Protesters left to watch the birdies

A Glasgow charity golf day for Israel passed off without major incident on Tuesday as a call for disruption by the Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign attracted minimal support.

Officials at Bonnyton Golf Club, which hosted the annual JNF/KKL Scotland Professionals Pro-Am tournament, reported that the eight people who turned up to demonstrate were outnumbered by police. The Community Security Trust had also sent representatives from Manchester.

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And then they came for my Osem soup

Leaving my wild-eyed, pre-Shabbat, mummy persona behind, along with the smell of burnt kugel and a detailed list for my husband, I strode out.

Shabbat wasn’t until 8.30 and in the intervening three hours I would be covering a talk by Palestinian union official, Manawel Abdellal, invited guest of the Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign.

The event was timed to crow about the STUC’s decision to back a boycott of Israel. It just felt like it was timed to thwart me on a Shabbat when we had guests, no time and a very large chicken.

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Muslims offer to help shul

The Scottish-Islamic Foundation has offered to protect a synagogue which was damaged in an attack.

Its chairman Ken Imrie wrote to Rabbi David Rose of Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation to say the Foundation “would wish to physically guard the synagogue ourselves” if the Jewish community was unable to arrange suitable security.

The synagogue suffered £1,000 of damage, including smashed windows, last Thursday.

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Kennedy defends Mid-East record

Former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy defended his record on Israel when he addressed 120 members of the Glasgow Jewish community at Calderwood Lodge School on Sunday.

The Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP kept his lecture on world affairs and human rights issues brief to devote a large part of the meeting to audience questions.

Asked why he was not more pro-Israel, Mr Kennedy replied: “I would rather be known as a candid friend of Israel than tell people what they want to hear. My record speaks for itself.

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Dundee students to boycott Eden water

Dundee University Students Association has resolved to boycott BAE Systems and Eden Springs because of their interests in Israel.

Before last Thursday’s debate on the boycott resolution, Dundee’s university authorities had already agreed to instruct their investment managers to sell defence industry stock, including that in BAE Systems, in response to student pressure.

As a result the debate focused on the water company, Eden Springs. The motion, proposed by the Stop The War Coalition, was backed by 125 of the 180 students attending.

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Cash crisis threatens chaplaincy provision

Student chaplaincy around the country is under threat because of the economic downturn, the annual meeting of Northern Region Chaplaincy was told at Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation on Sunday.

Meeting chair Nicola Livingston stressed the importance of stepping up efforts to find funding for a new regional chaplaincy couple following the departure of Rabbi Dovid and Sora Cohen in July after 14 years of service.

Without the £25,000 that is to be sought in Scotland, recruitment would be problematic, she said. The region also incorporates North-East England.

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‘Hamas supporter’ speaks at Scottish HMD event

A Scottish anti-Israel fringe group has held what it claimed was a Holocaust Memorial Day event, with a guest speaker who openly supports Hamas.

The Scottish Palestinian Solidarity campaign hosted two all-day events in Edinburgh and Glasgow on Sunday January 25 entitled Resistance to Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing : from Europe in the 1940s to the Middle East Today.

The key speakers were Dr Azam Tamimi, director of the London-based Institute of Islamic Political Thought, and Liliane Kaczerginsky, daughter of Yiddish poet Shmerke Kaczerginsky.

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I can't - and don’t want to - ignore Israel now

I am at the Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign’s (SPSC) Holocaust Memorial event in an ex-army drill hall. A handful of tired-looking SPSC members mill around, all matted hair and colourful knitwear. At a side table, two well-dressed gentlemen are deep in discussion in Arabic. One is Assam Tamimi, director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought in London and self-confessed Hamas supporter.

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