SNP ministers name for IDF to be banned as a TERROR group | UK | News | EUROtoday

The SNP has discovered itself embroiled in a rising antisemitism controversy after a number of of its MSPs signed a movement suggesting that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) ought to be categorized as a terrorist organisation, stories The Times.

The movement, tabled at Holyrood by SNP backbencher James Dornan, known as for the UK authorities to proscribe the IDF alongside teams reminiscent of Al Qaeda, the Wagner Group, and Islamic Jihad — as an alternative of the marketing campaign group Palestine Action.

The transfer has sparked outrage from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which mentioned branding the IDF as a terrorist group was inherently antisemitic. “If the IDF did not exist, Israel would cease to exist,” mentioned Michael Wegier, the organisation’s chief govt. “The only implication of this motion is that it is calling for the dissolution of the state of Israel, which is clearly antisemitic.”

MPs this week voted overwhelmingly to ban Palestine Action, a bunch answerable for prison acts throughout the UK, together with in Scotland. From this weekend, membership or help of the group is now a prison offence punishable by as much as 14 years in jail.

The SNP abstained from the vote. Brendan O’Hara, the MP for Argyll & Bute, later mentioned he and his colleagues would have opposed the ban — had the UK authorities not included two “neo-Nazi” teams in the identical vote. That place triggered backlash from the SNP’s personal Friends of Palestine group, who known as the abstention “genuinely disappointing” and mentioned it despatched a “dangerous message”.

Dornan’s movement described Palestine Action as a “non-violent campaigning organisation” and accused the UK authorities of “utter compliance and subservience to the Israeli government”. It urged Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to “proscribe only those organisations [that] really do, or did, cause a threat to life, such as the Israel Defence Forces”.

The SNP was approached to remark.

The movement was supported by 5 different SNP MSPs, together with Paul McLennan, who served as housing minister underneath John Swinney till final month. Former worldwide improvement minister Ben Macpherson additionally signed, together with Evelyn Tweed, Stephanie Callaghan, Stuart McMillan and 4 Green MSPs — together with occasion co-leader Patrick Harvie.

Wegier condemned the movement as “ludicrous” and mentioned the rhetoric coming from parts inside the SNP had left Scotland’s Jewish neighborhood “horrified”. “We, as Jews, are not horrified by the idea that people might criticise the Israeli government,” he mentioned. “But there is a distinction between that and calling for Israel’s dissolution.”

First Minister John Swinney final month declined to say whether or not Palestine Action ought to be banned, calling it “an issue for the home secretary”.