Prime Minister he accepted an invitation from the Fund to follow in Tony Blair's footsteps by becoming a Fund Patron.

In accepting the invitation the Prime Minister spoke of learning from his father, a Church of Scotland Minister, of the Zionists' ambitions to create "a magnificent homeland" for the Jews in the land of Palestine.

But the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (Scottish PSC) has written to the PM pointing out that that the Jewish National Fund is a main instrument of Israel's apartheid system of land control. It reminds the Prime Minister that the JNF was founded in 1901 with the remit to ‘acquire’ land in Palestine exclusively for the use of Jews and that it now holds 13% of the land of Israel and shares in the management of a further 80% of Israeli land effectively excluding non Jewish inhabitants from all but 7% of the land. The Fund is also involved in land projects and settlements in the West Bank territories illegally occupied by Israel since 1967 making it complicit in war crimes.

The letter tells the Prime Minister that the Scottish PSC believes that "Scottish public opinion, if made aware of the true nature of the JNF, would join us in condemning your association with such an organisation".

SPSC chair Mick Napier said: "Gordon Brown may try to pretend that JNF-UK is somehow insulated from the guilt of the JNF's activities in Israel and the Occupied Territories but around the world and in particular in the Middle East his willingness to support the JNF 'brand' will be seen as evidence of the UK's support for Israel's oppression of the Palestinians”.

In his speech to the Labour Party conference the Prime Minster said "We all remember the biblical saying ‘suffer little children to come unto me’. No Bible I have read says ‘bring just some of the children’". Scottish PSC points out that the JNF in Israel is saying just that – ‘bring me only Jewish children to enjoy the land and resources of Israel and the occupied territories’.

Scottish PSC has also written to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) to ask that they review whether the acceptance of KKL Scotland as a Scottish Charity is consistent with the Scottish charity public benefit test and with OSCR's wider duty to maintain the good reputation of Scottish charities. MSPs have been alerted that the matter has been raised with OSCR and that they too should consider KKL Scotland’s acceptance as a Scottish Charity.

ENDS

Sofiah MacLeod Secretary Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign \n secretary@scottishpsc.org.uk This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it www.scottishpsc.org.uk 00 44 (0) 131 620 0052 00 44 (0) 7931200361 (mobile) For further information on the JNF/KKL: • The Jewish National Fund: Challenging the discriminatory land policies of the Jewish National Fund (JNF): http://www.adalah.org/eng/jnf.php • Apartheid Israel: The Jewish National Fund: www.uridavis.info • Jewish National Fund's Violation of International and Domestic Law: www.plands.org/JNF%20Report.pdf