Pete Gregson writes:

When Edinburgh City Council discussed twinning with Gaza in August 2022, there was a predictable storm of objections from Zionists whom are horrified at the idea. Through a Subject Access Request, the campaigner who lodged the Council petition, Pete Gregson, obtained the 32 emails the council had received opposing the bid (note there had been many thousands sent in support).

Most Palestine campaigners will be familiar with the kind of claims being made:

• That twinning with Gaza would be a gift to Hamas;
• That poor Palestinians are innocent pawns being exploited by evil Hamas terrorists;
• That if only Hamas ceased fighting Israel, Gaza would flourish.

Zionists wilfully ignored the fact that in a civic twinning with Gaza City, there would be no Hamas involvement. They ignore that Hamas was democratically elected and does not oppress women. They ignore that the majority of Palestinians are devout Muslims and it is the Islamic aspect of Hamas that appeals to those who voted for them in their landslide win in 2006. They ignore that the majority of Palestinians object to the very existence of Israel – and that Palestine generally is a conservative society.

In every case the Zionists clearly can’t see why Palestinians might find an Islamic party preferable to the corrupt administration they see in the Palestinian Authority. The Zionists thus show a typical lack of understanding of what drives Arab societies, one that is common among white Europeans, Americans, Canadians and Australians who share what is essentially a settler-colonial perspective on older, richer cultures. These countries deem Hamas to be a terrorist body, through a proscription that has been promoted by Israel, one that denies Hamas its right to be the voice representing the settled will of Palestine.

The Zionists’ emails, with their names redacted by the council – but with comments on their mistruths added by the petitioner – have been compiled into a document which can be downloaded here.

There are two tranches, because the petition went before Edinburgh’s Policy Committee twice. Some emails are dated from March, when it was withdrawn following UK Lawyers for Israel threats; the second hearing was in August, following legal assurances from Michael Mansfield KC and Police Scotland that there was nothing illegal in twinning with Gaza. Because the correspondents’ names are redacted, it is impossible to know how many are from Edinburgh residents. It is likely many come from the Glasgow Friends of Israel, as there are few Jews in Edinburgh.

The outcome of the Policy Committee’s decision of 30 August 2022, to get Edinburgh Partnership to explore Gaza supporting opportunities, can be found here.

The committee refused to allow either Gazans, other British twinning supporters or the petitioner himself to address the committee because of “legal considerations”. The council has refused to disclose what these are, so the Freedom of Information request is now under consideration by the Scottish Information Commissioner (see here).

Reading these emails, that were meant to stop the cxouncil supporting Gaza, helps us to see the lies promulgated by Zionists seeking to deny the people of Gaza their right to exist. To know these lies is to be able to challenge them whenever they’re uttered, something we must push the media to do also. Zionist mistruths are what Israel depends upon to drive its hateful Islamophobic carriage over Palestinian human rights.