 Thank you. The next item of business is a debate on motion 11342 in the name of Hamza Yousaf on the situation in the middle east. I would invite those members who would wish to speak in the debate to please press the request of sweet buttons. I call on Hamza Yousaf, First Minister, to speak to and to move the motion up to 13 minutes please. Rwy'n credu i'r rai oedd yn gweithio'r awr, mae'n gweithio'r awr yn 7 o f獲. Nadiaethau i'r meseiddiad o'r ysgolwch i'r ysgolwch i'r maesiddiad o Elizabeth, yn Gassan, ac yn gwneud yn y dystres o'r ysgolwch yn gweithio'r ysgolwch. Rwy'n ysgolwch i'r maesiddiad o Elizabeth, ac mae'n gweithio'r awr yn Gifnachwl. Rwy'n cyfan y brif i'r meseiddiad o'r awr. Mae'n rai'n gweithio i'r meseiddiad o'r ysgolwch i'r maesiddiad o Elizabeth, mae'r rhaglen i'r maesiddiad o'r ysgolwch i'r maesiddiad o Elizabeth. Mae gweithio'r awr yn 7 o ffwrdd yn mynd ar gyfligol ysgolwch i'r ysgolwch i'r maesiddiad o Elizabeth, those around the world, it's a community in mourning and many living in fear. Many families in israel, the 13-year-old Yag materialsil, who has been taken hostage by militants, they are in a state of despair worrying about their loved ones, not knowing if they are alive or if they are dead. That is why the Government, themselves I am certain, is unequ Thousands of un-equivical demands that hostages are released ari yn ifennau le wedi ei bod yn ad nad o beth felly dim yn ei glawb? Mae unig yw'r bdobi yn ein glawb, mae'n ei chwell, mae'r dysparau, sy'n gchael ac mae'n ddegwydd arall aethraedd, nad yw'r parysgwil yn ysgoledau. Mae'n ddegwydd arall o ddegydd, ddim yn ei ddim yn ei ddydd Digyroedd, ac mae'r ddegwydd yn ei ddegwydd arall i ni. Mae'n ddegad o ddegedd Dr Ibrahim Kadra, rhai anferacadau, ysgrifennidol hon oed is in the gallery today. I met Dr Kadra last week. He told me the devastating news that 70, 70 members of his extended family in Gaza had been killed. The pain was indescribable as he fought back tears and told me of the dreams of his little nieces and nephews that were no more. And in this one example alone there should be a lesson for all of humanity the world over. One of the oldest lies ever told in war is that people can be collateral damage. Let me be clear, Presiding Officer. Babies are not collateral damage. Children are not collateral damage. The elderly are not collateral damage. Innocent men, women and children are not collateral damage. They are human beings who deserve to live, who deserve to grow old and not be killed for the crimes of others. The Scottish Government has repeatedly made clear that Israel has a right like any other country in the world to protect its citizens from terror. However, no country, Israel included, has a right to ignore international humanitarian law. That is why this Government has repeatedly called for an end to the 16-year blockade and siege of Gaza. This is why this Government is unequivocal and condemnation of the Israeli Government cutting off water, food, fuel and supplies to the entire population of Gaza at the beginning of this latest cycle of violence. Collective punishment can never be justified. The Scottish Government supports wholeheartedly the international criminal court investigating reports of any breaches of international law. I have written to the UK Government urging them to back the ICC in its investigation of war crimes being committed by any party during this conflict. The suffering in Gaza has shaken the world. Over 13,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Israel's offensive, two thirds of whom are women and children. To put this into some perspective, that is the equivalent of over 300,000 people being killed in the UK. At least 1.7 million people in Gaza are currently internally displaced and struggling to find safety or access to food and water. In the past week, the situation in Gaza's hospitals has deteriorated dramatically. On Sunday, the World Health Organization described Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza as an, I quote, a death zone. To save lives, doctors like my own brother-in-law Mohammad are forced to practice medieval medicine, reportedly amputating limbs, stitching up serious wounds, even performing caesarian sections without sufficient anesthetic. This is a cruelty that cannot be allowed to continue. Morally, there is no justification, none, for bombing of medical facilities and UN schools that are being used as shelters. Humanitarian organisations and medical facilities must be given special protections under international law and they must be allowed to deliver life-saving services to those in need. The people of Gaza do not just live in fear of missiles killing them. They are at grave risk from starvation, dehydration and infection. According to the UN World Food Programme, supplies of food and water are, to quote, practically non-existent. The entire population is being deprived of basic means of survival and the ability of humanitarian agencies to provide these essentials safely has been severely curtailed by the lack of access to fuel and the loss of humanitarian workers and medical personnel. The Scottish Government's position has remained and does remain consistent. In the face of such destruction, death and inhumanity, an immediate ceasefire, agreed by all sides, is needed to ensure the protection of innocent civilians and the delivery of essential supplies, including food, fuel, water and medical provisions. Presiding Officer, some people have suggested that we should be seeking to achieve a humanitarian pause. Simply a pause on the killing of innocent men, women and children, only what to resume a few hours later. Surely we must and can strive for better than that. For the sake of the people of Gaza who are living in a nightmare of unimaginable terror and for the Israeli hostages who remain captive, this Parliament and the international community must unite in calling for an immediate ceasefire. Presiding Officer, let me be clear that when it comes to Gaza, Gaza belongs to the people of Palestine, to the Palestinian people. Whatever its future, it must remain under the control of the Palestinian people. No one has a right to expel Gazans from their land. Many Palestinians will wish to remain in Gaza. It is their land after all and it is right that the current focus is on calls for a ceasefire and providing humanitarian aid to them. But an estimated 50% of northern Gaza's buildings have been turned into rubble. The dropping of more than 10,000 bombs, missiles and projectiles in one of the most densely populated areas in the world has caused complete devastation. Should there be a need to provide sanctuary to refugees, we have called upon the UK Government to use existing resettlement schemes to work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to establish a route to safety for the most vulnerable Gazans. As I have reiterated, Scotland is ready to play its part in any such scheme but also in the medical evacuation of injured citizens from Gaza and, indeed, Israeli citizens if so required through activation of the UK medical evacuation scheme. Just as hospitals in the UAE have helped to treat injured Gazans, Scottish hospitals are ready to treat injured civilians where we can. The Parliament stands as one and exerts that the horrors in Israel and Palestine can never justify expressions of antisemitism, of Islamophobia, of racial or religious hatred of any kind in Scotland or elsewhere. I have never hidden the fact that I am Muslim. My faith is intertwined in history, in theology, with our Jewish friends and we are of the Abrahamic tradition alongside Christians. In Scotland, the Muslim and Jewish communities have enjoyed decades of friendship, decades of shared humanity and faith. Nowhere is that more evident than in East Renfrewshire, home of Scotland's largest Jewish community and a significant Muslim population, who have lived side by side in harmony for many years. We cannot be complacent, we must all be proactive in rooting out any hint of Islamophobia or antisemitism wherever it occurs. Even though it feels impossible to look past the current horrors of war, we must ensure that this perpetual cycle of violence that we see occur far too often finally ends once and for all in a peaceful resolution. To that end, there must be a renewed and serious international effort towards a two-state solution. Israeli and Palestinian states that can coexist in safety, security and with equal rights for each of its citizens. Unfortunately, the world has not kept its promise to the Palestinian people. They have not been given a free sovereign state along the 1967 borders, as they were promised. Quite the opposite. The continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is not only illegal but works against a peaceful resolution. It is simply not enough anymore to pay lip service to a two-state solution. We must take steps to turn that into reality. To that end, I have written to the Prime Minister and to Sir Keir Starmer and urged him to immediately take steps to ensure that the UK recognises the state of Palestine. It is only with full recognition of Palestine as a state in its own right that we can truly move forward towards a two-state solution. Government continues to call for an immediate ceasefire, for the safe release of all hostages, for an end to the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza, for an end to the siege of Gaza and for all parties to abide by international law. The UK government, the international community, must use their influence to prevent the further loss of innocent life. Every child the world over deserves to grow old. The children of Gaza and Israel deserve nothing less. It is our moral obligation to act. Let us hope, even in the darkest of times, that humanity prevails. I move the motion and my name. Thank you, First Minister. I now call on Donald Cameron to speak to and to move amendment 11342.2 up to nine minutes, please, Mr Cameron. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I move the amendment in my name? I would like to begin with, in the spirit of consensus, that the First Minister achieved in his speech in what is, unequivocally, a desperate and tragic situation, because I think it was stating at the outset that there are broad areas of common agreement within this chamber more than many would admit to. I listened very carefully to the First Minister and I found it very difficult to disagree with almost everything he said in this measured, eloquent speech. There is a difference of opinion about a ceasefire, but that aside there is, as I have said, a wide area of commonality. Our amendment retains and repeats much of the Scottish Government's motion. There is near universal condemnation of the atrocity that occurred on the 7th of October. The details that have emerged since the attacks on innocent civilians by Hamas have been horrific. Several thousand rockets launched into Israel, killing at least 1,200 people and taking a reported 242 hostages, most of whom remain as hostages at the time of this debate. Operation Al-Aqsa flight as it was termed by Hamas will be forever remembered for the savagery and violence that was inflicted on innocent Israelis, men, women and most grievously children. Turning to how people in Scotland reacted to this appalling event, I think that it is important to acknowledge two things. First, I note the comments of Angus Robertson, who became the first Scottish Government minister to publicly and unreservedly condemn those attacks. Second, I applaud the actions of the First Minister, who at a time of acute personal anxiety, given the fact that his family were at that stage trapped in Gaza, visited a synagogue in Gifnwch and both prayed and grieved with the families of one of the victims of Hamas attacks, Bernard Cowan. That will never be forgotten. Regrettably, and it pains me to make this point, those commendable actions contrast with how this institution, the Parliament, reacted, because the Parliament failed to do anything meaningful at this point. The European Parliament, the UK Parliament and countless other legislatures around the world exhibited the Israeli flag in solidarity with the Israeli nation. But we did nothing. We said nothing. We did not even lower a flag. This wasn't about taking sides or being partisan, it was simply about acknowledging the devastating and tragic loss of life as a result of a terrorist attack. Can I turn to some other issues? As our amendment notes, we welcome the emergency funding, promised by both the UK and Scottish Governments to help provide vital aid to innocent civilians on the ground. Both of those packages will provide essential food items and services such as food, water and emergency shelter. It is important to note that those packages will be spent by trusted partners such as UN agencies. The UK Government is explicit in saying that such funding undergoes rigorous oversight. However, as I have said, there is one major political difference between our position and that of the Scottish Government. That is the question of demanding an immediate ceasefire. We do not agree with that. We believe that our position is a mainstream one that is shared by the President of the United States of America and is shared by the leadership of both the Conservative and Labour parties at a UK level. Like any sovereign state, Israel has a right to defend itself against terrorists, but every precaution must be taken by the Israeli Government to protect innocent civilians from harm. We, like the Scottish Government in the motion, abhor the loss of innocent lives. Looking back over the last month, we have all been asked to support the cause for a ceasefire by many different individuals and groups. Most of these are well intentioned and have the aim, rightly, of ending the violence and to encourage both the Israeli Government and the Palestinian authorities to engage in dialogue with each other. We all want to see peace in the Middle East, ordinary Israelis and