IT was good to see the passionate article by Alison Phipps, “Courts genocide ruling marks end of Israel’s impunity”, in the Sunday National. Many of us, like Alison, have friends in Gaza or Gazan friends in Scotland who have horrific tales of the unrestricted killing of civilians and destruction of homes and not only cultural centres but hospitals and medical and aid supplies.
How much longer is our Westminster government going to ignore the very things condemned by the International Court of Justice for fear of offending a government to which we supply arms and which regards any criticism of its policy as racist. Now we have the charge, incredibly, but not surprisingly, that United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA) has been involved in the attack by Hamas.
READ MORE: Edinburgh Castle among Scottish landmarks in Palestine flag protest
When I was the chair of Christian Aid’s Middle East Committee I visited the Near East Council of Churches projects to assist young people in Gaza with training, and several hospitals in which Christian Aid’s Gazan partners were working. I met UNRWA workers and became aware of the vital contribution this globally respected agency was making to the very lives of Gazan citizens.
It is with horror that I now learn of nine Western governments, including the Tory British one (with no response from Labour), are stopping the funds to enable UNRWA to deliver its life-saving work and thus condemning innocent Gazans to face more illness, starvation, and lack of basic facilities let alone human rights.
This decision has been made simply based on the unsubstantiated claim made by the state of Israel, a state that has flouted every UN resolution declaring its policies as illegal. The United Nations was founded at the end of the Allies’ war against the Nazis nearly 80 years ago. These very countries, who have so often sidelined the UN’s authority, are now combining in failing to give even token support to the very things that support the humanitarian work that has been the very centre of assisting some of the most deprived and oppressed people in what has described as “the world largest prison”. Shame on them all.
Iain Whyte
North Queensferry
RECENT worldwide protests and next Saturday’s national pro-Palestinian demonstration in Edinburgh highlight the current case before the United Nations’ International Court of Justice brought by post-apartheid South Africa.
It suggests that the Israeli government has no right to exterminate tens of thousands (including 13,000 children) of another semitic people in revenge for Hamas’s murderous actions.
READ MORE: Rishi Sunak simply refused to answer question about Israeli war crime
Our elected Westminster representatives are very defensive of their exclusive international responsibilities so we should hold our MPs responsible for their hypocritical export of arms to the murderous Zionist regime in Israel.
However, our Holyrood MSPs should not escape blame for being complicit in this criminal behaviour.
Not only are these murderous weapons exported to Israel made in factories around Glasgow and Edinburgh, but even Raytheon in Glenrothes was handed £600,000 of public funding from Scottish Enterprise in 2021-22. They are being subsidised with our money.
Our MSPs can and must do more than verbally support Palestine’s right to self-determination with words, but also use their power in Holyrood by stopping our money being used to profit from these deaths.
Norman Lockhart
Innerleithen
YET again we saw political leaders sign up to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day – making vows that history should never repeat these horrors. Of course, these are the very same politicians providing political cover to Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people – apparently human rights don’t cover every human.
Alex Beckett
Paisley
READ MORE: MPs question Foreign Office as Cameron suggests move to recognise Palestinian state
SO another graduate of a military academy which, I am led to believe, still studies the wisdom of an ancient Chinese general, the tactics of Julius Caesar and the strategies of Napoleon, thinks that conscription should be reintroduced. I can see that that might produce a temporary dip in youth unemployment figures, but beyond that the words “lions” and “donkeys” spring immediately to mind!
Les Hunter
Carstairs
DO you approve of bankers’ bonuses? Vote Labour or Tory. Do you want to stop helping the environment recover? Vote Labour or Tory. Do you care what’s happening in Gaza? Vote for anybody but these wasters. They really don’t care about you or anyone but themselves and their Westminster seats. They certainly don’t care about Scotland. We are lucky in Scotland to have a choice of parties to vote for. SNP or Alba or Green are all more sensible than Labour or Tory. You could vote for an independent and show some strength. Just don’t vote for the Tories or for Labour. All they care about is England and the Union.
Tony Kime
Kelso
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