At an SNP conference gathering in Aberdeen, Lara Bird put forward the position that the Labour Government had not done enough to protect Palestinian lives. Bird, newly elected to represent Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, took issue with how Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband characterised the UK Government's decision to impose sanctions on Israel, contending that his account presented the move as though it had been prompted by new evidence.
Speaking at a side event chaired by SNP councillor Nadia El-Nakla, Bird conveyed to those present that successive UK administrations had, over an extended period, set aside accumulated evidence pointing to human rights abuses experienced by Palestinians. Her displeasure centred on having been seated in the House of Commons while Ed Miliband rose to address the chamber and, by her account, relayed intelligence about decisions on Israel sanctions as though the information had only just reached him.
The MP also directed criticism at Labour backbenchers who had expressed solidarity with Palestinians following the announcement, and separately contested the position that the government had been without alternatives prior to the policy taking effect. Bird recounted attending gatherings where Palestinian contacts from the West Bank addressed UK Government ministers at length about life under occupation, with those ministers responding that they understood and that what they were hearing sounded hard to bear. She also voiced displeasure at what she described as an absence of prior public support from backbench Labour MPs, and pointed out that the government had received detailed accounts of conditions over a number of years without moving to act.
About a year after Bird described the matter as having led nowhere, one of the individuals who had been in that room died. The MP described the administration's newly stated stance as amounting to a repositioning of terminology rather than any substantive change in policy, and separately said the government could not be characterised as one actively working to protect Palestinian lives. She also disclosed that a settler had killed a relative of hers after that person had met with officials and raised the possibility of such an outcome occurring, and that no prior action had prevented that outcome.
Addressing the gathering, Bird pledged that her time at Westminster as the representative for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry — and for the SNP — would be driven by a determination to channel her strong feelings into action on their behalf.
Those gathered at the event heard testimony from Shahid, a Medical Aid for Palestinians representative working in the West Bank, who described growing barriers to healthcare access. He noted that mobile clinic teams recorded at least 99 checkpoint encounters during September alone, with roughly 5.5 hours lost to delays, and that obstructions facing healthcare workers, ambulances, and patients travelling to receive treatment were placing the capacity of communities to remain and live with dignity under further strain. Accounts were also shared of surgeons carrying out procedures, among them caesarean sections, in the absence of anaesthetic.
A person in attendance raised questions about the day-to-day realities facing autistic Palestinians and pressed for concrete measures that could be put in place to help them. One attendee, who identified as Jewish, voiced support for Palestinians and noted a desire for broader engagement on the issue from within her own community. Among those who took the floor at the gathering was an individual claiming to have been detained under the new Palestine Action ban at its earliest point of enforcement.
Humza Yousaf, who previously held the post of First Minister, took part in the event and spoke about the hardship facing the family of his wife, Nadia El-Nakla, in Gaza. According to Yousaf, El-Nakla's grandmother was uprooted by conflict in the region on two separate occasions across her life. El-Nakla's parents had spent roughly a month unable to leave Gaza after fighting broke out in October 2023, a period that coincided with Yousaf's tenure as First Minister. He went on to say that holding onto hope remained something the Palestinian people could not afford to be without.
Yousaf also noted that, in his view, the party draws strength from being underestimated, with some observers characterising its influence as limited. The speaker's remarks portrayed the SNP as having consistently aligned itself with those facing oppression.