Palestinians included. The only way that this can be possible is through meaningful and respectful dialogue, but a ceasefire requires both of the two opposing sides to support it. Regrettably, it has been clear for some time now that Hamas will not respect a ceasefire. Hamas does not even respect the right of Israel to exist, let alone work towards peace. The comments from a senior Hamas official aired on the Lebanese LBCI channel on 24 October were as stark as they were frightening. He said, this is Ghazid Hamad, we must teach Israel a lesson and we will do this again and again. The al-Aqsa flood is just the first time and there will be a second, a third, a fourth. These are not the words of a group that will settle for peace. These are the words of a group that many believe will use a ceasefire to regroup and advance its brutal aim of destroying the state of Israel. That is why we support the right of Israel, not just to defend itself, but to target Hamas and its resources. But in doing so, we also agree that this must be done in accordance with international law. It must be done in a way that ensures innocent civilians are not deliberately targeted and does its utmost to minimise civilian casualties. We recognise that the reality is that Hamas is a terrorist organisation that embeds itself in civilian populations. It has positioned itself in its infrastructure in schools, hospitals and residential areas. This has undoubtedly created significant complications and has resulted in a loss of innocent life. When that is the approach from the leadership of Hamas, there is no hope that a full and meaningful ceasefire would work at this stage. Equally, it is clear that events of the 7th of October have set back the cause of achieving a two-state solution by a significant degree. That is why diplomatic interventions from western liberal democracies remain critical, as well as the important role that many of the surrounding Arab states will play in diffusing tensions. While this conflict remains on-going, we support the cause for humanitarian pauses. That carries risks. We believe that this is the most realistic means of ensuring that UK nationals can leave Gaza, that hostages are released and extracted from Gaza and that humanitarian aid can get into Gaza. UK Government has consistently called for this, but it will only be achieved through diplomacy. It is through many of the diplomatic efforts by several international actors that the Rafa crossing was open to allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza, as well as allowing up to 500 foreign nationals and injured civilians into Egypt. More can and more must be done to extend these pauses so that the UN and aid charities can intervene on the ground in order to prevent further loss of life. We are currently awaiting the news, as I speak, on whether an agreed truce can take place in relation to hostages and the careful diplomatic efforts that are ongoing. If that succeeds, then potentially that is a model to follow. To close, Deputy Presiding Officer, this is a complex and deep-rooted conflict that many of us will never be able to fully comprehend. I acknowledge that this debate will be passionate, but I do hope, in the spirit of the First Minister, that there are some things that everyone in this chamber can agree on, that Hamas' attack on Israel on 7 October was a despicable act of terror, that all hostages forcibly taken from Israel into Gaza are released, that innocent civilians on all sides are protected, and that aid is able to reach everyone that needs it. I also hope that we can agree that the ultimate goal to achieving peace in the Middle East is the delivery of a two-state solution that works for Israel and Palestine. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I hope that we can all agree to oppose anti-Semitism and Islamophobia wherever they present themselves and stand with our Jewish and Muslim constituents here in Scotland at this most difficult of times. We have all been absolutely horrified by the tragic scenes that we have been seeing on our television screens, the indiscriminate loss of innocent life, innocent young people murdered at a music festival, women and children being taken hostage, children being killed because of rocket fire, babies dying because their incubators cannot run due to a lack of fuel and electricity. At times it is felt as if humanity is dying before our very eyes, and in these dark times the hope for peace cannot end. Today, Scottish Labour will be voting for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East because it is vital that we see a cessation of all violence. I believe that four things need to happen immediately. The end of rocket fire into and out of Gaza, let me be clear, that means a ceasefire right now. The immediate release of all hostages, immediate access of humanitarian aid into Gaza, including food, water, electricity, fuel and medical supplies. I am also clear that withholding such vital humanitarian aid, in my view, is a clear breach of international law. We need a pathway to a peace process because right now we have no peace and we have no process. For those of us who continue to support and call for an immediate ceasefire, we must recognise the barriers that we must overcome. For a ceasefire to work, all sides must be willing to comply. Secondly, we must recognise that Hamas has made clear that it intends to repeat the October 7 massacre and intends to continue rocket fire. Tragically, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear that he is not willing to even consider a ceasefire. That is why the full force of international diplomacy must be used to create the conditions to make an immediate ceasefire a reality. I think that it is really important for us to stress that Hamas is not the Palestinian people. They are a terrorist organisation, but it is also important to stress that the Israeli people are not the right-wing Government of Benjamin Netanyahu either—a man, I believe, who has no interest in peace. That is why the political situation on the ground must change if we are to see the realisation of a two-state solution with an end to illegal occupation, an end to illegal siege and an end to illegal settlements. That is why, throughout the violence that we have seen over the past six weeks, I have been unequivocal in my condemnation of the barbaric acts of terror by Hamas, that there is no justification for the collective punishment of 2.2 million citizens in Gaza, that I believe the Israeli Government are in breach of international law and that peace is only possible not with bullets and bombs, but with a political process that leads to a two-state solution with an end to illegal occupation. Our amendment today calls for the international criminal court to investigate the actions of all sides in this conflict, because we must stay true to a rules-based international system and everyone's actions must be judged to make sure that they are in proper accordance with that international humanitarian law. In reference to the amendment in the name of Alex Cole-Hamilton, we accept the substance of the argument that ultimately there is no military solution to this conflict and that peace will only come through a political process. I want to give some reflections on the situation in Gaza. I had the very good fortune back in 2008 to visit the Gaza Strip long before I was a member elected to this Parliament, and I went on that visit with my good friend Pauline McNeill. I actually visited the Al Shifa hospital that has become such a focus of the conflict in the last few days. We actually went on a humanitarian mission to deliver a generator to keep the lights on and those incubators on in the Al Shifa hospital. What I saw there back in 2008 has stayed with me and shaped my thinking ever since. I stood around those incubators and saw the life-saving work that was being done, but I also saw those incubators that were not able to work because essential maintenance supplies were not being allowed into Gaza by the Israeli authorities. I actually remember standing at those incubators embracing Pauline McNeill as we both sobbed at what we were seeing. I saw the kidney dialysis machines that are now switched off due to a lack of electricity and fuel, meaning that life-saving services that they provide cannot happen. And to think that 15 years on the situation in Gaza has got worse, not better. That is a collective failure, a 15-year failure of the international community and global leaders, and frankly it shames the entire world. Now when I was in Gaza in 2008, half the population were only able to eat due to UN food programmes. That is worse now. Only one third of the population was unemployed, worse now. One third of the essential medicines listed by the World Health Organization were unavailable to the people of Gaza in 2008, worse now, and the light of peace has only dimmed since then. By calling for an immediate ceasefire today, I hope that this is not just a moment where this Parliament and those who want peace across the world unite to call for a ceasefire. I hope that this is a game changer in this decades-long conflict so that we can finally give the people of Palestine and the people of Israel the peace and the justice that they so desperately need and so desperately demand. In closing, I think that it is important to recognise that although this is a conflict in another part of the world, it has caused heightened tensions here at home. Let me be unequivocal and clear. There is no place in our society whether that be in a classroom, in a college or university campus, in a workplace, on our public transport or on our streets for any form of prejudice and hate. We will stand shoulder to shoulder with our Jewish community in the face of antisemitism and we will stand shoulder to shoulder with our Muslim community in the face of Islamophobia and we will stand shoulder to shoulder with any community that faces any form of prejudice or hate because it is only if we see that fight as a fight for all of us will we see a more equal and more just society at home and it is only if we see every life as equal, every Palestinian and Israeli life as equal, every Jewish, Muslim and Christian life as equal, it is only then that we will see peace in the Middle East and the wider world. Thank you Mr Sauer. I now call on Alex Cole-Hamilton to speak to and move amendment 11342.3. I'm very grateful, Presiding Officer, for the opportunity to speak for the Liberal Democrats in this important debate and can I start by thanking the front benches for the consensual tone they have sought to strike on this very important day and in particular offer the congratulations and relief and thanks of the Liberal Democrats for the safe return and reunification with the First Minister and his family. Presiding Officer, having listened to the opening speeches of both the First Minister and an Asara, I believe that in actuality their remarks speak to the points that I'm about to make and they have captured the spirit of the Liberal Democrat amendment in every way. I think that where consensus can be found in this place we should protect it fiercely and whenever we can allow this Parliament to speak a voice that is simple, clear and unified as it can possibly be. For that reason, Presiding Officer, I am disinclined to move my amendment today. We all want to get to the same point. We may have different routes or terminology, nuance or emphasis but I fundamentally believe that we all want the violence to stop and for a peaceful coexistence between the peoples who live side by side in that beleaguered corner of our world. This is about them, it's not about us. Some will question our locusts on this matter but it is important work that we do here today. It has now been 45 days since the atrocities committed by Hamas on 7 October. I want to be crystal clear from the outset. Hamas are terrorists who degraded, kidnapped, murdered hundreds upon hundreds of Israelis, many of them women and children and including foreign nationals as well. I will never forget the uncensored images that I was shown at a parliamentary briefing hosted by the Israeli Embassy in London following those attacks. Scenes of murder and mutilation are now burned into my brain. The butchery of it, the unimaginable cruelty of it must rank among the very worst crimes against humanity and I recognise no faith or act of worship in the actions of Hamas. Israel has the right to defend itself and its citizens within the confines of international law. I am sure that nobody in this chamber could fail to have been moved by the testimony of those families still waiting for news of loved ones held captive by Hamas, in particular those mothers and fathers desperate to care for those children taken from them. I hope that steps towards some kind of deal, some kind of truth will see some hostages released in the coming days but presiding officer be in no doubt. There will always be a barrier to peace while hostages are detained in the tunnels of Hamas or the threat exists that more will be taken. Hamas have brought a bloody reckoning on the very people in Gaza that they have chosen now in Caradus to hide behind. What millions of innocent Palestinian living in Gaza now face is a humanitarian catastrophe that has shocked the world. I have been struck by the increasing accounts of Palestinians fleeing the very worst areas of violence who are openly incandescent about what Hamas has done to Gaza and to their lives. Presiding officer, it needs to stop. The death and destruction in Israel and in Gaza need to stop. It is essential that hostages are freed immediately and unconditionally, and aid must be allowed to reach those who need it, including fuel. You can fervently believe in Israel's right to defend itself within the bounds of international law, and at the same time support the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination in a country of their own. Those two things are not