Sammy Stein "“ Glasgow Friends of Israel (Joint meeting with the Rotary Club of Hamilton)

It was a busy night at tonight’s meeting of the Rotary Club of Motherwell and Wishaw when the club hosted members of it’s ‘mother club’, the Rotary Club of Hamilton. President Eddie Hawke and a further thirteen Rotarians made the short trip over the Clyde.

Our guest speaker was Sammy Stein from the Glasgow Friends of Israel. Sammy informed members that Friends of Israel has expanded rapidly since it started almost two years ago and now has branches in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dumfries, Dundee and Inverness.

The vast majority of their members are not Jewish and they advocate a two-state solution based on the establishment of a viable Palestinian nation living in peace and harmony alongside Israel.

One of their first acts was to set up an information stall, bearing both the Israeli and Palestinian flags, in Glasgow’s Buchanan Street, every Saturday. He said that the positive response from passers-by has been overwhelming. Their message to the group has been loud and clear: “Supporters of Israel have been silent for too long." Many of the supporters have been searching for a non-threatening forum in which to air their support for the Jewish state. Until the formation of the Glasgow Friends of Israel this was not possible because the Palestine lobby, mainly negative and hostile, is vocal in the west of Scotland. They want nothing less than a Palestinian state at the expense of Israel, destroying it in the process.

In contrast, his group offer a positive message of peace and reconciliation. They sympathise with the Palestinian people, millions of whom have been victimised by their Arab brothers and sisters, particularly Jordan and Egypt, for nearly 70 years. Various estimates suggest that around 700,000 Palestinians either fled, or were forced out of what, became the state of Israel in 1948. The vast majority were placed in refugee camps on the West Bank and Gaza, which were controlled by Jordan and Egypt, respectively. Around 850,000 Jews were driven out of Arab countries at that time. In contrast to the Palestinians, these displaced Jews were warmly welcomed by Israel and were integrated with the local population. Over 600,000 Jewish refugees settled in Israel and today their descendants make up the majority of Israel’s population. The remaining Jewish refugees, nearly 300,000, chose France or the USA. For this reason, in 2015 Israel celebrated its 67th birthday as an independent Jewish democracy, while the Palestinians, who were deliberately kept in camps to make a political statement, are still awaiting basic human rights.

In conclusion, Sammy said that Glasgow Friends of Israel recognises that only a two-state solution can bring about an end to Palestinian misery and that continuing to build Jewish settlements on the West Bank is detrimental to any future peace process.

Sammy then answered a large number of questions put to him, some of which were quite contentious given the nature of his talk.

Rotarian John Robson provided an enjoyable vote of thanks.

The winners of the monthly numbers club were P.P.s Allan Scott, Paul Begley and Jim Peat.