Politics
SNP ‘undermining safety’ of Scotland’s Jewish community with anti-Israel policies
The Jewish Council of Scotland fears John Swinney’s actions could have ‘significant negative implications’ for Scottish Jews
September 4, 2025 10:15
The Jewish Council of Scotland fears John Swinney’s actions could have ‘significant negative implications’ for Scottish Jews
September 4, 2025 10:15Scotland’s Jewish community has voiced alarm over the SNP government’s labelling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza a “genocide”, warning the move risks stoking antisemitism in the country.
The Jewish Council of Scotland (JCoS) said the shift – announced just days after a meeting with community leaders – could have “significant negative implications” for Jews across Scotland, despite assurances from First Minister John Swinney and Cabinet Secretary Angus Robertson.
Its warning comes after the Palestinian flag was flown outside Scottish Government buildings as Swinney announced that funding to arms companies that sell weapons to Israel had been frozen.
JCoS, the umbrella representative body for Jewish communities in Scotland, said it was “disappointing” that the SNP proceeded with the measures despite “warm and reassuring words” from Swinney and Robertson during a meeting with community leaders earlier in the week.
The government’s stance could “undermine the safety, security and well-being of the Jewish community in Scotland,” said JCoS chair Timothy Lovat, who confirmed that the Council had formally expressed its concerns in writing to the First Minister’s office.
Lovat said: “We set out our concerns in writing to the First Minister's office [on Tuesday] and will continue to engage with the Scottish Government and other stakeholders to safeguard our community's welfare and future in Scotland.”
The JCoS letter emphasised that “the language used in public discourse matters greatly”.
While recognising “the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire”, the letter asserted “both Israel and Hamas bear responsibility for this tragic situation”.
It added that the First Minister’s claims that “Israel is engaged in a genocidal campaign against Palestinians” was “irresponsible”.
“While any position you or the Scottish Government might take on the matter is unlikely to have any impact on the situation in Gaza, it is likely to have significant negative implications for our community here in Scotland,” the letter continued.
“Setting out a stance likely to be publicly perceived simply and without qualification as anti-Israel, without drawing any distinction between the state of Israel and its current leadership, or acknowledging the continuing culpability of Hamas, is likely to have a far greater and more immediate impact locally, fuelling ‘antizionist’ – and antisemitic – hatred and discrimination against Scotland’s Jews and our institutions and symbols, than it is on the situation in the Middle East, let alone in Westminster.”
It would be a “tragic irony” if communal institutions, including Scotland’s only Jewish primary school, were “required to upgrade security provision in consequence of interventions by the Scottish Government and its leadership,” JCoS added.
The letter appealed to Swinney to support a two-state solution and “the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in our ancestral homeland”.
It said: “Rather than risk increasing fear, anxiety and trauma in our community, we would respectfully ask you to work with us to promote that vision in a principled, pragmatic, and constructive manner.”
The intervention comes after the First Minister described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide” for the first time.
Speaking in Holyrood on Wednesday, Swinney suggested there was “plausible evidence” of genocide being committed by the Jewish state.
He announced that the SNP government would pause all support for defence firms that provide weapons or services to countries where there is “plausible evidence of genocide being committed by that country”, and “that will include Israel”.
As he announced the list of anti-Israel measures in the MSP debate on the conflict in the Middle East, the Palestinian flag was raised outside St Andrew’s House, the Scottish Government headquarters in Edinburgh.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also called the situation in Gaza a “genocide”.
He said the war was "beyond intolerable", adding: "The illegal occupation and genocide must end now.”
This is a shift from UK Labour leader, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who has not accused Israel of genocide, but has recently ramped up the language used when addressing the conflict, declaring the country has created a “man-made famine” in Gaza.
Meanwhile, also during the Holyrood debate on Wednesday, former first minister Humza Yousaf likened Israel’s actions in Gaza to the Holocaust.
Yousaf, who was first minister from 2023 to 2024, and whose wife has family in Gaza, said: “Never again. These are the words we repeat every single year when we attend Holocaust Memorial Day.
"We rightly gather and promise to honour the memories of the six million Jews and all of those killed during the evil of the Holocaust. Never again, we say. I’m not sure if in the annals of human history we’ve ever told ourselves a bigger lie.”
Like Swinney and Sarwar, Yousaf called the war in Gaza a genocide, adding, “Gaza is the cemetery upon which our collective humanity has died.”
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