mutually exclusive. We have just lost sight of how that might be possible, but it is not lost to us entirely. The road to peace seems vanishingly far away right now, but it is a road that we can and must rejoin. Liberal Democrats are clear that a lasting peace and a two-state solution is the only way to guarantee the dignity and security that both Palestinians and Israelis deserve and which both people need. We are also clear that efforts to guarantee both the security of Israelis and the self-determination of Palestinians will forever be held back while Hamas rules in Gaza. However, as the death toll of innocent Palestinians continues to rise, it has become increasingly evident that a military solution to eliminate Hamas is not possible, nor is it tenable for Israel to re-occupy the Gaza Strip. The current strategy of the Israeli Government, backed by the US and the UK, is just not working. We need to try something different. We need to move towards a political solution as a matter of urgency. To that end, I urge Liberal Democrats, the UK Government to make space for one by leading calls for an immediate bilateral ceasefire. To be clear, that does not just simply mean freezing the conflict. That would leave Hamas in place, which would not allow a future possibility of peace. A ceasefire is clearly needed now to stop the bloodshed and the continued trauma of both Palestinians and Israelis, but it is by definition temporary and contingent upon both parties adhering to it. It is a step towards peace, but a ceasefire cannot be a goal in and of itself. It needs to create a window of calm to allow a period of intensive, internationally-brokered diplomacy to pick up the threads of the Oslo peace accord. We are not so naive about the difficulties involved in getting to that position, but we must call for it. A cessation in hostilities is required to create the basis for a ceasefire. We welcome any progress, however small, towards that goal. That has to be bilateral. Asking just Israel to put down its weapons will not give them the assurance against the repetition of the October 7 attacks, which, as the Labour amendment notes, Hamas actively said that they are keen to perpetrate again. We also know that it will not be easy to rid Gaza of Hamas, but a one-sided ceasefire is not a ceasefire and does not advance us any further along the road to two states. Let me reaffirm my party support for the innocent people at the very heart of this. You have been caught up on both sides of this conflict—Israeli and Palestinian. Both people have the right to live free from fear. As we vote this afternoon, let us stand on the side of humanity in peace, not on the side of division and hate. The last few weeks have shown us the extent of the lie that every life is equal in this world. The Scottish Greens mourn the loss of every innocent life—Palestinian and Israeli. We condemn every act of terror, whether it is Hamas's evil attack on a music festival or Israel bombing a hospital. Terrorism is to be condemned regardless of who is responsible. Hamas is quite clearly responsible for the heinous acts of terrorism. So are the Israeli Government, and the extremist Israeli settlers illegally occupying the West Bank. What else do you call the bombing of a school or a hospital? The murder of journalists like Shireen Abou Ackley, shooting Palestinian footballers in the theatre, burning 18-month-old Ali Sayed Daweshe alive in his home. This conflict did not start on 7 October. The state of Israel was founded by terrorist groups such as the Ergun predecessor to Netanyahu's Likud party. Its founding is known to Palestinians as the Nakba disaster. 700,000 Palestinian Arabs were ethnically cleansed from their homeland. 500 Palestinian villages were destroyed and infamous massacres like that at the air scene took place. For Palestinians, the Nakba was not an event in 1948. It has continued for 75 years. The idea that the current Israeli assault on Gaza is targeted purely at Hamas is a lie. Avi Diker, former head of Shin Bet, now a Likud minister in the government said the following on live TV this week. We are now rolling out the Gaza Nakba. Israel's president Isaac Herzog claimed that there are no innocent civilians in Gaza, despite the armed wing of Hamas totalling at most 50,000 men and a civilian population of 2.4 million. Amihay Eliyahu, a minister from the fascist Jewish power party, suggested dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza. His party leader and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gavir lives in an illegal Israeli settlement on stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank, has previously been convicted for membership of a terrorist organisation and for years hung a portrait in his living room of a terrorist who massacred 29 Palestinian Muslim worshippers. There are countless other examples, and I raise them to point out that the terrorists are not all on one side. As a proud defender of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, I do not hesitate to condemn the vile terrorism, the evil of Hamas. So why do so many of Israel's defenders find it impossible to condemn the state terrorism of this government and those which have preceded it since 1949? Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid. That is the verdict of human rights watch, Amnesty International and Israel's own human rights group breaking the silence. The hypocrisy of Western leaders here has been staggering. The UK, the US, the EU and others were unequivocal in condemning Russian war crimes, including the targeting of civilian infrastructure and cutting off power and water to civilians. In the face of Israel's equally outrageous, equally blatant war crimes, we get silence, equivocation or worse. Gere Stammer defended the criminal act of cutting off water and power to Gaza. Rishi Sunak told Netanyahu that we want you to win. We know what the Israeli Government thinks victory looks like. It is the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent civilians and the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. That victory would be a monumental defeat for the system of international law, which the UK was instrumental in establishing after the horrors of the Second World War. The killing must stop, not pause, stop. What is the purpose of short pauses? To give Gazans a break to drink water they don't have, to eat some food they don't have, bodies are piling up in the streets, morgs are full and it isn't even safe to bury the dead. There are reports of hundreds of families wiped out entirely, no survivors left to carry out their name. Palastins, a Gaza small Christian community whose presence in their land goes back to the time of Christ himself, faces total destruction. One common response that I have had recently from Israel's defenders is to bring up the horrible treatment of LGBTQ people by Hamas, as if that obliges me to support the Israeli occupation instead. Often those responses have gone beyond Hamas into offensive generalisations about the attitude of all Palestinians towards queer people, a position that erases queer Palestinians. Not only are many Gazans writing their names on their arm to make their bodies easier to identify after they have been killed by Israeli airstrikes, they are posting what could be their final messages online, to be remembered as more than statistics. And LGBTQ Gazans are using the Queering the Map project to do, so I want to share some of those messages now. One. I have always imagined you and me sitting out in the sun, hand in hand, free at last. We spoke of all the places we would go if we could, yet you are gone now. If I had known that the bombs raining down on us would take you from me, I would gladly have told the world how I adored you more than anything. I am sorry, I was a coward. Two. I don't know how long I'll live. I just want this to be my memory here before I die. I'm not going to leave my home, come what may. My biggest regret is not kissing this one guy. He died two days back. We told him how much we liked each other and I was too shy to kiss last time. He died in the bombing. I think a big part of me died too. And soon I will be dead. To Eunice, I will kiss you in heaven. Three. Please know, despite what media says, there are gay Palestinians. We are here, we are queer, free Palestine. Presiding Officer, there is no liberation for LGBTQ Palestinians when Israeli soldiers are literally raising the rainbow flag over the rubble that they are buried beneath. Genocide cannot be pinkwashed. To briefly touch on the amendments before I closed the Greens' welcome labors, we have also called repeatedly for all sides to be held to account by the ICC. If the Liberal amendment were to be pushed, we would have to abstain on it because whilst it contains that important line about there being no military solution and while we share their contempt for Hamas, I think that there is a contradiction in calling for a bilateral ceasefire and the total removal of one side. It gives Hamas no incentive to agree to that ceasefire. The conditions for peace are obvious. The unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas, the release of political prisoners, including children, held by Israel and the end of the 16-year-long Israeli siege of Gaza, Israel withdrawing its illegal settlements and apartheid walls from the occupied west bank, fresh elections across Palestine and the right to self-determination for Palestinians and Israelis. A two-state solution might be the most likely outcome of that, but it is for them to decide and we acknowledge the calls from some Israeli peace activists in particular for one secular state. No one is free until everyone is free. Palestinian lives must be the equal to that of Israelis or Scots. Scotland has a proud history of standing in solidarity with our Palestinian friends. Today, we will do so again and call for an end to the killing. Today, one message will come from this Parliament, ceasefire now. Thank you, Mr Greer. We now move on to the open debate and backbench speeches of up to six minutes. I call Gokab Stewart to be followed by Megan Gallacher. Six weeks ago, we watched in horror as Hamas terrorists undertook a brutal and unforgiving attack on peaceful and innocent civilians in Israel. We cannot and should not ever shy away from such a fact that there is no justification for the barbaric butchering of peaceful citizens. According to Israeli officials, Hamas was responsible for the death of around 1,400 people on 7 October, taking around 240 hostages. It would seem unthinkable if such horrifying events were to occur in our own communities. We would rightly look to our Governments to do what they can to protect us. Protection is the primary responsibility of those in charge and therefore it is undeniable that Israel has that right to defend itself to protect its citizens. That is not being challenged and that is not what we are debating today. However, the military response from Israel has now killed more than 13,000 people in Gaza. That is not 13,000 Hamas militants. It is not 13,000 terrorists. It is 13,000 people in Gaza, indiscriminate of who they are. More than a third and estimated 5,500 are children. Let us just pause on that. The military response to the attack, which brutally murdered 1,400 innocent people in Israel, has now, six weeks later, led to the death of 5,500 children in Gaza. That is roughly the number of children born in Glasgow in an entire year. For those of us who have survived, they will carry the scars of horror that they have witnessed for the rest of their lives. That is why we are here. That is why we are discussing this. Not whether Israel has the right to respond but that the response appears to be indiscriminate and may well have broken international law. The age that we live in where events can be photographed, filmed and uploaded on social media for all to see in a matter of seconds means that we are all witness to what is happening in the Middle East. We can see the suffering, the human impact, the scale of destruction in Palestinian communities. Over the weekend, I know that all of us will have looked on in anguish as more than 30 premature babies were taken off their incubators because the hospital was unsafe. Sadly, two babies died before the remaining 31 were moved to a new and atal unit in Rafa, a dangerous and treacherous journey made possible by the bravery of six healthcare workers and 10 staff family members. Presiding Officer, it pains us all that so many of the victims in this conflict are those who have never had a chance to truly live, they have never had a chance to truly love, they have never had a chance to aspire, they have never hated, they didn't even know hatred, they have only cried as babies do and now we cry for them. There can be no justification, none whatsoever, for the death of innocent men, women and children. 