SPSC press release: Is Scotland encouraging Israel’s extremism?
For immediate release
Is Scotland encouraging Israel’s extremism?
7 December 2017
Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has been condemned by campaigners for Palestinian rights in Scotland. They claim that the move fits with Trump’s general alignment with the far right and White supremacists in America.
Mick Napier of Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign said:
“The Israeli government claims Jerusalem as ‘Israel’s eternal and undivided capital’ and will not allow any part of it to be included in any possible future version of Palestine. The British gave Palestine to European Zionists 100 years ago, and Trump is now giving Netanyahu what is not his to give. While Israel is based on residential segregation for Jews and Palestinians, separate roads and legal systems, it is inconceivable that peace talks based on principles of equality and justice could get off the ground. Talk of two-states has long been difficult to take seriously but Trump’s latest move to placate his electoral base in the USA encourages Netanyahu to demolish more Palestinian homes, grab more land and maintain his violent repression of the Palestinian people.”
Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign raise serious concerns about the role that Scottish politicians and institutions are playing in furthering the agenda of the Israeli state.
In August, all three leaders of the main political parties endorsed the Israeli Peace (‘Shalom’) festival in Edinburgh, an event organised by a Christian Zionist group, the Confederation of Friends of Israel Scotland and sponsored by the European Coalition for Israel, a Christian Zionist organisation that rejects recognition of a Palestinian state because “it violates the legitimate legal claims of the State of Israel with respect to Jerusalem and the West Bank”. Another supporter and participant was Christians United for Israel, headed by the US Christian right wing Pastor John Hagee. Hagee, who has donated millions toward the establishment of illegal settlements, has written that Adolf Hitler was a “half-breed Jew” who was sent by God to persecute Europe’s Jews and drive them towards Israel.
Supporters of Palestinian human rights are calling for Scottish politicians, parties and institutions to distance themselves from so-called Friends of Israel groups.
Napier says that:
“Israel develops military and surveillance technology to defeat Palestinian hopes for human rights, as an alternative to negotiating a peace agreement with the Palestinian people. Technological cooperation, as with the Israeli military-grade hyper-surveillance system being piloted in Glasgow, helps Israel to continue with this rejectionist stance and ultimately endangers us all.”
There is unease that the Chief Executive of BEMIS, an umbrella body supporting the development of the ethnic minorities voluntary sector in Scotland, is due to address a conference called by Glasgow Friends of Israel, a body that campaigners say defends Israel’s every war crime and crime against humanity, as well as Trump’s award to Israel of Jerusalem as “Israel’s eternal and undivided capital”.
Napier explains:
“It is a disgrace that an organisation whose purpose is to further ethnic minority issues should send a representative to speak at an event organised by what is effectively a cover for the apartheid and racist state of Israel”.
END
Notes
- 1.Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
campaign@scottishpsc.org.uk
For quotes or interviews contact Mick Napier, 07958 002 591 - Palestinian Response to Reports That U.S. Will Recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital
https://bdsmovement.net/news/palestinian-response-reports-us-will-recognize-jerusalem-israel%E2%80%99s-capital - Christians United for Israel at Shalom Festival
https://jenniferwrenphotography.pixieset.com/internationalshalomfestivaledinburgh2017/?pid=1258243431&id=43&h=MTA2OTA5NzAwMQ - European Coalition for Israel support for Shalom Festival
https://www.facebook.com/internationalshalomfestival/photos/pcb.304236996652253/304236969985589/?type=3&theater - The Israel Lobby and the European Union, European Coalition for Israel (page 40) http://www.scottishpsc.org.uk/https://www.scottishpsc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IsraelLobbyandEU.pdf
- Jerusalem Countdown: A warning To The World, 2006 “revised and updated” paperback edition, page 149 and page 97, https://store.cufi.org/categories/books/products/L0041
- Inside the Most Insanely Pro-Israel Meeting You Could Ever Attend: The Christians United for Israel want nothing less than total victory
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/07/christians_united_for_israel_the_most_insanely_pro_israel_conference_of.html - Controversial Pro-Israel Pastor John Hagee Basks In Return To Spotlight
https://forward.com/news/377303/controversial-pro-israel-pastor-john-hagee-basks-in-return-to-spotlight/