It is not antisemitic to refuse to meet with Israel

His attack on Humza Yousaf as participating in “Jew washing” is vile. Can I remind Mr Cowan that Mr Yousaf’s parents-in-law were trapped in Gaza as a result of military action by Israel and that his family still has relatives living there?

He claims that Israel is a democracy. Israel’s Nation State Law, passed in 2018, says: “The right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.” That is a clear definition of an apartheid state that disregards the aspirations of non-Jewish Israeli citizens.

He repeats the allegation, made by Israel with no evidence whatsoever, that a United Nations agency directly supported the massacre on October 8. This is a lie and has been exposed as such.

Despite the Israeli Defence Force killing more than 40,000 Palestinians, injuring close to 100,000, destroying 50% of homes and 80% of non-residential properties and displacing around two million Palestinian civilians, he offers no words of sympathy or regret to Palestinian people.

He accuses the Scottish Government of antisemitism by pledging not to meet the Israeli government in the future. Does that mean that the Scottish Government is Islamophobic if it does not meet with representatives of the Iranian government? I think not.

The Scottish Government is now refusing to meet with the Israeli regime, which has committed, and continues to commit, war crimes and genocide in Gaza. That is not antisemitism, unless condemning such actions is antisemitic.

David Howie, Dunblane.

What about Gaza's children?

COLIN Cowan suffered a tragic loss last October when his brother was killed by Hamas terrorists. I’ll comment on only two features of his article.

First, he refers to “UNWRA, an organisation that has been exposed as having directly supported the massacre on October 7”. He must mean UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which was established in 1949 to assist the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who lost their homes and livelihoods when they were driven out of Israel. It did not support the massacre, and I’m disappointed that you published such obvious disinformation.

Secondly, I note that in an article of over 1,000 words, Mr Cowan says not one word about the 15,000 (and counting) Palestinian children who have been slaughtered by the Israeli military. Their families will feel the same grievous loss as Mr Cowan feels and it would help the situation immeasurably if Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his forces to stop the killing. We cannot change the past, but we can at least try to determine the future.

Doug Maughan, Dunblane.

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The SNP has blundered

COLIN Cowan hits the nail on the head. The SNP has never been well disposed towards Israel even long before events on October 7. The SNP has also given a louder voice to the Green Party which is even more antagonistic towards Israel.

Holyrood itself has had in the order of 70 anti-Israeli debates and only a couple in favour. International affairs are handled at Westminster, hence Holyrood has no power to intervene. The SNP ought to be concentrating on events here. As it seems the leadership need reminding, there are ongoing problems with drugs deaths, the cost of living crisis, hospital waiting lists, ferries and so on. Gaza ought not to be a focus and backing up a terrorist-controlled state against that of a democratically elected one is highly contentious. The SNP has made a monumental blunder here.

Dr Gerald Edwards, Glasgow.

The seeds of this drugs tragedy

“SCOTLAND has the highest drug deaths in Europe” is the annually repeated news from the BBC and much of the UK mainstream media in a simplistic casting of the blame on the SNP Scottish Government ("Sharp rise in Scots drug deaths", The Herald, August 21).

Each death due to a drug overdose is highly regrettable but it is a gross disservice to the deceased and their families to lay all the blame on a government that did not exist when the seeds of this current tragedy were sown and still today does not have drug policy powers. During the de-industrialisation of Glasgow and Dundee there were no serious "transition plans" enacted by either Tory or Labour UK governments and still today neither party in government is prepared to support devolution of drug policy. Furthermore, Westminster has failed to prevent the deadly influence of England’s “County Lines” drug-dealing networks peddling more dangerous contaminated drugs throughout the UK.

The Scottish Government appears to be earnestly attempting to tackle this devastating scourge and in spite of resistance from the UK Government should have the long-awaited first UK “safer drug consumption facility” up and running shortly ("UK's first safe drug consumption room to open in Glasgow in October", heraldscotland, August 21). This will complement the range of measures already undertaken by the Scottish Government but there is no magic wand that Holyrood can wave to suddenly bring a disastrous consequence of decades of deprivation to an end, especially as the Scottish Government still does not have the power to decriminalise the use of drugs. Perhaps instead of seeking more ways to undermine the elected Scottish Government our newly-appointed Secretary of State for Scotland could seek to work with the Scottish Government to seriously tackle this fatal scourge on all fronts across the so-called United Kingdom.

Perhaps also, instead of travestying drug deaths as the failing of the Scottish Government, some in the media should re-examine their professional objectivity and work to bring about a broad consensus on tackling the spiralling spread of contaminated drugs which will have dire ramifications throughout the UK.

Stan Grodynski, Longniddry.

• THE announcement of an increase in drug deaths in Scotland remaining at the highest level in Europe is no longer shameful and embarrassing but utterly contemptible.

Surely now those SNP supporters looking through their rose-tinted spectacles must realise that we have been governed by one of the most incompetent, inept and ineffective group of politicians in recent history? The litany of policy failures across all aspects of Scottish public life is too long to note but they have now exceeded themselves right across the age spectrum, from young people and the erosion of education standards to pensioners losing the winter fuel allowance. How troubling it is that this group of incompetents will remain with their hands on the levers of power until the Scottish election in 2026 and in that time they can continue to damage our country.

Richard Allison, Edinburgh.

Mandate claim is not true

PETER Curran (Letters, August 20) states that "the Scottish devolved government was elected on a mandate to free the Scottish nation from that suffocating disintegrating Union".

While this view is often stated, it is not supported by the facts. Examination of the election results show that only 44.02 % of the votes cast were for the SNP.

The Scottish Government is elected to provide leadership and governance in the areas where powers are devolved, mainly education, health, infrastructure and local government. The Scottish electorate will express their view on how the current Government has performed in these areas in the 2026 Scottish parliamentary election.

Jim Hamilton, Glasgow.

Is Trident under US control? (Image: PA)

US control over our weapons

IN this US presidential year it is probably useful to focus on how reliant Britain’s nuclear weapons are on the US, given that whoever is successful in that election is unlikely to support the sensible idea of ridding our world of nuclear weapons.

Back in 1958 the US and the UK signed a Mutual Defence Agreement under which both countries agreed to exchange information to develop their respective nuclear weapons systems. As a development from this treaty the UK nuclear weapons system is now highly reliant on the US.

As the late John Ainslie of Scottish CND pointed out, the missiles for Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons system are leased from the US Navy. Mr Ainslie also revealed that all of the equipment required to launch the missiles and the computer software to target them are bought from the United States. So although the nuclear warheads for the system are built in Britain, key components are from the US.

Britain’s nuclear bombs have also been assigned to the US-led Nato alliance since the 1960s.

I think given this close relationship it is inconceivable that without approval from Washington the UK could not use its nuclear weapons system.

So much for the idea of an independent nuclear weapons system.

Arthur West, Scottish Peace Movement, Irvine.