2.2 million innocent people cannot pay the price for the actions of Hamas. Presiding Officer, I support an unconditional ceasefire and indeed I'd like to thank members who supported my motion calling for this and thank the colleagues who also lodged their own members' motions. Not because I deny Israel's right to defend itself as its citizens, not because I don't believe Hamas terrorists should be brought to justice for what they've done, but because the killing of thousands of innocent civilians, the destruction of communities, the seizing of medical centres has not made Israel any safer. Hamas poses a threat to Gaza and Palestinians as well as Israel and Israelis, but the response has claimed the lives of many thousands of innocent people and we cannot condone that. The killing must stop to make way for the talking. I know that that is easier said than done, but let us from this place join many from across the world, including the United Nations Secretary General, in calling for an immediate ceasefire and the unconditional release of hostages. The UK and more crucially the United States can play a crucial role in persuading and facilitating diplomacy. Some colleagues have already mentioned a lack of leadership on this from the two main political parties in the UK, be that the UK Government abstaining on a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire or Scottish Labour Tory MPs not supporting a ceasefire in the Commons, which was described by Amnesty International as a missed opportunity for MPs to show that they genuinely support the protection of Palestinian and Israeli victims. That is a time for all of us to show leadership in the face of this humanitarian catastrophe. The situation cannot continue as it is, enough earth has been scorched. I ask colleagues from across the chamber here today to use this opportunity to unite and to send a message of peace to world leaders and those who are enduring untold suffering in the Middle East. Nobody is winning here and everybody is losing. There will be no peace and the hatred on the other side will run deeper and deeper. Even at home, we have talked of the reported increases in Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, which shames us all, but if those of us who have influence exercise it responsibly, enough people on both sides may agree to set down their arms, engage in talks while bringing justice to those who have committed atrocities and broken international law. In closing, there is a clear public desire for proper political leadership from our politicians. With peaceable protest marches taking place in Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, New York and, indeed, outside this Parliament today, we all want to see peace in the region. I urge colleagues on all benches to be on the right side of history and to support the motion. I now call Megan Gallacher to be followed by Bill Kidd. More than 200 people, Israelis and non-Israelis, babies, women, the elderly, civilians and soldiers were taken captive by Hamas on 7 October and taken by force to Gaza. Noga Weiss, 18-year-old, Shari Weiss, 53-year-old, Eden Yurushami, 24-year-old, Elin Weiss, 56-year-old, Judy Weinstein, 70-year-old, Hila Toludano, 27-year-old, Doran Steinberger, 30-year-old, Susanna Amit, 40-year-old, Almoxazuri, 26-year-old, Eida Sadgey, 75-year-old, Hila Sushami, 13-year-old, Rhaea Rotam, 54-year-old, Ophelia Rotman, 77-year-old, Noam Oer, 17-year-old, Alma Oer, 13-year-old, Dor Oer, 48-year-old, Liam Oer, 18-year-old, Nila Margalit, 41-year-old, Iliayu, Churchill, Margalit, 75-year-old, Aisha Alzidana, 17-year-old, Bilal Alzidana, 21-year-old, Hamza Alzidana, 22-year-old, Yusof Hamys Alzidana, 53-year-old, Sujith Nizanka, 48-year-old, Mikael Naisenbom, 59-year-old, Timir Nimrod, 19-year-old, Omer Neutra, 22-year-old, Shlomo Manzur, 85-year-old, Lobonof Alexander, 32-year-old, Ondre Cosloff, 27-year-old, Drawer Catelyn, 68-year-old, Mia Gorin, 56-year-old, Ory Danino, 24-year-old, Nimrod Conan, 19-year-old, Sajid Dakhilchen, 35-year-old, Rom Blazlawski, 19-year-old, Galee Bermann, 26-year-old, Ariel Baruch, 35-year-old, Tomer Amahas, 20-year-old, Shannan Gorin, 29-year-old, Jimmy Pacheno, who has not even been named in terms of age, Emily Hand, 8-year-old, Guy Ellers, 26-year-old, Mirav Tal, 53-year-old, Yr Yakov, 59-year-old, Yagil Yakov, 12-year-old, Ory Yakov, 16-year-old, Sasha Turpanof, 27-year-old, Elena Turpanof, 50-year-old, Sapir Conan, 29-year-old, Amit Biskila, 28-year-old, Yotam Haim, 28-year-old, Llyr Rondaf, 61-year-old, Yr Horne, 45-year-old, Eden Alexander, 19-year-old, Arbel Yehud, 28-year-old, Dolef Yahud, 35-year-old, Eton Horne, 37-year-old, Amit Shani, 16-year-old, Ohad Munder, 9-year-old, Kerrin Munder, 54-year-old, Ruth Munder, 78-year-old, Abraham Munder, 78-year-old, Kyd Faram Al-Qaeda, 53-year-old, Yardyn Roman Gat, 35-year-old, Amoram Cooper, 84-year-old, Mika Engel, 18-year-old, Yuval Engel, 11-year-old, Kirina Engel-Bert, 51-year-old, Ronan Engel, 55-year-old, Avigail Eden, 3-year-old, Amelia Ellone, 5-year-old, Ima Conio, 3-year-old, David Conio, 33-year-old, Sharon Ellone, 34-year-old, Sholomi Zeeve, 39-year-old, Nave Shoham, 8-year-old. I've just spent most of my time today reading some of the many names of hostages taken by Hamas. Some were enjoying time with their friends at a rave when they were taken, others asleep in their beds. There's a real human cost to this conflict, and it comes back to the names I've just read out. I welcome the tone of the debate so far, however it won't necessarily resonate outside. We've already witnessed unsafe protests outside this Parliament, politicians receiving death threats, and recently my friend and colleague, Councillor Thomas Kerr, assaulted in a pub when out with his friends because of his stance on the conflict. I agree with previous speakers that we must stand shoulder to shoulder against Islamophobia and antisemitism, because communities in Scotland are frightened and we need calm, gentle diplomacy, not just for the safe return of the hostages, but for the humanitarian brakes to allow for vital supplies to get to those who need it most. Presiding officer, I'll finish by reading out just one name again. Avigail Eden, just three years old. Avigail was kidnapped from her home. Both her parents were killed. Avigail has her whole life ahead of her, one without the love and support from her parents who were cruelly taken before their time. Avigail is in my thoughts today, as are all the innocent people caught up in this conflict. Along with others today, I would also like to put on the record my condemnation of the horrific, inhumane terrorist attack on Israelis carried out by Hamas on 7 October. The horrors of that day are unimaginable and the continuing nightmare faced by those being held hostage and their loved ones must come to an end, and I reiterate calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. Since that day, we have continued to see inhumane horrors unfold and faced with such, I had hoped, and I still hope that we as parliamentarians, as a parliament, will and can come together in solidarity with one voice to call for an end to such inhumanity. Although I believe that the majority of us here today are broadly in full agreement, it is regrettable that we still find ourselves having to call for the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza, including women and children who have been besieged by Israeli forces. That must stop now. Humanity defines human beings collectively, and any collective punishment is an act of inhumanity. We do not get to pick and choose which acts are considered to be humane or inhumane, they just are what they are. Therefore, if we condemn one act of inhumanity, we condemn all acts of inhumanity to do otherwise, we will simply debase our own humanity. In the aftermath of the 7 October attacks, the co-ordinator of government activities in the territories likened the residents of Gaza to human animals, saying that animals must be treated as such. There will be no electricity and no water in Gaza, there will only be destruction. You wanted hell, you will get hell. The ordinary people of Gaza did not carry out the horrendous attack, and they should not be the ones who are forced to have to pay the price. Such sentiments, such statements must be condemned in the same breath as we condemn the inhuman statements of Hamas and others who call for the destruction of all that is Israel. For without such condemnation, we provide tacit agreement with these statements and embolden those making them. Since the 7 October attack, this is exactly what we have seen unfold with untold destruction and destitution continuing unabated. We must ask ourselves what side of humanity are we on? Where does our conscience lead us? As MSPs, we also have a duty to represent our constituents. I, along with many others, have received a number of letters from constituents calling for me to condemn acts of inhumanity and support calls for a ceasefire. Summing up the ending of one correspondence was that this issue is above and beyond party politics. I can say to this constituent that I hear you, I agree with you, and I too lend my voice to calls for a humanitarian ceasefire now. It is not my voice alone, though it is the voice of millions of people across the world, many in Israel and Palestine, of numerous charities and organisations from Namnesty International to Oxfam and to United Nations General Secretary. We have seen before the terrible potential consequences of international bodies being sidelined, being ignored and seeing their authority and power ebb away, and we cannot let this happen again. We are already seeing the worrying potential of this conflict escalating beyond Gaza to the wider region and beyond, and we must not let this happen. We must support calls for the immediate resumption of talks to facilitate a solution to this 75-year-old Israel-Palestine question, namely a two-state solution in line with UN resolutions. To achieve those, we must reiterate and enforce previous UN resolutions on the issue, for if we allow some to be ignored, how can we expect others to be respected? To this end, I believe that we need to see a United Nations force of blue helmets being deployed to Gaza and being there until a two-state solution is achieved. That may be a hard task, but it is the only way forward, because we are not going to stand here year after year and continue with this debate. The issue that we are debating today is not new. Palestinians have been marginalised and displaced in the West Bank and beyond. That must stop if we are to reach a place of mutual respect and mutual security, a place where we can build a better future rather than live on in an untenable past built on prejudice and ignorance. Many may see the solution as hopeless, intractable and without solution, but to give up hope is to give up on humanity. I for one choose hope, I for one choose humanity and I for one choose a ceasefire now. Thank you for listening. Thank you Mr Kud. I now call Pauline McNeill to be followed by Fulton MacGregor. Today I dearly hope that there can be agreement amongst political parties to unite behind an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. It is this action which will show the Palestinians that we are watching and that they are not alone and that Scotland will be part of a wider international call. It is also a call that recognises the best chance for the release of the Israeli hostages that the world should equally not forget or forgive the terror attacks on Israelis on the 7th of October. I do agree with Donald Cameron on one thing, a few things actually, but only dialogue will lead to long-term peace, because violence can only read violence. Today we have heard reports that there may well be a five-day ceasefire, still to be confirmed, but I hope that this opportunity, if it arises, will be grasped. Because we have witnessed nothing like this human catastrophe in our lives, I certainly have not. The daily underlying indiscriminate enormous fire power, carpet bombing of hospitals, schools and people's homes, and not least the loss of life including 5,000 children, the inhumane withdrawal of food and water and internet, and the deliberate dismantling of the Gaza healthcare system constitutes completely disproportionate action. It is a slaughter, a massacre of our entire people who were already under siege is a clear breach of international law. The events of the 7th of October in Israel are also events that I wholly condemn without reservation and for which there should be full accountability in the international criminal court. But absolutely nothing can justify the response by Israel. The deliberate targeting of civilians, of aid workers or journalists, children still trapped, hurt under the rubble, babies denied needlessly the care that they need in hospitals. But what if it was your child and you couldn't get an ambulance and you couldn't get the treatment for your child, so you have to watch your child die, but you can't even flee from this violence because you're trapped in the biggest prison in the world along with 2.3 million other people going through exactly the same as you, but meanwhile world leaders and the EU procrastinate as to whether they're actually going to call for a ceasefire today of the many stories, the many many stories I've read about. A surgeon reported that he was left with no choice but to perform an amputation on his own child and the child died there. Children with no surviving parents is one of the biggest phenomenons that we're seeing right now and I'm clear in my own mind that what we are witnessing is an attempt to wipe out an entire population. Isaac Hexog, Prime Minister of Israel, said that it's an entire nation that is responsible for the Hamas attacks. You have gallant Israeli defence ministers, I said. