SNP happy to give public money to Israel’s weapons manufacturers
Scottish Enterprise are set to continue funding arms companies linked to Israel and Saudi Arabia such as Leonardo, Raytheon and BAE Systems. The move has been condemned by the Scottish Greens as “shameful”.
Companies receiving funds through Scottish Enterprise are meant to be subject to a human rights due diligence check, but no company has ever failed these checks.
A new report in The Ferret has highlighted that despite a genocide taking place in Gaza, only four human rights checks were carried out on arms companies between January 2022 and April 2025, all of which have passed.
The Scottish Greens used a parliamentary debate in February to force the Scottish Government into undertaking a review of these human rights checks to ensure that Scotland is meeting its international obligations.
The review has concluded that despite funding the manufacturer of parts for F-35s and other military technology, Scottish Enterprise have never funded munitions - completely missing the point of the review.
Since the review began in February over 10,000 people have been murdered in Palestine.
Reacting to the review, Scottish Greens Co-Leader Lorna Slater MSP said:
“I am honestly shocked at this outcome, the SNP have been right to call out Westminster’s disgraceful complicity in Israel’s war crimes but when it came to taking action here in Scotland the SNP have shamefully chosen the future of war profiteers over the lives of innocent Palestinians.
“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.
“This decision shows that the SNP not only know about their funding of Israel’s arms dealers, but they are happy to green light future deals!
“The SNP have been happy to talk the talk when it comes to rightly condemning Labour’s bloody hands in this conflict, but when it really counted they've done nothing but try to sweep their continued funding of these arms dealers under the rug.
“We cannot sit back and continue to allow Scottish tax payers money to be spent on funding war profiteers. Scottish Greens will continue our fight to end Scotland's complicity in Israel's genocide.”