Last chance for SNP to stop funding Israel’s arms dealers
In the last week before parliamentary recess, the SNP must finally do their part to end their complicity in Israel’s genocide by stopping Scottish Enterprise funding to arms manufacturers.
Companies receiving funds through Scottish Enterprise are subject to a human rights due diligence check, but no company has ever failed these checks. Amnesty International has condemned the process as “inadequate”.
Following a Scottish Greens debate earlier this year, the Scottish Government committed to a review of these human rights checks to ensure that Scotland is meeting its international obligations.
However, four months on from the review beginning, the Scottish Government has yet failed to update Parliament on the progress or make changes to Scottish Enterprise’s policy.
Scottish Greens Co-Leader Lorna Slater MSP said:
“The SNP may have been talking the talk on Palestine, but since 2019, they have given at least £8 million of public money to companies involved in arms dealing and manufacturing. This includes a number of businesses who have directly supplied weapons to Israel during its assault on Gaza, including Leonardo and Raytheon.
“It’s time for them to take action against Israel’s illegal genocide. Not a single penny of public money should be spent on funding arms companies that are profiting from war crimes and genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.
“We’re now over four months on from the Scottish Government’s promised review of Scottish Enterprise human rights checks, and we’re yet to see any changes. Over ten-thousand more people have been killed in Gaza while this review has been going on.
“Other parties may be happy to sit back and watch this genocide be streamed across the world, but the Scottish Greens won’t. We are taking action at every level to stop the genocide, in council chambers, in Holyrood and on the streets. We need the war crimes to stop, we need peace for people and planet.”