On 3 September 2025, the Scottish Parliament formally adopted a policy of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel. This followed the successful vote for an amendment brought by the Green Party calling for BDS.
On that same day, First Minister John Swinney made a clear statement pledging that no more public funds would be sent, via Scottish Enterprise, to any arms company in Scotland supplying weaponry to Israel.
Lamentably, one full year on, neither of these policy commitments have been duly implemented.
This is a clear political evasion and legal abrogation of a parliamentary vote and democratically agreed decision.
Questioning this failure, the Green Party, media probes, and pro-Palestinian organisations have all faced similar evasive responses.
Scottish Government dealings with Israel are a clear negation of International Court of Justice provisional measures instructing states and other political bodies not to facilitate genocide.
First Minister John Swinney has also violated these ICJ rulings, alongside his own BDS policy and arms pledge, through the Scottish Government’s choice of Barclays Bank as a financial broker for its coming government bond issuance.
Barclays already finance the arms companies supplying Israel, and act as a primary dealer for Israeli government bonds, serving to run the regime’s attacks on Gaza and its economy of genocide.
Additionally, the Scottish Government made no attempt to block the dirty sports-washing deal between Barclays and the Scottish Football Association over the bank’s sponsorship of Hampden.
In July 2026, the Scottish Government, ignoring the Holyrood vote, sent a “Team Scotland” delegation to the Farnborough arms fair, working alongside Elbit Systems, BAE Systems, Leonardo, RTX Raytheon and other military/tech firms enabling Israel’s genocidal operations in Gaza.
In the face of all these violations and evasions, the Scottish Government must now implement its BDS policy and arms pledge by:
Showing convincing proof that it will now end all economic, trade, diplomatic and cultural dealings with Israel. This includes halting all connections with Barclays.
Provide open and substantive proof that it has fully terminated all funding to arms companies in Scotland sending weaponry and components to Israel.
IMPLEMENT THE BDS POLICY AND
HONOUR THE ARMS PLEDGE NOW