To be irritated that John Swinney is going to spend next week banging on about Gaza?

Do you understand that when you say things like “we need to stop arming Israel…” that implies something to the reality of what we actually to provide Israel with?

The general interpretation of “arming” someone would reasonably be giving them a firearm ie a gun and some bullets. Providing them with a small percentage of components for 1 type of plane, some drone parts & military intelligence is not that. Oxfam even use this imagery in their campaign info in the link you provided.

A wee bit disingenuous methinks. Definitely suggest we’re sending bombs to Gaza which is absolutely not the case. I’m not sure everyone reading your comment would be aware of that…

https://www.oxfam.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-oxfam/gaza-israel-crisis-sign-petition-call-for-ceasefire-now/does-the-uk-sell-arms-to-israel/

And the intelligence we get from Israel? That’s not useful at all? Cause they’ll stop giving us intel on which Iranian agents are planning attacks on UK soil.

The most unstabilising force in the region is Iran and all its proxies. If you wanted peace in the region then you should be calling for the removal of the IRGC etc and for Hamas to be removed from power.

Man cares about the welfare of people and you are complaining about this!?

What do you mean when you say “arming Israel” because that reads as though we’re sending guns/bullets/bombs to Israel…

I grew up in the UAE — my Dad worked for a Palestinian construction firm, and I went to a Lebanese school — I was the only English kid in my year - my classmates being from all over the Arab world.

I love my Palestinian brothers and sisters dearly and can see that they have been badly let down by their leaders over the decades. To this day, it annoys me that all the Palestinian sympathisers I know in the UK sneered when the founder of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed, died in 2004 - "Just a rich Arab - who cares?" - that was one comment from an acquaintance. Within two weeks Yasser Arafat was dead and he was inconsolable. I suggest that Sheikh Zayed and other Gulf Arab leaders of his era did far more to further the cause of ordinary Palestinians than the putrid Arafat - simply by giving them work and a place to live. The Kuwaitis learned first hand how ungrateful Palestinians can be when they were invaded by Iraq in 1990.

I find my feelings about the Palestinian flag complicated. It uses the standard Arab colours, almost identical to the flag of Jordan and very similar to flags of countries like Kuwait and the UAE. I shouldn’t resent it, but after seeing policies and actions that have affected ordinary residents in my home city of Manchester, I feel uneasy about it and what it can represent- e.g. intimidation of Jewish locals and others trying to go about their business and it shouldn't generally be flown in this country in my opinion.

Silly, goady post.

What's happening in Gaza is terrible but nobody would give a fig if Israel weren't the aggressors. Nobody is talking about Yemen or Sudan, as a pp said.

And where are all the protests about what's happening in Afghanistan? The UN even appeased the Taliban and excluded women from talks.

It's all so hypocritical.

Op, you're really not coming across well. Let this go now.

But....but... he's such an important World Leader, his voice matters!

I care about a lot of things.You clearly don’t. What position do I need to be in to call someone out on ignorance, please enlighten me? A decent human being is the only answer.

Hmmm… “attention seeking wee wanker”

yep that’s exactly what I’m thinking about you OP!

It's good that he does. That he's got some decency. End of.

We do care ut no genocide is happening in the UK what sort of a monster can turn a blind eye?

Perhaps you prefer your politicians accepting money from Israel, a foreign terrorist state (according to Churchill and the late Queen) which is also an Apartheid state (says the ICJ, UN, Amnesty, B'Tselem, HRW)

www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/how-israel-funds-uk-parliamentary-staff/

Well you’re mistaken. I’m equally horrified at the atrocities going on around the world. I’m also educated to know that just because it isn’t on my doorstep doesn’t mean I shouldn’t care or take action. I imagine if something like that happened here we’d all be horrified at the people closing their eyes. Ignorance is not an excuse.

Well said!

People only have so much bandwidth, and might have more pressing concerns closer to home. You have the luxury of worrying about this, but a lot can’t. People can’t care about everything you might want them to. Do you care equally about everything happening in every country simultaneously? Are you equally outraged about everyone not in Gaza who is suffering? Should our elected officials be devoting equal time to every problem the world over? Of course not.

People opposing the genocide in Gaza are asking the govt to STOP spending money to help a foreign regime - on military flights supporting Israel, on ineffective and dangerous air drops of food aid - and impose sanctions. They can use the money they're not spending on Israel to help UK schools and OAPs.

Also, Israel has killed and endangered far more dual-national civilians, including Scots, than Hamas has.

Terrorism in Palestine was started by the Jewish militias who later became the Israeli army. They kidnapped British soldiers, hanged them and booby trapped their bodies so the rescuing soldiers were wounded. https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/british-army-palestine

The two things can exist. I take it you don’t care that innocent people are being starved and killed?

I find that commonly on the left. Maybe the right have just joined them? Doesn’t make it right - but that’s the state of politics now.