Councillors agree plan to fly Palestinian flag
GLASGOW councillors plan to fly the Palestinian flag above the City Chambers and to provide aid to people in the region.
A list of actions has been agreed by city councillors to “show solidarity with all of the victims, their families and communities of the on- going siege of Gaza and related violence”.
Leódhas Massie Scottish Greens councillor, lodged a motion alongside the SNP and Labour, which will also look at Glasgow offering financial relief to Palestinians.
The motion also “condemned anti- Semitism and agrees that all Jewish people deserve to live without harassment and discrimination.”
The motion requests the Lord Provosts add the Palestinian flag to the civic flag policy, allowing it to be flown on November 29, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
It also asked for the council to “explore the financial relief that Glasgow could offer Palestinians in Gaza by way of Medical Aid for Palestine, similar to the financial relief offered to Ukraine”.
Massie said: “What we are witnessing today is genocide. It is the systematic expulsion, murder and disestablishment of a people and their nation.”
He added: “What we need to do is focus on what we are doing here in the council and make sure that we weed out any kind of involvement in unethical practices, any kind of indirect or direct involvement of what is going on not just in Palestine but all around the world.”
The motion asked council leader Susan Aitken to write to the UK Foreign Secretary to request an arms embargo on Israel among other measures as well as to write to First Minister Humza Yousaf to “prevent the production and transfer of weapons and weapon components from arms companies in Scotland to Israel or their allies.”
Seconding his motion, Green colleague Martha Wardrop said: “We can act to bring an immediate halt to all arms sales and ensure that aid is getting in and reaching the people who need it.”
The motion also outlined how the Lord Provost is to share
“a message of solidarity and condolence with the Mayor of Bethlehem” and it condemned Islamophobia.
The council is also to “engage with Jewish representative groups including Scottish Council of Jewish Communities and Na’amod to demonstrate ongoing support in the fight against anti- Semitism and to take their views on whether the Jerusalem Declaration and other actions could strengthen this work.”
A Conservative amendment to the motion was rejected.