Edinburgh, Scotland's city council is formally discussing a proposal to twin with Gaza City.
The proposal is being met with a backlash from pro-Israel groups, who point out that Gaza is controlled by Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organization under the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000.
The proposal was authored by Pete Gregson, an activist who was expelled from the GMB union in 2019 for alleging Israel was a “racist endeavor” that “exaggerates” the Nazi’s murder of six million Jews for “political ends,” the UK Jewish News reported.
The Twinning Edinburgh with Gaza petition will be brought up by the council on March 29 during its Policy and Sustainability Committee hearing.
The measure is being backed by two Scottish National party MPs, along with anti-Zionist activist Norman Finkelstein and writer Ilan Pappe.
In the proposal, the authors said they had drafted the document because Britain was “to some extent the architect of the Palestinian’s misfortune by having gifted the beginnings of what is now Israel to Zionists through the 1917 Balfour Declaration.”
They also wrote: “By twinning, the City of Edinburgh can show the people of Gaza City they are not alone, and that Scottish people see their pain and care for their future well-being.”
The proposal was condemned by Jewish groups, including UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), who pointed out in a letter that due to Hamas being listed as a terrorist entity, “It is very difficult to see how councillors or officers could participate in any twinning activity without committing criminal offenses.”
According to the Jewish News, the UKLFI letter said: “The Jewish community in Edinburgh is alarmed by the petition, especially as it promotes the elimination of Israel as the world’s only Jewish state.”