Scottish Government’s Deal With IDF-Linked Firm ‘Breaks Boycott Pledge’

The Scottish government has been accused of failing to live up to its Israeli boycott policy, by agreeing to a multimillion-pound deal with a company linked to the country’s military.

GE Aerospace said on Monday it was spending £30m to modernise Glasgow’s Prestwich Airport, as part of a partnership with Ayrshire Growth Deal, the National reported. The project is led by the Scottish and UK governments, as well as three local councils. 

The US firm’s jet engines are used by Israeli military planes in Gaza, Campaign Against Arms Trade and other advocacy groups have said. In September, GE Aerospace shareholders raised concerns that the company had exported parts for military aircraft engines to countries accused of human rights abuses, including Israel. 

Scottish first minister John Swinney has said Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and last year announced his government would not give public money to companies supplying arms to the country.

“We will pause new awards of public money to arms companies whose products or services are provided to countries where there is plausible evidence of genocide being committed by that country,” he said at the time, “that will include Israel.”

The Scottish Green party have accused Swinney’s Scottish National Party (SNP) of failing to live up to this commitment with the airport renovation deal. Green MSP Laura Moodie told the National: “How can this possibly be reconciled with a policy of boycotting, divesting from and sanctioning companies that arm and support Israeli forces?”

The news of the GE Aerospace deal came just a few days after the Scottish government  partnered with Barclays on an upcoming bond issue. The bank has come under pressure for its ties to firms doing business with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The Bureau of Investigative Journalism recently reported the bank had agreed to work with a firm that makes parts for IDF drones.

A Scottish government spokesperson defended the agreement with GE Aerospace.

“The primary market of GE Aerospace’s Scottish company is not defence,” they said. “Where this is the case, the Scottish company must complete a self-declaration confirming that it does not supply military equipment, technologies, or services to Israel or Myanmar.”