IT’S 20 years since Scotland was taken into a war in Iraq which was predicated on lies and deceit. The weapons of mass destruction and imminent Armageddon that were said to be the basis for it were proven to be fiction.

Hundreds of thousands across the country had marched and demanded peace but were simply ignored. Millions died and the world was made a far less safe place. The consequences are still with us today, with terrorism and refugees.

Then it was Tony Blair acting as sidekick to US president George W Bush.

My fellow Alba Pary MP Neale Hanvey MP was right to raise the issue in Parliament last week, forensically detailing the documentation uncovered by Declassified UK, which disclosed the legal advice which was given and yet blatantly ignored.

The National: Tony Blair and George Bush

Blair’s guilt must neither be forgotten nor forgiven. But now another crisis stalks our globe with the genocide that’s unfolding in Gaza and the wider injustice in Palestine.

The pictures shown on our TV screens are horrific enough – though it has to be said that watching Al Jazeera rather than BBC or ITV news shows an even more gruesome picture. As a parliamentarian, I’ve seen footage shown by the Palestinian ambassador and international aid agencies and the reality is much, much worse. It’s a sanitised, if not slanted, image that we’re being given.

This time it’s the Tories who are in charge but yet again the British establishment is acting as one. And again, actions are being taken that are not in our name and the truth is not being told.

The UK's abstention at the United Nations Security Council was shameful. The call was doomed due to the United States veto but failing to stand against what is a war crime was appalling.

READ MORE: Israel killed their own citizens. No mistake

Failing to support a ceasefire is bad enough. But we cannot have any complicity in the atrocity being perpetrated in Gaza – yet we’re veering dangerously towards that. It’s bad enough that armaments have been supplied. They may not directly be weapons of war but they form part of them.

Ejection seats may seem benign but when they’re installed in fighter jets, it’s a different matter entirely. And the inventory is lengthy.

The UN vote was, though, simply replicating the Tory-Labour alliance at Westminster where a ceasefire has been opposed and supplanted by the weasel words of a humanitarian pause. But what does that mean? The limited pause of course saw some respite and the release of some hostages. But this isn’t a conflict between two competing armies. There cannot be a modern-day equivalent of a Christmas truce in the trenches, some fraternisation between soldiers before the horror all recommences.

This is war by a modern, sophisticated army against a civilian population and in a very small area where they’ve been told to flee yet afforded no sanctuary when they do. The target ostensibly may be Hamas but the crossfire is across the entire field of vision. It’s civilians, not Hamas fighters, who are dying in their thousands.

READ MORE: Are you organised for Christmas? Please, don’t be ridiculous

We are about to celebrate the birth of a child in a manger in Bethlehem. Yet two millennia on, but only some 40 miles down the road, children are dying in hospitals in Gaza through the absence of basic healthcare.

OF course the Hamas attack of October 7 has to be condemned unreservedly and it’s accepted that all nations have the right to defend themselves. But this has gone way beyond defence or legitimate attack.

It’s entirely disproportionate and is now becoming an atrocity. But as with 20 years ago, the actions being taken by the UK Government are not in our name and the obfuscation and lack of answers as to UK involvement are similar.

Why have 500 additional UK military personnel been deployed to Cyprus where there’s already a substantial contingent there? Questions as to whether they are special forces meet the usual refusal to answer on their whereabouts or actions.

Initially, questions regarding the use of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus for involvement with Israel were subject to a Ministry of Defence block. When it failed to renew it after a recess, a question was sneaked in under the radar and more has been coming out. But more worryingly much is still not being told.

RAF Akrotiri has seen many flights made by UK military to Israel but much of who, what and why they’re travelling isn’t disclosed. Similarly, the US military are being allowed to use it and they are supplying Israel.

The National: RAF

Despite repeated questions as what it is they’re providing, we’re not being told. It’s not just UK citizens but the government of the Republic of Cyprus which is being kept in the dark. This is denying us and endangering them.

We’ve been told that unarmed UK surveillance drones are being flown over Gaza for the purpose of locating hostages. No-one can object to that. But when pressed on what other information might be gathered and to whom it might be given, the response was obfuscation and weasel words. It’s simply not good enough that this might be supplied to the Israel Defence Forces.

Military aid has been provided to Israel but the answer was that it was restricted to medical supplies. However, this wasn’t vaccinations for children or replacement hips for the elderly.

Instead, it could only be described as medical equipment for combat zones. That isn’t humanitarian aid even if the life of an Israeli soldier is as precious as that of a Palestinian child. We shouldn’t be assisting Israel in being in Gaza – we should be insisting on it getting out.

It seems clear Israel is intent on clearing the Palestinians from Gaza and in any event the rubble that remains will make civil life impossible. This is becoming a second Nakba and it needs to be stopped.

Sunak must cease being supine to both Israel and President Biden, who can stop this. We must not be complicit as Blair was with Bush on Iraq. This is not in our name.