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly. Minister Amici El-Uhai said that this is one of the possibilities to drop a nuclear bomb on Gaza and that anyone waving a Palestinian or Hamas flag shouldn't continue to live on the face of the earth, a Palestinian flag. But UN special reporter has warned that the Palestinians are in grave danger of mass ethnic cleansing and that what we are witnessing may well be a repeat of the 1948 NACPA. The powerful speech by Nader Tarberge, the Palestinian observer to the UN for the State of Palestine said, quoting Israel's finance minister, who said, there was no such thing as Palestinian people. In fact, the current Prime Minister, Netanyahu, at this same meeting held up a map of the Middle East with Palestine deleted from the map. The United Nations meeting summarises Israel's position as being that all Palestinians in Gaza are either terrorists or terrorist sympathisers or human shields. Israel's current and past leaders, with some notable exceptions, have singularly failed to establish a path to peace for the Palestinians over 75 years. As we speak during this period, over 200 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, and settlers who are illegal in the West Bank are being armed with rifles and they are free to kill. I am sure that everyone has noticed that that has been happening literally in the past four weeks. I have worked with brave former IDF soldiers through breaking the silence and organisation that speaks out. Ariel Bernstein and Benzy Sunder served at the ground incursion to Gaza in 2014. After they fought in that war, they reflected on what they learned. They said, our leaders lied to us that the conflict could be managed and that there was no need to strive for dialogue with any part of Palestinian society, not even the moderates. I know this to be true because I was an observer in 2006 and I met Isaac Herzog and I went to meet him in the Knesset. Eventually he did say that it is true to say that Mamadou Bas and the Fatta moderates were humiliated by the Israeli Government and the PLO were dismissed over that period. Over 30 years they have been trying to reach peace for a two-state solution. I have had the privilege of discussing Palestine with world leaders in Qatar, in Egypt, in Syria, in Jordan, in Tunisia too, and they too have to say too much rhetoric and not enough action. I believe with all my heart in my 30-year activity that the only way for Israel to live within its secure borders and for peace for ordinary Israeli people—which I would want—is for the international community to press Israel to withdraw from the occupation and further to be a dialogue for an endgame, which means that there are two sovereign states. It is the only way forward and it is the only way for peace. I hope that the Scottish Parliament can start sometime soon and I support the First Minister in the statement that he made earlier, and that is by recognising the state of Palestine right now. October 7, the world was shot with the news of a devastating terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, where well over 1,000 innocent civilians were killed. Many others were also taken hostage, and it is hard for any of us here to even begin to imagine the impact on those affected. These violent attacks have been rightfully condemned across this chamber and across Scottish society as a whole. This motion today allows us to again reiterate this condemnation in the strongest possible terms. In the days that followed, however, it must be said that the Israeli reaction has unleashed a humanitarian crisis or shocking proportions on the innocent people of Gaza. The situation on the ground is startling. People along the strip are in desperate need of water, shelter, food and safety. The numbers of casualties are tragically increasing every single day. Even as we debate here today in the comfort of our chamber, the numbers are rising. Statistics as of just yesterday reveal 17,144 killed, 7,208 of those children, 7,208. 33,830 injured, 1.7 million people displaced, 253 damaged schools, that's schools, 124 health facilities targeted, including hospitals. This morning, I was saying the same video that Pauline McNeill referred to, a video for surgeon in Gaza outside of Tain, who is reported had to carry out an amputation in his own child without anaesthetic, and his child subsequently died of the pain, horrendous. Presiding Officer, what more needs to happen? This is just appalling. How can we sit back and let this continue? The whole world should be ashamed. The innocent children and people of Gaza are paying the price for Hamas, and this cannot continue. The WHO has called Israel's forced evacuation of northern Gaza as a death sentence for the sick and injured in the area. You can go further in the language, and on their website they have an article entitled Palestine preventing a genocide in Gaza and the new NACBA. This sort of language should make us all sit up and think about what history will tell us if these days that we are living through and how governments, countries and individuals responded to them. The frankly collective punishment that is being imposed on innocent civilians can never be justified and will undeniably make any potential future peace process in the region more difficult. This is why there must be an immediate ceasefire. This should not be a complicated demand to make, as well as the United Nations. It is already backed by. Action Aid, Oxfam, Amnesty International, Stop the War, Scottish Trade Union Congress and Doctors Without Borders and many, many others. This is human suffering in the extreme happening in front of us in 2023. We can't simply do or say nothing. We must stand up for these people. We can't stay silent where we have voices, and I truly believe that there should be no politician anywhere that isn't willing to call for and vote for a ceasefire. A ceasefire is the only way for the immediate safety of all across the region and to allow for the hostages to be released and the much needed humanitarian aid to each civilians who have been so drastically affected by this conflict. So I therefore urge the Government of Israel to end the total siege of Gaza and to ensure unbound humanitarian access, including the delivery of sufficient amounts of medical supplies, food, fuel and water. I urge Hamas to begin the immediate unconditional release of all hostages held captive. The delivery of aid and the release of hostages can only be achieved with the complete cessation of facilities. Of course, I have not heard this situation as not new with Holocaust survivor Dr Gap Matty, for example, previously referring to Gaza as the world's largest outdoor prison. The international community must now come together and find a two-state solution, and to bring lasting peace to the region. Presiding Officer, closer to home, it's great that the Scottish Government has pledged £750,000 to assist the relief efforts in Gaza via the United Nations relief and work agencies flash appeal, and I wholeheartedly welcome this. Also, to any of my constituents across Coatbridge and Crescent, who are also members of the Israeli and Palestinian communities, know that I affirm the right of all Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security and always will. There is no place for antisemitism, Islamophobia or any kind of hatred here in Scotland. This, of course, is a message that has been given consistently by our First Minister throughout the last few weeks, and he has led from the front in calling for peace for all and an immediate ceasefire, often when he's been faced, of course, with difficult personal circumstances. I'm incredibly proud of his international leadership through this time, and it's what other leaders across the UK should be aspiring to. Presiding Officer, to any of those commentators who still think we shouldn't be debating this today, I simply say this. Why would this Parliament not debate possibly the biggest humanitarian crisis of our time? Why would we not give our voices to those oppressed in suffering? This isn't about science and what is obviously a complex situation, it's about human rights and our basic humanity. When Presiding Officer, I'll end again by again taking quotes from Holocaust survivor, and I'll try and pronounce its name better this time for the official record, Dr Goubaugh Mait, who I mentioned earlier, and from what is a widely shared video on the situation in the Middle East that many here have probably already viewed. You don't have to support Hamas policies to stand up for Palestinian rights. That's a complete falsity. So it's not a question of being pro-Palestinian. It's a question of, are you in favour of justice and devotee and freedom and truth, or are you not? Presiding Officer, there needs to be an immediate ceasefire, and I hope everyone here can vote for that this evening. Thank you. Thank you, Mr McGregor. I now call Sandesh Gawhani to be followed by Keith Brown, Dr Gawhani. As a doctor and father of two young children, I'm deeply shocked by the suffering of all innocence caught up in the violent chaos engulfing Israel and the Palestinian territories. Israelis, Palestinians and nationals from 25 other countries, so many non-combatants, children, all victims, either at the hands of the Hamas-led terrorists whose barbaric murders, rapes and abductions ignited this chapter of violence, or those killed and wounded by missiles or in the crossfire as they fled or sought refuge. And as we now know, some places of sanctuary, including hospitals, have been perfidiously used by terrorists as cover for their operations. Israel suffered the most horrendous terror attack at the hands of Hamas, and Palestinian civilians in Gaza are experiencing untold misery. I'm sure I'm not alone in this chamber when I say the human toll weighs heavily on my conscience, balancing my professional responsibilities with my parental instincts is a challenge. Clearly, there is an urgent need for international efforts to find peaceful resolutions, protect innocent lives, be they Palestinian or Israeli, and secure the release of Israeli and third-country hostages. I use the word resolutions plural because we need a series of measures, a pathway that will deliver a sustainable ceasefire. Call for an immediate ceasefire, I fear, is setting ourselves up to fail. I say this because Hamas is a proxie-terrorist organisation sponsored by my line actors in the region and it is bent on the obliteration of Israel and the killing of all Jews. I can't see a sustainable piece with such an organisation, but another way is proposed. It's proposed to start with a pause in the fighting, some say a truce, to establish additional corridors for humanitarian relief, manage the essential aid getting into Gaza, and secure safe passage and safe havens for non-combatants. We should be mindful and respect that negotiations in the region are currently ongoing and aimed at releasing hostages and pausing military action, and they are at a highly sensitive stage. Within the last hour we've heard that Israeli Prime Minister will meet with his cabinet basically now and in light of developments related to the release of abductees. That's the situation as we know it right now. Step by step this can move. It must move to a piece that can last and with the diplomatic and financial muscle of the international community we must then reinvigorate the Middle East peace process and realise the goal of a two-state solution, a two-state solution where a safe and secure Israel lives alongside a viable Palestinian state, underpinned by regional economic development and integration, as well as people-to-people exchanges. Israel and other countries in the wider region have already demonstrated that this is possible. The Abraham Accord provide a proof of concept with Israel normalising relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, as well as Morocco and Sudan, delivering wide-reaching economic benefits. Let's not forget that Israel and Saudi Arabia were very close to normalising relations before Hamas launched its murderous attacks on October 7. Nobody should be allowed to stop this wide peace from occurring, and it is incumbent upon all of us to pursue this peace. For Palestinians and Israelis, pursuing peace would deliver the conditions for economic growth, good jobs, housing, healthcare for all, prospects and the promise of a prosperous future and the regions, children and young adults, to grow up. But first we need to achieve the sustainable ceasefire respected by all parties. While the Scottish Conservatives have table and amendment to the Scottish Government's motion, our positions across this chamber are actually very close. It's important to underscore that we stand in solidarity with people of all faiths. We condemn anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. I feel we must also be clear that supporters of terrorist organisations who threaten to do us harm have no place in a multi-faith, socially tolerant, democratic Scotland. These are matters of importance to life in Scotland and to the people of Scotland. I fully understand that the Israel-Hamas conflict elicits intense emotions and strong opinions. The crisis demands international leadership following the news out of the region in the past hour. I hope that we will indeed see the release of hostages and for the pause that we all want to see. I now call Keith Brown to be followed by Carl Mocken in six minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I associate myself with many of the remarks that have been made around the chamber, much of which I agree with, and I will try not to repeat too much of the points that are already made. In particular, I agree with the terms of the First Minister's motion. I also agree with the amendment proposed by the Labour Party. In particular, Pauline McNeill spoke very forcefully, and I paid testament to her long experience in those matters, as I would to her former colleague in the gallery, Sandra White. One thing that has to be repeated is that the attacks carried out on 7 October were beyond words, and they should be condemned. Confident, all MSPs across the chamber will join together to condemn those sort of attacks. There is nothing that could justify the brutality that we paid witness to on that day. I also want to say that it is entirely right that the chamber is discussing this, and it has come under attack, as have the demonstrations and the various activities around the country, as we are not going to make any difference anyway. I think that that is a council of despair. I think that the demonstrations that have been held, people writing letters and making their voices known, is extremely important. I do not believe that diplomats and those around the world that have the ability to change that are immune to hearing from populations about how abhorrent we believe what is currently happening is. I think that it is entirely right that the chamber should discuss, should debate and should decide in this motion. I think that it is currently believed that over between 11,000 and I think that, as Crocab Stewart said, 13,000 Gazans have since been killed since 7 October. