Glasgow City Chambers on George Square to fly Palestine flag as councillors continue to call for ceasefire

Glasgow council headquarters is to fly the Palestinian flag and make sure its supplier operations protect human rights as councillors continue to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

A list of actions have been agreed by Glasgow City councillors as they “show solidarity with all of the victims, their families and communities of the on-going siege of Gaza and related violence.”

Scottish Greens councillor Leódhas Massie lodged an accepted motion alongside the SNP and Labour, which will also look at  Glasgow offering financial relief to Palestinians.

Seconding his motion at Thursdays’ full council meeting, councillor Martha Wardrop said: “We want to introduce a flag policy that enables the Palestinian Flag to be flown on the 29 of November each year. This is to celebrate the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, which is observed by the United Nations.

“We can act to bring an immediate halt to all arms sales and ensure that aid is getting in and reaching the people who need it.”

The motion also “condemned anti-Semitism and agrees that all Jewish people deserve to live without harassment and discrimination.”

It asked council leader Susan Aitken to write to the UK Foreign Secretary to request an arms embargo on Israel among other measures as well as to write to First Minister Humza Yousaf to “prevent the production and transfer of weapons and weapon components from arms companies in Scotland to Israel or their allies.”

Councillor Massie said: “What we are witnessing today is genocide. It is the systematic expulsion, murder and disestablishment of a people and their nation.”

Bailie Massie said as Glasgow is the largest local authority when it deals with injustice as is being demonstrated in the motion, “people listen.”

Summing up, he added: “What we need to do is focus on what we are doing here in the council and make sure that we weed out any kind of involvement in unethical practices, any kind of indirect or direct involvement of what is going on not just in Palestine but all around the world.”

Explaining more about the role of contractors, the motion said a report would be produced looking at how the council can take action “to assure itself of supply chains that do not conflict with international humanitarian law and seek legal expertise where necessary to advise this.”

It added: “Council would also ask that in the procurement process, organisations making bids to Glasgow City Council are able to provide evidence of best practice in relation to their operations to ensure they are operating in a manner that protects the human rights of those directly and indirectly involved or affected by the organisations operations.”

The motion also outlined how the Lord Provost is to share “a message of solidarity and condolence with the Mayor of Bethlehem” and it condemned Islamophobia.

The council is also to “engage with Jewish representative groups including Scottish Council of Jewish Communities and Na’amod to demonstrate ongoing support in the fight against anti-Semitism and to take their views on whether the Jerusalem Declaration and other actions could strengthen this work.”

A conservative amendment to the motion was rejected.