06-07-2025
SNP MSPs call for Israeli Defense Forces to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation
A motion attacking Israel's military was signed by several MSPs from the SNP and Scottish Greens.
Two former Scottish Government ministers have backed calls for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK.
Paul McLennan and Ben Macpherson signed a motion lodged at Holyrood last week by SNP MSP James Dornan, a repeated critic of the Israeli Government.
It condemns a recent vote by MPs at Westminster to ban the Palestine Action activist group in the UK after it broke into an RAF base and damaged several warplanes.
The motion, which is also backed by several Green MSPs, calls on the Home Secretary to instead "proscribe only those organisations that, it considers, really do, or did, cause a threat to life, such as the Israel Defense Forces".
The call was branded "ludicrous" by the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Chief executive Michael Wegier told the Times: "If the IDF did not exist, Israel would cease to exist.
"Had the IDF not existed since Israel was created in 1948, there would be no Israel. So the only implication of this motion is that it is calling for the dissolution of the state of Israel, which is clearly antisemitic.
"We, as Jews, are not horrified by the idea that people might criticise the Israeli government, but there is a distinction between that and calling for Israel's dissolution — and the proscribing of the IDF would be exactly that, if it was seen through to its logical conclusion."
Wegier continued: "If the Scottish National Party one day wants there to be an independent Scotland, and wants to be taken seriously as an international player in the Middle East, making yourself an anathema to the one liberal democratic country in the Middle East does seem rather absurd,' he said.
"The SNP, and Scottish politicians generally, need to ask themselves the question of whether they want Scottish Jews to feel comfortable living in Scotland. Because I know from the conversations I've had, with both Jews in Scotland and Jews in the UK or Israel who are from Scotland, that they are horrified at the tenor of the anti-Israel conversation and the lack of understanding of Israel's predicament."
Westminster's decision to ban Palestine Action - meaning anyone found to be supporting the group faces arrest - has been questioned by Scottish trade unionists, who said it risked "undermining efforts to counter real terrorist organisations".
The decision to ban the group was welcomed by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar. But SNP MPs abstained when the issued was voted on in the Commons last week.
A Nationalist MP later suggested they would have voted against the motion had it not meant that they would also be voting against proscribing two far-right groups, the Maniacs Murder Cult and the Russian Imperial Movement.
An SNP spokesperson told the Times: "Since the beginning of this conflict, the SNP has been consistent in calling for an immediate ceasefire by all parties, the unconditional release of hostages, an end to UK arms sales to Israel and the recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state as part of a two-state solution to secure a lasting peace.
"The focus of the international community must be in ensuring that peace is delivered, that humanitarian aid is delivered unimpeded to those who need it and that the international rule of law is enforced."
