Write to your MSP
Scotland Friends of Standing Together has a new model letter for supporters to use with their local Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs).
Dear [YOUR MSP],
I am writing to you as a concerned constituent who is a supporter of Friends of Standing Together Scotland (FoST Scotland). The group’s primary aim is to build direct, practical support for the work of Standing Together; a grassroots pro-peace and anti-occupation movement in Israel under joint Palestinian and Jewish leadership. Standing Together is the largest joint Jewish-Palestinian social movement in Israel and their humanitarian and social justice campaigns are vital to realising a just and democratic future for both peoples.
I hope you agree that Scotland has a duty to support such efforts in the face of the ongoing war of annihilation against Palestinians in Gaza, the violence and hostage taking of October 7th, and the settler violence and state sponsored ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.
While we understand that providing safe entry for Palestinian refugees and ending arms sales to Israel are among the powers reserved to Westminster, there are actions which MSPs must push for in the Scottish Parliament. Scotland has a unique opportunity and moral imperative to promote a just peace in Israel and Palestine.
One such action concerns ending Scottish government funding for weapons companies who are complicit in supplying weapons actively used to perpetrate war crimes and human rights abuses. As both Lorna Slater and Mercedes Villalba have brought up in parliament this year, Scottish Enterprise has given £8 million of grants to weapons companies such as Leonardo, Thales and Raytheon since 2019. While the funding did not go directly to the manufacture of weapons, support for these companies in any capacity contributes to their ability to produce weapons and the consequences of these weapons; namely, the killing and maiming of Palestinian men, women and children.
Do you agree that it is unacceptable for the Scottish government and taxpayers to be party to war crimes through its funding decisions? Will you commit to pursuing action in parliament to end Scottish Enterprise’s funding for companies that manufacture and sell weapons to Israel?
Secondly, we support Humza Yousaf’s recent motion to ensure that no taxpayer-funded contract from the Scottish Government will aid Israel’s war crimes. Any companies involved in the occupation of the West Bank or Israel’s actions in Gaza should not receive funding from the Scottish Government.
Scottish Friends of Standing Together welcomes the principled statements from many MSPs [including them if they have made any good statements] on Palestinian rights, such as the Scottish Parliament motion calling on the U.K. government to recognise Palestinian statehood. However, pledges and reports need to be actioned in order to bring about change. Political will and political action are necessities at this crucial moment as we see an escalation of violence across the region.
Therefore as my MSP, I ask you to call on the Scottish government to:
- Continue to advocate for a renewed, permanent ceasefire; the immediate release of all hostages; the withdrawal of Israeli forces; and the reconstruction of Gaza for the Palestinian people, in addition to bringing the occupation of the West Bank to an end and a condemnation of the increased violence against Palestinians living there.
- Demand that the UK government ends the practice of training IDF soldiers in the UK, ends all arms exports to Israel, and institutes a Palestinian family reunion scheme, as is called for by the Scottish Refugee Council.
- Call for a resumption of large scale humanitarian aid shipments, end to the campaign of starvation, and for the end to authoritarian rule in Gaza under Hamas.
I also ask that you act in Parliament to ensure the Scottish government:
- Withdraws Scottish Enterprise’s funding for weapons companies and refuses to issue new grants to such companies.
- Ends any public funding for companies involved in the occupation of the West Bank or the war of annihilation in Gaza.
- Firmly and publicly condemn and work to combat all forms of anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism here in Scotland.
Finally, I call on you to use your platforms to support and amplify the work of Standing Together, and other anti-war, anti-occupation movements in Israel and Palestine working towards equal rights for both peoples. I’d like to invite you to meet with me as a supporter of Standing Together to discuss these issues further.
Sincerely,
[Name]
[Constituency]
Posted 8 July 2025