Scottish civil society calls for sanctions against Israel
13 July 2020 - SACC
SACC is one of the organisations supporting an open letter calling for sanctions against Israel. The letter concludes:
"As we approach the 15th anniversary of the BDS Call on 9 July, we take inspiration from the Black Lives Matter movement, whose founders have made Palestine a core component of their struggle against racism. The cold-blooded killing of George Floyd has led to widespread calls for action to finally acknowledge and root out institutional and state racism. We believe that this effort must be sincere and consistent which means that we also finally confront and help bring to an end the state racism and apartheid structures of the State of Israel. To this end, we reiterate our endorsement of the Palestinian BDS Call for non-violent punitive measures: encourage Scottish cultural and sporting bodies to boycott representatives of the state of Israel; urge action from Scottish pension funds to divest from companies that are helping to sustain state racism and apartheid in Israel-Palestine; and call for our governments to end their arms trade with Israel and to place sanctions on Israel."
Other supporters include Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Scottish Jews Against Zionism, Edinburgh TUC, Dundee TUC, Aberdeen TUC, Rozanne Foyer (General Secretary, Scottish TUC), Wael Shawish, David Jamieson, John Finnie MSP, Yvonne Ridley, Stephen Smellie (Depute Convener, Unison Scotland) and Lilian Macer (Convenor, Unison Scotland).
Individuals and organisations can add their support via the link above.
The open letter is in line with a call made by Palestinian civil society in May for effective Measures by all states to stop Israel’s illegal annexation of the occupied west Bank and grave violations of human rights.
Israel announced some time ago that it intended to annex 30% of the West Bank and Jordan Valley on 1 July. It has not so far done so. On 6 July Israel's Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said, in an apparent policy reversal, that annexation "is not on the agenda for today or tomorrow."
But for virtually all practical purposes, Israel has long ago annexed the whole of the West Bank. Ramzy Barooud writes:
"It matters little whether the annexation has a set date or takes place progressively through Israeli declarations of sovereignty over smaller chunks of the West Bank. Annexation is not a new ploy dictated by the political circumstances in Tel Aviv and Washington; rather it has been the ultimate Israeli colonial objective from the outset.
Let us not get entangled in Israel’s bizarre definitions. The truth is that Israel rarely behaves as an occupying power, but instead as a sovereign in a country where racial discrimination and apartheid are not only tolerated or acceptable, but are in fact 'legal.'"