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, I appreciate that sources are very difficult to verify, but those statistics have been independently verified by the UN, which has also not cast any significant doubt on either of those figures at this current time. We can also look to specific attacks as examples of what has been referred to by some members as the disproportionate nature of the response, like the successive attacks on the Jubalia refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip. There have been a wide range of reports on the exact number of casualties from the attacks on that camp, but we do know for certain that it is in the hundreds of Palestinian refugees that have been injured and dozens killed possibly far more than that in attacks on that camp of the past few weeks, which has been justified, I am told by saying that they were targeting one particular Hamas commander. You cannot justify the murder of dozens, maybe hundreds of people to attack one person. As the First Minister said, collateral damage is not an acceptable way of dealing with those things and as international law upholds. I say the vital distinction between those of us that I think that I agree largely on one side of the chamber and the conservative position, and I agree with all the areas of concern that Donald Cameron listed towards the end of his speech. However, the main point of this agreement is on an immediate ceasefire. I think that I heard Sandish Gullhane say that he could not call for a ceasefire, but he thinks that there should be a ceasefire that everyone should adhere to. The reason now given for not calling for a ceasefire, as I understand it, is because Hamas said that they would not observe it. Why should we be intimidated by terrorists in not calling for a ceasefire? If Edward Mountain was here, I am sure that he would agree that it is quite often the case that when two military forces oppose each other, it can be in one's interest to have a ceasefire. If I can just finish making this point first of all, I will come to Jackson Carlaw. If both sides agree a ceasefire, it can often be the case that one side gains an advantage for that. I understand that point, but in this case we are talking about civilians and innocent people that are caught between the two military forces. That is why there should be an immediate ceasefire. I will give way to Jackson Carlaw. I think that the answer to Mr Brown's point is that, given that Hamas has said that it would not observe a ceasefire, there is a belief by Israel that this motion, when passed and this campaign for a ceasefire, will be meant to lead to a unilateral ceasefire by Israel. It will be held to the standard of unilaterally ceasefiring, notwithstanding the fact that the other side does not. That is the issue at all of this. Keith Brown, I can give you the time back. If that is the case, why would that stop us calling for an immediate ceasefire? I understand the point that Jackson Carlaw is making. Anasarro made some points about the statements from Benjamin Netanyahu, which cast doubts on whether he is keen on a ceasefire. That should not stop us from saying that this is wrong, that people being killed just now currently are innocent people and it should stop. It should not be conditional that it should stop now. Of course, I believe that the hostages should be returned immediately. I think that that is only the right thing to do. Of course, there is not a war in history that I can bring to mind where it has not ended with a treaty. I will give way, yes. I am very grateful to Keith Brown for giving way. The point that I wanted to make to Dr Gulhane, if he had given way, was that, regrettably, what the Conservative amendment deletes from the motion today is the line that says that the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza, including women and children who have been besieged by Israeli forces, must stop. I think that it is regrettable that the Conservatives have deleted that from the motion today. Does the member agree with me that everyone in here, on behalf of ourselves and the people of Scotland, should be able to say stop the killing of innocent civilians right now? I do agree with that point. I think that that would be a very powerful thing if this Parliament was to agree with one voice to say whatever doubts we have about the good faith on either side that we think that, regardless, there should be an immediate ceasefire to save the lives that Monica Lennon is talking about. I can tell that much of my time has gone. There is one particular other point that I wanted to make. That is about the fact that if the one thing that can come out of this is a real, genuine attempt to get to a two-state solution so that both Israel and Palestine can live in peace and security, and the failures to do that have been laid out by Pauline McNeill and others over many years. However, I think that this has to be a prompt to renew, with real vigor and serious intent, the efforts to try to achieve that solution. The one thing that I would say is that to all motions, if we can support the motion and stand united, that we can make a very powerful statement today, that we stand for peace. I am quite fond of quoting Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the French philosopher, when he said that peace is found also in dungeons. It is also true that peace is found in graveyards. The point is that we cannot have a peaceful solution until Palestine is both free and secure. It is not a dungeon, it is not an imprisoned place, it is not an occupied place, and that the people there, as in Israel, can be free from the threat of being attacked from bombs and rockets and bullets. I think that if we can try and unite around that fact that we want to see that happen, if we can make that the focus beyond the ceasefire, which we will save, if we can achieve it, and I know that this Parliament cannot, but if we can achieve a ceasefire that will save countless lives and injuries and some of the horrendous anecdotes that we have heard about people without parents, without limbs and so on today, we can stop that, but if we can then agree to move on and encourage all those involved to move towards a real peace both for the people of Palestine and the people of Israel. I support the motion in the name of the First Minister. I am glad that we have this opportunity to properly debate and vote on one of the most critical issues facing the world today, an issue that, for millions of people, is a daily horror lived out over and over again. It is right, as others have said, we as elected members of the Scottish Parliament add our voices to the overwhelming majority of aid agencies, human rights organisations and those parliaments across the world who have condemned the violence and seek an immediate ceasefire. I have searched my soul and I now ask those who have continued to refuse calls for a ceasefire to do the same. Is there a number of dead children that we will accept before something is done? Is there more babies to die due to the lack of clean water or fuel? Is there an amount of sick and injured people left to die due to the lack of treatment that we are happy to cast off as a consequence of war? Pauses are not enough. There is nothing humanitarian about a pause in these dire times. Yes, a pause in the fighting may save lives, but let's be clear. All the aid agencies on the ground agree. Pause suggests that bombardment can resume and carry on once people are fed and have had some water. A pause is no good for people fearing imminent death. I have asked myself so many times why is there such indifference from those in power to a country that is quite literally erased as we watch on? The rhetoric from the UK Government does not represent the view of ordinary people. Sunak is not living up to his responsibilities by ignoring the extent of this human tragedy. I am really grateful for Carol MacKinnon for letting me in. Over the weekend, Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, said that the war in the Middle East is having a staggering and unacceptable number of casualties, including women and children every day. That must stop. I reiterate my call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. Would Carol MacKinnon join me in imploring all of our colleagues across this chamber today to agree with the call from the UN Secretary General, but for this Parliament to unite and peace and humanity every member in the chamber today? Thank you for the intervention. Scottish Labour has been very clear that we support an immediate ceasefire. This is one of the darkest and most devastating events in recent history. Children are dying in Gaza, one child every 10 minutes. Mothers are giving birth with no pain relief and families are being torn apart. Yet those who may have some influence and some power to intervene appear inexplicably unwilling to do so. We like to tell ourselves in the west that we have some sort of moral leadership to offer the world. Where is it now? Why can we not find it in this time of need? Israel has the right to respond and ensure the release of all hostages following the horrific attacks of Hamas on 7 October, which I condemn. Actions that were callous and have led to a needless loss of innocent lives. The action that we have seen since is disproportionate. Self-defence is not dropping tons of bombs into residential areas, striking hospitals, indiscriminately killing children or withholding medicine and aid from people in desperate need. That is not self-defence, it is illegal, it is inhumane, plain and simple, it must stop. An immediate ceasefire is required. I am pleased that today's Labour amendment calls on the international community to work tirelessly to create the conditions to make a ceasefire a reality. Presiding Officer, I add my voice to the call and the Labour amendment to hold those responsible for flagrant breaches of international law on both sides to be held account. Governments cannot hide behind the fog of war excuse. There has been almost no consideration for civilian life and governments should not, must not escape international justice. Presiding Officer, calls for an immediate ceasefire are right and they are critical, but beyond that we need to recognise the severe and brutal challenges that Palestinians have faced on a daily basis, challenges that have existed long before the escalation of this conflict. Palestinians in Gaza have for many years lived in what amounts to an open air prison. They have limited freedoms and those that they have are entirely at the behest of the Israeli Government. Many Palestinians have lived only under occupation. The fact that Israel has simply been allowed to continue settling areas of the West Bank and Gaza has resulted in systematic human rights violations against Palestinians, which have led to decades of degrading and dehumanising treatment. All that we do, we must recognise that. That will help to create the condition that provides an opportunity for dialogue and negotiation to address the root causes of the conflict and work towards a sustainable and just resolution. From the start of this conflict and to this very day, I have called for an immediate ceasefire and a serious negotiation to secure peace. I still make that call today and I will be supporting the Government's motion alongside my party and I call for an immediate ceasefire to save innocent lives. I welcome the Parliament having the opportunity to debate and vote on this critical matter. There are those who say that whatever we say or however we vote today will have no impact. I believe that that is not the case. Words matter. This Parliament matters what the Scottish Government says matters, what the UK Government and the official UK opposition says and does matters. International diplomacy and international pressure matters. No country exists in a vacuum, particularly one so heavily dependent on international support and funds. We condemn the Hamas terrorist attacks of 7 October, and that we all agree. We call for the release of hostages, but we also condemn the slaughter that is continuing on a daily basis in Gaza. We condemn the breaking of international law, collective punishment with holding of water, food, fuel and electricity, the bombing of hospitals and schools and ambulances, the forced displacement of a civilian population. It would take more than six hours to read out the names of all those killed so far. Make no mistake, those are war crimes. Those who perpetrate them are guilty and those who enable them, and commentators who apologise for them, are culpable. People need to stop convincing themselves that Palestinian lives somehow don't matter. Let us be clear on the legal position. The commission by one party to a conflict, including an armed group of serious violations of international humanitarian law, does not justify their commission by another party. We also condemn what has been happening in the west bank, where settler violence continues. More than 300 Palestinians killed so far this year, most of them prior to 7 October, given the lie to those who argue that Israeli violence has only been in response to the events of that day. Make no mistake, violence against Palestinians, the stealing of their land, ethnic cleansing and illegal occupation did not start on 7 October. That is a deliberate policy that has been going on for 75 years and more. Ross Deere has rightly highlighted the activities of the Jewish terrorist militia, the Ergun, the killing of civilians, the bombing of the King David hotel and many other incidents. Unfortunately, terrorism in this part of the world is not new. Much has been said and rightly so of the need for community cohesion here in Scotland, for the need to call it anti-semitism, Islamophobia and racism in all its forms, and that is of critical importance. We need to listen to all voices from those communities and recognise that those communities are not a monolithic bloc but contain within them