GLASGOW, August 7 (RIA Novosti), Mark Hirst – A member of the Scottish government has denied allegations that Scotland’s objection to the Israeli military offensive and a ban on arms trade with Tel Aviv were rooted in anti-Semitic sentiment.
“I am saddened that people like myself, prepared to deplore violence from whatever quarter, are accused of anti-Semitism for criticizing Israel's callous disregard for humanitarian norms and international law,” Independent Member of the Scottish Parliament John Finnie told RIA Novosti.
A senior representative of the Jewish community in Scotland said to RIA Novosti there is “horror and anger” at the decision of the Scottish government to back the arms embargo following the recent conflict in Gaza.
Paul Morron, President of the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council, claimed that since the start of the conflict there had been a rise in anti-Semitic incidents across Scotland and in particular in Glasgow.
“We are seeing evidence of a growing rise in anti-Semitism in Scotland and throughout the UK,” Morron told RIA Novosti. “The number of anti-Semitic incidents since this conflict started has gone up considerably. Within the Glasgow Jewish community there have been some fairly nasty incidents too.”
“As far as the Scottish government calling for a ban on arms sales to Israel I think that represents sheer hypocrisy when the Scottish government since the start of this conflict have talked about Israel’s right to self-defense,” Morron added. “This is the whole antithesis of self-defense when you are preventing the country from defending itself. It is unacceptable.”
But Ann Marie Maclean, spokeswoman for Police Scotland told RIA Novosti, “There have been no incidents of an anti-Semitic nature reported to police in the past four to five weeks or since the Gaza-Israel unrest.”
Finnie, who visited Gaza in 2012 and heard first-hand accounts from the medical authorities about the impact of the Israeli blockade, insisted the criticism was directed at Israeli action in Gaza and not the Jewish people.
"I visited Gaza the week after the truce in December 2012 and heard first hand from the medical authorities about the implications of the blockade, for instance they were unable to get a bulb for the hospital's scanner,” Finnie said.
“I cannot image how much worse the situation is two years on following Israel's criminal attacks on the civilian population,” she stressed.
"I am proud of the Scottish government's offers to treat the injured and provide asylum and their calls for an arms embargo on Israel and a UN Inquiry into the collective punishment of the Gazan population,” Finnie added.
“In contrast the UK government's response has been pitiful, as ever, supportive of financial rather than humanitarian interests.”
Earlier RIA Novosti spoke to Doctor Belal Dabour, a Palestinian working at the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Dabour welcomed the Scottish Government’s intervention but added there was an urgent need for help.
“Of course more action will be welcomed,” Dabour told RIA Novosti. “Gaza has been in need for everything for many years, and now after this destruction the needs have doubled. Whatever it is, you name it, we need it.”
In a separate development Glasgow City Council, Scotland’s largest local authority, announced that it would fly the Palestinian flag above its headquarters Friday in a “show of solidarity” with the people of Palestine. Glasgow is twinned with the Palestinian West Bank town of Bethlehem.
Glasgow Jewish Representative Council President Paul Morron told RIA Novosti, “It will do nothing to alleviate any of the suffering on either side of the border and it will not bring peace one step closer. What it will do is be divisive within the Glasgow community.”
According to Palestinian medics, almost 1,900 Gazans, most of them civilians, have been killed in the Palestinian exclave since the start of Israel’s military operation, although Israel claims the death toll stands at 900 casualties.
Israel launched its Operation Protective Edge in Gaza on July 8, targeting the Hamas movement and its allied groups of rebels. On July 17, following days of fighting, Tel Aviv switched to a ground offensive to destroy the network of Hamas tunnels around the border area.
