The Scottish government has banned arms companies which supply the IDF from getting grants and investment support, and will freeze support for trade with Israel.
John Swinney, the first minister, said on Wednesday any defence contractors who wanted financial help in Scotland would have to prove their products would not be used by the Israel Defense Forces.
He said governments around the world needed to take urgent action in response to the humanitarian “catastrophe” in Gaza, where there was now plausible evidence of genocide.
“The scale of suffering [in Gaza] is unimaginable,” he told the Scottish parliament. “Nobody can ignore it. We must confront this crisis with urgency, compassion and an unwavering commitment to accountability.”
After urging the UK government to support the genocide case against Israel at the international court of justice, Swinney said his devolved government in Edinburgh had decided to change its rules on financial support for defence companies.
It would now pause any new grants or financing for products going to countries justifiably accused of genocide, he said. Swinney had told his officials, the business agency Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish National Investment Bank not to offer any new financial support to non-compliant firms, starting with those that supply Israel.
Research by the Ferret website has found that since January 2022, Scottish Enterprise has given at least £2.75m to the defence firms Raytheon, Thales and Leonardo, all of which have products used by the IDF, including drones, the F-35 fighter and guided missiles.
Scottish Enterprise had also been told not to facilitate any new non-military export deals with Israel by companies based in Scotland, Swinney said, before urging the UK government to abandon its trade pact with Israel.
However, UK government sources accused Swinney of being “all over the place” after he also announced Scotland would drop an effective ban on financing defence contractors who supplied Ukraine with munitions.
A source said defence firms could have contracts to supply Ukraine and make equipment which was used by the IDF, including BAE Systems, which employs thousands of people on British military equipment. “Trying to do two different things at once is foolish,” they said.
On Sunday, the UK government announced BAE’s shipyards on the River Clyde would play a key role in a record £10bn deal with Norway to build at least five new Type 26 frigates, securing 2,000 jobs in Scotland.
In June, Kate Forbes, the deputy first minister, announced Scottish Enterprise would give BAE Systems £9.22m for a new skills and training academy being set up as part of a new shipbuilding facility on the Clyde, which would help create 300 new jobs.
BAE Systems has been criticised by pro-Palestinian activists because it supplies parts for the F-35 fighter programme from its plants in other parts of the UK.
Swinney appeared to accept there were tensions within this new policy by also pledging none of the Scottish government-funded apprenticeship programmes at defence firms would be affected.
His announcement was intended to placate critics on the left including the Scottish Green party, which has urged Scottish ministers to boycott firms supplying the IDF.
Jamie Livingston, the head of the anti-poverty charity Oxfam, said the UK government should follow Swinney’s lead.
“Gaza is being turned into a graveyard before our eyes: history will ask if leaders did everything they could to stop it. The first minister has committed to act; Westminster must do the same,” Livingston said.
A UK government spokesperson said: “We have suspended licences for exports of military equipment to the IDF that might be used in operations in Gaza, subject to the special measures in place for exports to the global F-35 programme, based on our assessment that these could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law.
“We will work with our allies and those in the region on a meaningful process towards a two-state solution and continue to do what we can to support the foundations of Palestinian statehood.”
