Scottish MSP demands Britons who fought for Israel be tried for war crimes

UK citizens who have fought with Israel in the conflict in Palestine should be tried for war crimes when they return home, the Scottish Green co-leader has insisted.

Ross Greer called on Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC – Scotland’s top prosecutor – to “make sure that every single one of these war criminals is arrested and prosecuted”.

He also called for businesses across Scotland to cease trading with Israel and cut any ties with the country.

Mr Greer insisted the conflict in Palestine has been “the worst war atrocity of our age”.

Speaking at the Scottish Green Party conference in Edinburgh on Saturday, he said: “A genocide has been gleefully inflicted on the people of Palestine right in front of our eyes, in open view.”

With a ceasefire now agreed, Mr Greer said there was a “huge amount of pressure to just forget, to just move on as if the last two years didn’t happen”.

But the Green MSP insisted his party “will never forget what has been inflicted on Palestine” and would “never stop pushing for justice”.

He said: “Our most important role in the time ahead is in ensuring that every individual who has inflicted this genocide is held to justice.

“Because over the coming weeks and months we will face a reality of people who went from the UK to serve in Israel’s occupation forces, who have spent the last two years inflicting that genocide on the people of Palestine, returning here.

“War criminals returning to walk our streets and live in our communities.

“That’s why the Scottish Greens are calling on our Government and on the Lord Advocate to make sure that every single one of these war criminals is arrested and prosecuted, because a war crime anywhere in the world is a war crime under Scots law.”

He also urged businesses across the country to “stop all links with Israel” until the people of Palestine can “live in peace”.

Mr Greer said the Scottish Government had “rightly” called on businesses to “cut all links, to cease all trade” with Russia after it invaded Ukraine.

But he added that while Scottish First Minister John Swinney had recognised that “what has happened in Palestine is a genocide”, the Scottish Government “still will not call for that same action against Israel”.

He told members: “Today at this conference our party will.

“The Scottish Greens are calling for every business in this country to cease all trade, to stop all links with Israel until the occupation is ended and until every Palestinian can live in peace, freedom and dignity.

“We owe it to our Palestinian friends to keep fighting, to keep campaigning.”