I’m Ellie Merton, the independent candidate for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk at this general election tomorrow.
My manifesto is centred on a positive set of proposals of creative industries support, piloting ground-breaking restoring nature and biodiversity projects on land and at sea, ending poverty and homelessness locally.
In my manifesto I champion helping the Scottish Borders free itself from the grave burden of aiding and abetting in the Israeli government’s chronic criminality and unspeakable crimes against humanity in Palestine. Proudly, I have been associated with the Palestinian human rights peace and non-violence movement for over 30 years and during this election campaign I have recognised that the overwhelming number of Borders constituents are rightly appalled at Israel’s genocide in Palestine.
At the Eyemouth hustings last night, I was shocked to learn from John Lamont that his constituency office in Hawick had been vandalised with spray-painted slogans including “Free Palestine.” John explained that, as the area’s recent MP, he and his team have further experienced aggressive heckling, concerted intimidation, and threats in recent months. This is absolutely awful, and I am so sorry that John, his family and his staff have been subjected to such obnoxious behaviour.
Personalised attacks are never what the large number of Palestinians I know would ever want carried out in their name, however dire the situation for the sovereign Palestinian people. All my Palestinian friends throughout the Holy Land are non-violence activists, even under the real and constant threat of Israeli government attacks and atrocities. Nor is the use of intimidation or threatening behaviour acceptable to any Palestinian human rights advocacy organisations that I am part of or support here in UK.
In my decades-long experience, the tactics of personal intimidation abhorrently have only been used by those of any religion or none to terrorise individuals, organisations and groups into supporting the Israeli government: silencing anyone who speaks out for Palestinian human rights, destroying their organisations, careers and characters, usually with the horrendous smear of “antisemitism” that the Israeli government has criminally tried to re-define as anything said or done that does not support the Israeli state, nothing to do with defending or protecting the rich culture and traditions of Judaism and Jewishness.
In 1990s and 2010s I received two sets of death threats from those purporting to be upholding the legitimacy of Israeli government’s grotesque actions at those times. My attackers didn’t care less that my family background is heavily Jewish, or that I grew up with some of the most wonderful Jewish families in UK, or that I have undertaken most of my Palestinian human rights campaigning with Jewish-led groups and amazing Jewish socialist activists in UK and abroad. If anything, my being imbued in diaspora Judaism and an avowed non-violence campaigner has been seen as huge threats to the Israeli government, requiring me to be silenced, squashed and attacked online, in the press and in person.
In 2009-2014, I proudly chaired Waltham Forest Palestine Solidarity Campaign. We achieved then, and the wonderfully mixed group has continued to achieve, huge amounts of peaceful and creative awareness, and achieved some really good Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions results, always working cross-party. In my time as chair, we actively and openly worked with local Conservatives, Libdems, Labour, Greens, and the full range of socialist and workers parties, and we helped influence the behaviour and thinking of people at the top of those parties by helping them understand the truth of the Palestinian situation without intimidation, unpicking for them the Israeli government’s relentless tawdry guff and thuggery.
John knows well how strongly I feel about the Palestinian issue. We have corresponded, met and spoken. I am impressed that his language about the undoubted genocide of the Palestinian people has changed appreciably just during this campaign alone, but that change in his thinking and language has not come about from being intimidated, heckled and his offices and staff threatened. If anything, what he perceives as attacks on him and his team have hardened his resolve mistakenly to defend Israel, right and wrong.
I find it unconscionable that any of us candidates, or anyone in UK of any background for that matter, might be threatened with violence of any kind. Personalised violence and terrorising at any level, of any kind, is the ultimate in cowardice, spinelessness and thuggery, redolent only of the Israeli government. Instead, Palestinian sumud and non-violence are the truly brave and courageous ways to behave: steadfastly using one’s reason and argument to persuade someone of a different view where no one is harmed in the process, protecting and saving life for all.
I hope that Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk electors can recognise the value and sense of my points and my dismay at any violence against elected representatives. Whatever your politics, I hope you will now more readily vote for me, Ellie Merton, as your independent local voice of reason, a champion for cross-party working, and your staunchest but peaceful local ally for the sovereign Palestinian people in their worst hour of extremis.
And please remember to take your photo ID with you to vote tomorrow, Thursday 04 July, 7am-10pm.