those with diverse opinions. I was proud to join many thousands of protesters in Glasgow at the weekend to call for an immediate ceasefire now. I was especially moved to your Gordon Malloy and Heimbrecheth, speaker at the march, Scottish, Jewish, Israelis, supporting the call for a ceasefire and criticising the actions of the far-right Netanyahu Government and its murderous policies, not only immoral but also ineffective in making Israelis safe. Thursday this week, my colleague Adam Keiser MP has organised an online meeting with Breaking the Silence, the organisation of ex-IDF members opposed to the occupation of Palestine that Pauline McNeill has already referenced. I would encourage members to join that event. I commend the work of the Israeli human rights organisation, but Selom, who I met in Jerusalem in 2018, and the work of the many young American Jewish activists I met in villages in the West Bank on that visit, supporting Palestinians facing daily attacks from settlers backed by the Israeli army. Those Jewish voices are no longer with us but deserve and need to be heard. Gerald Kaufman, Labour MP, speaking in a debate in the House of Commons during an earlier Israeli assault on Gaza, and there have been many such assaults. I quote directly, My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her hometown. A German soldier shot her dead in her bed. My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers on murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza. Marek Edelman, one of the leaders of the war, also gets uprising. To be Jewish means always to be on the side of the oppressed and never the oppressor. And Dutch Holocaust survivor and theoretical physicist, high on higher, never again for anyone. Their humanity stands in stark contrast to the words of the Israeli Minister of Defence, that the Israeli army are fighting human animals and will act accordingly and that the plan is to eliminate everything. The reality is that there is no military or security solution to this conflict. Early military incursions into Gaza have failed to deliver peace. The events of 7 October were horrific and unjustified, but they were also undeniably a failure of Israeli military intelligence and security. Indeed, Paul Sweeney. I thank the member for giving way on that important point. Does he recognise that it is strategically counterproductive to further entrenched disproportionate violence on the Occupy Palestinian teresys? It undermines efforts from the more moderate Palestinian authority to build a peaceful, secure relationship for a two-state solution. I give way heartedly with Paul Sweeney on that point. The actions of the Israeli Government are indeed counterproductive. In conclusion, short of genocide are the ethnic cleansing of five and a half million people, the equivalent of the entire population of Scotland. There must be a negotiated solution. We cling to the language of the two-state solution, although the reality of facts on the ground, created by illegal settlements over the 30 years since Oslo, makes that increasingly difficult. The alternative, a single state with equal rights for all and the right of return for Palestinians and Jews alike, may seem an impossibility in today's climate, but the history of global conflict is littered with impossibilities becoming true. We remember the impossible situation that we saw in the 1980s with apartheid South Africa. We expected that to be there forever. This inhumane siege of Gaza can be ended. Hostages are released. Gaza can be rebuilt. The apartheid system in the West Bank can be ended. All people, Israelis and Palestinians between the river and the sea can live in peaceful liberty. However, for that to happen, our voices and those of millions of others need to be heard. Tolerance of the intolerable needs to end. Turning a blind eye to the enabling of war crimes needs to stop. Our voices and the voices of the millions around the world calling for this ceasefire now need to be heard. We now move to closing speeches. It is a little time in hand and I call first Neil Bibby, a reasonably generous six minutes. The subject of today's debate is one of the most challenging and complex issues that we have ever discussed in this Parliament. I agree profoundly with former US President Barack Obama when he said recently about this conflict that if there is any chance of being able to act constructively to do something, it will require an admission of complexity and maintaining what on the surface may seem contradictory ideas. That what Hamas did was horrific and there is no justification for it. That the occupation and what is happening to Palestinians is unbearable. He went on, if you genuinely want to change this, then you have to figure out how to speak to somebody on the other side and listen to them and understand what they are talking about. I think that there has been a recognition today from members across the chamber how difficult but also how important that is. The tone of today's debate, the consensual tone, has reflected that as well as we have heard passionate and excellent contributions on what is for good reason a highly emotive issue. I think that tone was set by the First Minister, Donald Cameron, Arsawa and Alex Cole-Hamilton in opening. For the first one hour and 20 minutes of this debate, there was not a single intervention. That is an observation, not a criticism. It was important that the interventions we did here were listened to. It speaks to a debate where we have had to recognise this challenging situation and the need to listen respectfully to one another. The events of 7 October, as members have said, were a horrific and barbaric act of terror that can never be justified, and there has been rightly unequivocal condemnation of a mass from members across this chamber. They are a terrorist organisation, avowedly anti-Semitic and genocidal. Like Alex Cole-Hamilton, the images that I have seen provided by the Israeli Embassy are scenes that I wish I had never seen. As the First Minister in opening said, we must be unequivocal, like any state, Israel has the right to defend itself and its people, not least from indiscriminate terrorist attack. Israel has also a justifiable fear that this could happen again, not least in the face of Hamas's recent appalling comments that they would repeat the systematic slaughter carried out six weeks ago until Israel is exterminated. That appalling statement is condemned in the Labour amendment, which I urge all members to support. But also like any other state, Israel has the responsibility to exercise restraint and proportion in its response to these atrocities. We would expect that of the British Government and our armed forces. We should expect that of Israel, too. As Carol Mawkin and others have said, there is responsibility to act in accordance with international law. The ICC chief prosecutor has been clear that alleged war crimes by Israelis on Palestinian territory and by Palestinians on Israeli territory are within the jurisdiction of its on-going Palestine investigation. The Israeli Government's actions in relation to killing of so many innocent Palestinians and the cutting off of food, fuel and water supplies have been rightly condemned. The Palestinian people are not Hamas and Hamas are not the Palestinian people. As Napoleon and Neil powerfully articulated, what is happening right now in Gaza is a humanitarian catastrophe and the deaths of innocent civilians and the images coming out of Gaza are equally heartbreaking. That is why we need an immediate ceasefire. We need to recognise that the only way that the hope of peace can possibly be realised is by recognising that every life is equal. For a ceasefire to happen, however, and stating in the First Minister's motion, we need to see the immediate release of hostages and we have powerfully heard the names of so many hostages that were read out by Megan Gallacher earlier. We also need to see immediate access to humanitarian aid such as water, food, medicine and fuel into the Gaza Strip. As Anas Sarwar has also said, we must recognise that a ceasefire is only possible if both sides are willing to comply. Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear that he will not support a ceasefire and Hamas is committed to continuing rocket fire until repeating the 7th October attacks. We therefore have to use every form of diplomacy with international partners to change conditions on the ground to make a ceasefire a reality. When Donald Jr opened this Parliament, he said that this place was about more than our politics and laws. This is about who we are and how we carry ourselves. As Fulton MacGregor, Keith Brown and Ivan McKee said, we can and should debate global issues, particularly when it affects so many people living here as well as in the Middle East. However, we should carry ourselves in a way that does not see this complex issue through our domestic politics or seek to take political advantage. We have almost entirely been the case today, and that is to members' credit, particularly members such as Bill Kidd, who is right to say that this issue is above party politics. Because Parliament works best when we work together and we have broad agreement on a number of issues here today, on the unequivocal condemnation of Hamas, on the need for immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, on the senseless tragedy of so many innocent lives lost and on the right of all Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security, on the need for the Scottish and UK Governments to provide humanitarian aid and for that to reach those who need it without any hindrance from any side. Members like Donald Cameron have also rightly recognised the hurt and anger felt by Jewish and Muslim people here in Scotland and particularly those who have lost loved ones. Certain communities are fearful of an increase in Islamophobia and anti-Semitic hate crimes. We stand with our Jewish, Muslim and all communities against hate. Presiding Officer, this feels like an incredibly bleak time, and it is. The journalist Matt Frye has talked about in this dark period there still being embers of hope, and we must rekindle those embers of hope. Whilst we debate this now, we hope that meaningful discussions can result in the release of hostages and a ceasefire. From this tragedy, we must seek not only a cessation of the current violence but our renewed emphasis on peace and on a two-state solution, with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state, one based on the existing UN resolutions and a region in which everybody is able to live in peace and in the dignity and security that everyone deserves and that so many of us here take for granted. Thank you. Thank you, Mr Bibby, and I call on Jackson Carlaw again a generous seven minutes, Mr Carlaw. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I approached today's debate, I have to say, with a tremendous sense of trepidation. I've been overwhelmed with emotion in the events since October 7. It's true. Yes, I represent Eastwood, half of Scotland's Jewish population live in my constituency, but I have an equally large Muslim population, I have a Sikh population, I have a growing Hindu population, I have constituents who are of no faith at all, and I represent them all. Yes, I feel a special duty to the Jewish community because there are few who do have that population and who have that immediate contact and understanding and feel a need to speak up and to represent their voice. I did take enormous encouragement because I respect and admire, and indeed I have an affection for my political opponents, particularly the First Minister and Anna Sarwar. I admire the way in which they have risen to the top of their party, to the top of government. I said earlier, when we first discussed in the immediate aftermath of these events, that I had not seen the First Minister more impressive, and I continue to believe that. I thought the way in which he approached the entire debate this afternoon, and it was almost impossible. In fact, I don't know that I agreed with any of what he had to say, except on this final conclusion, which I tried to answer to Mr Brown, what does a Sikh farm mean, and it's an easy question in some ways to answer, but for me it is more complicated. This summer I read what I still think is the book of the year, Hitler, Stalin and Mum and Dad by Danny Finkelstein. I was stopped before he even got to the book by the foreword. He's the same age as me, and he articulated my sentiments exactly when he said that for all of his lifetime we've said never again in relation to the Holocaust. But for the first time in his lifetime, while he didn't think it was probable that it could happen again, he thought it was suddenly possible that it could happen again. That summed up my fear as well. All the optimism that I had when the wall came down and when the peace in Northern Ireland was achieved has evaporated in many respects. I looked to the last time that there was real hope for Israel in the Oslo Accords, with Bill Clinton, with Yitzhak Rabin, with Yasser Arafat and the PLO. The tragedy that we didn't build on that, and I'll come back to that, because the Palestinian people have been betrayed and let down in so many different ways in the millennia, in the centuries, if you like, since. On that day on October 7, as the First Minister himself said, more Jews were killed, murdered than in any single day since the Holocaust. I don't know if this chamber fully understands the trauma to the entire population of the state of Israel. There isn't really anyone in Israel who doesn't know somebody who was murdered on that day. Those of us, and Neil Bibby referred to it, who have seen the body cam footage recovered from those who committed those acts, will have seen, well, in a moment, the bestiality, the defilement of the corpses and should understand that this isn't to me about Palestine and Israel so much as about Hamas and Jews and