With no small pluck and some evident anger, Malcolm Offord charged at the heart of Goliath: the gurning Gaza gabfest that is Holyrood.
asserted
that → charge → Goliath
David was at least armed with a sling, but the Reform leader took to the battlefield with a modest sheaf of papers.
asserted
leader → take → papers
The previous day, October 7, had been the third anniversary of Gaza’s invasion of Israel, which saw Palestinians murder almost 1,200 Jews, rape women and butcher children.
asserted
Palestinians → see → children
Offord, who branded the Hamas operation ‘barbaric and medieval’, had come here to send a message: ‘Zionism is neither racist nor genocidal.
asserted
Zionism → brand → message
Zionism is a legitimate right of the Jewish people to a homeland in Palestine, which is enshrined in international law.
asserted
which → enshrine → law
The words ought to have been unremarkable but they possessed a quality uncommon and even bold for Holyrood: truthfulness.
asserted
they → possess → Holyrood
Offord lambasted the English Greens for the ‘despicable motion’ on Zionism at the party’s conference and excoriated Ross Greer for ‘describing Zionism as being founded on genocide’.
asserted
Offord → lambast → genocide
A salvo of mutters and rebukes came his way but they bounced punily off his silver bouffant, the Iron Dome of Scottish politics.
asserted
they → come → politics
When he challenged John Swinney to disavow Greer’s assertion, in stepped Kenny Gibson, the Presiding Officer: ‘That is not really a devolved matter.’
asserted
That → challenge → assertion
Oh NOW they want to leave reserved matters to Westminster.
asserted
they → want → Westminster
Funny rules this devolution malarkey has.
asserted
malarkey → have → rules
Swinney slithered around the issue, careful neither to endorse nor decry his mate’s outburst.
asserted
Swinney → slither → outburst
He said he ‘did not agree’ with the Green conference motion.
asserted
he → say → motion
This is a motion which accuses Zionists of advocating ‘domination of the non-Jewish population’ in Israel.
asserted
which → accuse → Israel
Offord described the ‘violence and racism’ Scottish Jews now face.
asserted
Jews → describe → violence
Community leaders had shared their fear of wearing Star of David necklaces.
asserted
leaders → share → necklaces
Some were frightened to worship in their synagogue.
asserted
Some → frighten → synagogue
‘How can there be such daily intimidation in Scotland just for being Jewish?’ Offord asked, before pressing Swinney a second time to condemn the Greens.
asserted
Offord → ask → Greens
Instead, Swinney elided the question and pivoted to a Reform debate happening later that day on banning face coverings in public.
asserted
Swinney → elide → public
‘I deplore the content of the debate that we are going to hear tonight,’ the First Minister prophesied.
asserted
Minister → deplore → that
I’m not doubting his psychic abilities; it’s just a shame he never had a vision of Peter Murrell, the party credit card, and an Amazon delivery van.
asserted
he → doubt → Murrell
Malcolm Offord challenged First Minister John Swinney at Holyrood on Thursday
Swinney swerved Offord’s final attempt to get him to ‘condemn the racism being whipped up against Israel in this chamber’ and keep ‘the racist Green Party’ at arm’s length.
asserted
him → challenge → length
He showed courage and moral clarity.
asserted
He → show → courage
If one day he is asked what he did when they came for the Jews again, he will be able to answer without shame.
asserted
he → ask → shame
Also making a mark in the telling-hard-truths stakes was the Tories’ Russell Findlay, who returned to the subject of welfare fraud.
asserted
who → make → fraud
After deftly calling the SNP leader a liar without explicitly doing so – they had a barney last week over pensions – Findlay told Swinney ‘chancers and crooks’ were ‘stealing benefits’.
asserted
chancers → call → benefits
If you’re going to steal money you should at least follow protocol and become chief executive of a political party first.
asserted
you → go → party
Swinney claimed Findlay wished to ‘terrorise vulnerable people’.
asserted
Findlay → claim → people
If he does it in a keffiyeh, the Greens might pass a solidarity motion.
uncertain
Greens → do → motion
Shortly after FMQs concluded, an email pinged its way into my inbox announcing ‘the Presiding Officer’s ambition to engage directly with communities across Scotland’.
asserted
email → conclude → Scotland
The Aporia
