Scottish MP dismissed from party because X demonised ‘genocide’ in Gaza
LONDON: Scottish MP John Mason was expelled from the Scottish National Party with immediate effect on Saturday after making a “completely unacceptable” post on social media about the ongoing Israeli attack on the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
Responding to an X-comment by former SNP MP Sandra White criticising Israel’s behaviour in Gaza, Mason denied that the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza amounted to “genocide”.
He wrote: “There is no genocide. If Israel wanted to commit genocide, it would have killed ten times as many.”
If Israel wanted to commit genocide, it would have killed ten times as many people.
— John Mason (@JohnMasonMSP) 16 August 2024
White had responded to a Herald article: “We know what the Israelis are trying to achieve: they are already committing genocide in Gaza. Speeches? You mention speeches while innocent children are being massacred.”
We know what the Israelis are trying to achieve, they are already committing genocide in Gaza. You mention that you are talking while innocent children are being massacred. You make me sick John, the SNP should disown you like I did.
— Sandra White (@SandraWhiteSNP) 15 August 2024
Earlier, the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesman in Westminster, Brendan O’Hara, had expressed his anger over the culture minister’s meeting with Israel’s deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom, Daniela Grudsky Ekstein, in a letter to MP Angus Robertson.
Mason subsequently announced that he had also met with the Israeli diplomat.
Mason said he was “disappointed” at his suspension, but a spokesman for the SNP leader responded: “To dismiss the deaths of more than 40,000 Palestinians lightly is totally unacceptable.”
“There must be no place for this kind of intolerance in the SNP.”
The Scottish party spokesman added that the SNP group would meet to discuss the withdrawal of confidence from Mason and recommend a temporary suspension for his “utterly abhorrent comment”.
On October 7, the Israeli military launched a large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip, destroying entire towns in the besieged enclave. At least 40,000 people were killed, including at least 25,000 women and children. More than 90 percent of the population was displaced from their homes multiple times.
In December, South Africa filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing “genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The international monitoring organization Human Rights Watch, along with other humanitarian organizations and human rights groups, warned that the Israeli government was deliberately starving the civilian population in the Gaza Strip in order to start a war.
