Scotland bans arms companies that supply IDF from receiving financial aid | Scotland
The Scottish government banned the weapon companies that allow IDF to receive grants and investment support and will freeze support for trade with Israel.
First Minister John Swinney said on Wednesday that any defense contractor who requesting financial assistance in Scotland should prove that the products of Israeli defense forces should not be used.
Authorized, governments around the world should take urgent action in response to the humanitarian “disaster ındaki in Gaza, which is currently reasonable evidence of the genocide.
“Scale of the pain [in Gaza] It is unthinkable, the Scottish Parliament said. Nobody can ignore it. With this crisis, we must face an unchanging commitment for urgency, compassion and accountability. “
After calling the British government to support the genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice, Swinney said the transferred government in Edinburgh decided to change the rules of financial support for defense companies.
Authorized, now rightly accused of genocide to go to the products that go to any new grant or financing, he said. Swinney told its authorities that they would not provide new financial support to non -compatible companies starting from those who supply Israel to Israel, the business agency Scottish Enterprise and Scottish National Investment Bank.
Research By Ferret Website Since January 2022, Scottish Enterprise has found that the defense companies have given Raytheon, Thales and Leonardo at least £ 2.75 million, and all of them have products, including DRONS, F-35 fighter and guided missiles.
The Scottish business was told by Scottish -based companies not to facilitate non -new export agreements with Israel, before Swinney called the British government to abandon the trade agreement with Israel.
However, the British government sources accused Swinney of being “everywhere, after explaining that Scotland would leave an effective prohibition for the financing of defense contractors who provide ammunition to Ukraine.
A source said that defense companies could make contracts, including the UAE systems employing thousands of people in British military equipment to supply Ukraine and make equipment used by IDF. “Trying to do two different things at the same time is stupid,” they said.
On Sunday, the British government announced that the UAE’s shipyards on the Clyde River will play an important role in a 10 billion pound agreement with Norway to build at least five new 26 uniforms in Scotland.
In June, the first Deputy Minister Kate Forbes announced that Scottish Enterprise would give £ 9.22 million to the UAE Systems for a new skill and educational academy. A new shipbuilding facility in Clyde300 will help create new business.
The UAE Systems has been criticized by pro-Palestinian activists, because it provides pieces for the F-35 hunter program, one of the plants in other parts of England.
In this new policy, Swinney acknowledged that there were tensions, promising that apprenticeship programs financed by the Scottish state would not be affected by defense companies.
The announcement aimed at soothing the critics on the left, including the Scottish Green Party, which called for Scottish ministers to boycott the companies supplying IDF.
Combating Poverty Oxfam President Jamie Livingston said the British government should follow Swinney’s leadership.
Livingston, “Gaza is being transformed into a cemetery in front of our eyes: History will ask if the leaders have done their best to stop him. The first minister has committed to act, Westminster should do the same,” he said.
An British government spokesman said: ık We suspended licenses for export of military equipment to IDF, which can be used in operations in Gaza,, based on specific measures for exporting the global F-35 program, based on our assessment that they can be used to make serious violations of international humanitarian law.
“We will work on a meaningful process towards a two -state solution with our allies and the people in the region, and we will continue to do our best to support the foundations of the Palestinian state.”