the absolute resolve of that terrorist group harbored within Gaza on whom so much is now being visited and what they inflicted on the people of Israel that day. That is what manifestly moves so many people of Jewish faith wherever they happen to live. Yet, in the face of that, I want to touch just on the first half and then return to the substance of the debate. Scotland's senior rabbi Moshe Rubin talked about his conversations last week at a reception with Herol Highness the Princess Royal, with Arabs and people of other faith and the hope that comes from that. The chief rabbis are, if I'm nervous, to whom I referred coming to my constituency to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Calderwood Lodge, the subject of my member's debate tomorrow, and his engagement under the leadership of His Majesty the King, who has been so clear and the same interfaith conversations taking place across the rest of United Kingdom. How we must pray and work and hope and toil to ensure that this conflict is not visited on our communities here, that must be the one thing we can influence and determine and outcome. A week on Saturday, quite by accident, I walked right into the march in Pecanon Street. I had been out for lunch and I was dressed in green and black and I bumped into a very close Muslim friend, in fact the son of someone I'm also very close to. He said, Jackson, you're in the wrong colours. He said, what are you doing? But I stood there and I watched those marching and I saw in the faces and the families, not a campaign against Israel, but a campaign for Palestine and for justice for the people of Palestine. As I said a moment before, they've been betrayed. They've been let down by broken promises internationally. They've been collapsed hopes, violent belligerence and a failure to negotiate. Really, since the 1990s, they've lived in a hope and really not the reality of the international movement collectively acting to resolve those difficulties. So absent though, I suppose, were placards that might help that said release the hostages or expel Hamas, because those are the conditions that are needed for a police to get to the first stage going forward. If international politics has been defined by the events of 9-11 20 years ago, I fear for the rest of my lifetime now and for this issue for the next 30 years will be defined by the events of October 7 and the response of Israel and the trauma that's been visited on Gaza since. That is a tragedy. I don't think that we are in, if I'm being pragmatic and realistic, an atmosphere where we can expect meaningful progress, and that is the biggest tragedy of all. Yes, collectively, I hope that we can join voices internationally to work to overcome that, but it stands as the greatest obstacle to progress. Can I support the motion of so much that we've agreed with, so many speeches I've agreed with? I've even seen things within those who've been fiercely critical of Israel that I can understand and respect too. Do I apologise for everything Israel has done? No, I don't. Do I apologise for everything Israel has done over the last 30 or 50 years? No, I don't, but do I understand why right now a unilateral ceasefire by Israel, which is the practical consequence, I fear, of this motion, will not lead to a reciprocal move by Hamas but will allow it to consolidate and do exactly what speakers have said during the course of this debate, which is to carry on the very campaign of violence against Jews that they have promised they will, and it is that difficulty which causes me to hesitate, even though I feel overwhelmed and somewhat inadequate to the debate in which I've just participated. I want to thank all those who have, as I say, it's been deeply emotional, deeply troubling, and let me say finally that my Jewish constituents, I know, feel the pain, suffering and loss of everybody in Gaza equally. They've said it, they breathe it, they live it. It unites us all, but it's such a difficult, difficult debate, and I thank all those who have contributed to it. Thank you, Mr Carlaw. I now invite Angus Robertson to wind up the debate. Cabinet Secretary, if you could take us up to just before five o'clock, I'd be much obliged. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and it's an honour to close this debate in support of the motion tabled by the First Minister and on behalf of the Scottish Government accept the amendment by the Scottish Labour Party. May I begin in welcoming the widespread consensus that we've heard about much this afternoon? Donald Cameron was absolutely right to pay tribute to the First Minister's measured and eloquent speech. I'm sure to speak for all when I say that we are delighted with the news of the return of his mother and father-in-law who have been able to return from Gaza. May I also reflect on the specific consensus that we've heard from the front benches and across the chamber condemning Hamas, their atrocities, their hostage-taking. There's been welcome for emergency funding from the Scottish Government and the UK Government. There has been condemnation for the loss of civilian life on all sides. There has been support for a two-state solution from all sides. There has been opposition to anti-Semitism and Islamophobia from all sides. Anna Sarwar was absolutely right to call for a ceasefire today. He was right in saying that, just as it was right last week and the week before that, indeed last month, which is when the United Nations first called for one. Alex Cole-Hamilton was absolutely right to promote consensus where we can, again, absolutely right. Ross Greer was absolutely right to stress that all human life is equal. We've heard some very, very powerful speeches this afternoon. We've heard from Cokab Stewart. We've heard from Megan Gallacher who could not be moved hearing the names of Israeli victims taking hostage. It took her five minutes to read 87 names of the 240 hostages, all of them loved, all of them missed. She didn't have time, but if she had, it would have taken her four and a half hours, four and a half hours, to read the five and a half thousand names of dead Palestinian children. We also heard very powerful speeches from Bill Kidd, from Pauline McNeill, who I pay tribute. We go back a long time, Pauline McNeill, and I'm back to the national union of student days. She was on this issue then, as she is now, and she was absolutely right in everything that she said. She talked about a physician performing an amputation on his own child. What she didn't mention was that he did it without being able to use an ascetic. It's unimaginable. His child then died. It is unimaginable. We heard powerful speeches from Fulton MacGregor, from Keith Brown, a compelling case for ceasefire, a compelling case made by somebody, only someone with military experience, as he has, as a former Royal Marine. We heard a powerful speech from Carol Mocken, from Ivan McKee, quoting Holocaust survivors, appealing for peace. Neil Bibby, talking about the importance to secure a ceasefire from all sides, he's absolutely correct. That's difficult. For many, it's unimaginable. For some, it's not a reason to not work towards a ceasefire, even though it is hard, even though it is unimaginable. It is a council of despair to do otherwise. Jackson Carlaw, typically gracious, is a nuanced contribution, as I would always expect of him. He reflected on the profound impact on the Jewish community in his constituency, indeed everywhere. That stood in stark contrast to one of his colleagues, who is sadly not in his place today, who suggested on social media that this issue does not affect people here. As we have heard today, this issue really matters to people here. It really matters to Jewish and Israeli Scots. It really matters to Muslim and Palestinian Scots. It really matters to people right across Scotland who care deeply about humanity and decency, and it matters to all of us who care about communities and our solidarity with them. The First Minister was able to see that when he visited the Gifnoc synagogue. I was able to see that when I visited the Edinburgh synagogue. I was able to see it when there was standing room only last week in St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral here in Edinburgh, a united peace event hosted by the Edinburgh Interfaith Association. There were Christian denominations, there were Muslim and Jewish faith leaders, there were Hindus, there were Sikhs, there were Buddhists, there were humanists, there were many others. People do really care here. It does really matter, it matters that we discuss this. Then we come on to the issue where there is not agreement amongst all across the chamber, although I venture to suggest, as we will see later, that there is overwhelming support for, namely, a ceasefire. For the record, we should remind ourselves that United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire on 24 October, nearly one month ago. On 26 October, the United Nations General Assembly voted for an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce. 120 countries were four, 14 were against, 45 abstained to its shame, including the United Kingdom. France voted for, Ireland voted for, Norway voted for, Portugal voted for, Spain voted for, Switzerland voted for, I could go on. At not just members of the United Nations, some of our most valued third sector and charitable organisations have joined calls for a ceasefire. Amnesty International, CAFOD, Care International, Christian Aid UK, Comic Relief, International Rescue Committee, Islamic Relief, Mercy Corps, NCVO, Oxfam, Save the Children, the United Nations Association of the United Kingdom, War Child UK, War Unwant, I could go on. I have to say that, sadly, given the inability of the Conservative amendment to support a ceasefire, we will not be voting in favour of their amendment this afternoon. Colleys, thank you very much all of you for your speeches in this afternoon's debate on which is an urgent and relevant issue to us all. We have all watched in horror at the catastrophic humanitarian situation unfolding in the Middle East. To prevent further deaths, the bombing, the rocketing must stop, humanitarian and medical facilities must be protected, and civilians must be given unrestricted access to the basic necessities of life wherever they are. We again condemn the abhorrent acts committed by Hamas. We recognise Israel's right to defend its citizens from terror, and we call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. However, we also continue to call for all parties to adhere to international law, which requires the protection of civilians, particularly children, and which affords a special status to hospitals and humanitarian actors. The taking of hostages in discriminant bombing of civilian infrastructure, intentional starvation and forced displacement of a population are prohibited. The bombardment and siege of Gaza has reported that it killed over 13,000 people, injured more than 27,000 and displaced over 1.7 million people. I am particularly concerned for Gaza's 1 million children, as all parents are, and as highlighted in the resolution passed by the UN Security Council last week. On average, one child is killed and two are injured every 10 minutes. Turning Gaza into what the UN Secretary General has described as a graveyard for children. In his opening statement, the First Minister noted the increasingly dire situation in Gaza's hospitals, where doctors are trying to save lives without access to electricity, anaesthesia and other basic medical supplies. The largest hospital, Auschifa, has been described by the World Health Organization as a death zone following fatal airstrikes and intensive gunfights over the past week. Just yesterday, the head of the World Health Organization said that he is appalled by an attack on the Indonesian hospital, which resulted in 12 deaths and dozens of injuries. Innocent Palestinians continue to be caught up in the fight between Israel and Hamas, a fight from which they have no escape. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, hundreds of thousands of people remain in the north as they are unwilling or unable to move to the south. From the start of this conflict, Scotland has been clear that we stand ready to provide support where we can. We have committed £750,000 to the United Nations relief and works agencies flash appeal, which will support the food, health, shelter and protection needs of people seeking safety. The quantity of humanitarian supplies getting into Gaza is a tiny fraction of what is needed and essential electricity and water services have been cut off. Driven by the ultimate goal of saving lives and in line with the motion put forward to this chamber, we once again echo the United Nations Secretary General's call for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages and an end to the siege on Gaza, unimpeded access for humanitarian aid and for all parties to abide by international law. We call on all members of the international community, including the United Kingdom Government, to do everything it can to protect against violations of international law and to facilitate the political solution that is needed to bring peace, security and stability to the region. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Cabinet Secretary. That concludes the debate on the situation in the Middle East, and it's now time to move on to the next item of business. When I arrive at decision time, I note that Alex Cole-Hamilton did not move the published amendment this afternoon. Therefore, there are three questions to be put as a result of today's business. The first question is the amendment 11342.2, in the name of Donald Cameron, which seeks to amend motion 11342 in the name of Humza Yousaf, on the situation in the Middle East. Be agreed? Are we all agreed? No. Parliament is not agreed. Therefore, we will move to a vote, and there will be a brief suspension to allow Members to access the digital voting system.