MSPs denounce boycott

Israel supporters demonstrate outside the Scottish Parliament building

THE FIRST debate on a pro-Israel motion to take place in the Scottish Parliament saw heated exchanges, claims of apartheid, and boycott campaigners accused of using antisemitic language.

Israel’s deputy ambassador to Britain Eitan Na’eh attended last Thursday’s debate, with dozens of pro-Israel grassroots activists outside Edinburgh’s Parliament building waving Israel flags.

The motion was tabled by Scottish Conservatives deputy leader Jackson Carlaw. He said anti-Israel activists slipped “sometimes deliberately into the language of antisemitism” when making their arguments.

“Some overtly personally blame ‘the Jews’, a term used in that context pejoratively over the actions of a foreign country,” he said. That had led to a “feeling of alienation, isolation and vulnerability” among Scottish Jews.

Mr Carlaw said politicians should not use events such as Holocaust Memorial Day as a “box-ticking annual exercise” or as a cover for antisemitism throughout the rest of the year. Ministers including the Scottish National Party’s Stewart Maxwell and Labour’s Ken Macintosh, urged against a cultural boycott.

Mr Macintosh asked: “Is that really what we have become? A harsh, unwelcoming, intolerant country more interested in preventing concerts or banning books than spreading understanding?”

But Green MSP Alison Johnstone accused Israel of “apartheid”. She said a cultural boycott was not antisemitic but was “moderate” and a “legitimate form of protest”.

The SNP’s Fiona Hyslop, Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs, said the Scottish government condemned antisemitism and wanted cultural ties to continue as an encouragement to dialogue. There was no vote on the motion.

Mr Na’eh said he was “honoured” to have been invited to the debate, and praised the “good and historic friendships that exist between Scotland and Israel”.