STV NewsA veteran SNP MSP who lost the whip at the weekend for what the party described as “completely unacceptable” comments on the war in Gaza has said he “completely stands” by his remarks.
John Mason had posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday night that Israel’s conduct in the region did not amount to genocide.
“There is no genocide,” he wrote. “If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed many more people.”
He also said: “I personally do not believe that Israel has tried to commit, has committed, or is committing genocide.
“They certainly have the ability to kill many more Palestinians than they have done.
“That is not to say that the loss of life already is not too many.”
Shortly after the posts, the SNP stripped him of the party whip, with a spokesperson accusing him of “flippantly dismissing the death of more than 40,000 Palestinians”, adding that it was “completely unacceptable”.
A spokesperson for the SNP chief whip said on Saturday morning that there can be “no room” in the party for “this kind of intolerance”.
In a statement to STV News at the weekend, Mason said he is “obviously disappointed” about the decision but that it will “work its way through the Party process in the usual way”.
He added that “too many lives have already been lost” in the conflict and his “primary desire” was for peace in the region.
And speaking on Monday, the Glasgow Shettleston MSP said he “completely stands by” the post.
He told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme he had thought for a long time before sharing his opinion on social media.
“I thought about it for a long time,” he said, “and I would like to see Scotland, the UK, acting more as a peacemaker, rather than cheering on either side.
“But I put out that tweet because I do feel strongly. Israel, and the Jews in this country as well, feel very much threatened and under pressure.
“Israel is a tiny country surrounded by some very hostile states. And I don’t think us talking about genocide and just running down Israel, because it does reflect on the Jews in this country as well, I think we should be concerned about that.”
Mason said he had not foreseen losing the whip due to his remarks, adding: “I’m not someone who foresees the future exactly, but sometimes you have to do the right thing and just take the consequences.”
Many SNP politicians have been critical of Israel’s war against Hamas, including former first minister Humza Yousaf whose family was previously trapped in Gaza.
Mason’s comments came amid a continued row over external affairs secretary Angus Robertson meeting Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK Daniela Grudsky.
A number of SNP politicians are calling for the senior minister to be sacked from the government over the meeting, which was shared via a picture on Grudsky’s social media.
Mason backed Robertson though, saying: “If we only meet people we agree with it would be a sad state of affairs.
“And I certainly think it’s Angus Robertson’s a role to be meeting people from all around the world.
“We strongly disagree with China and their repression of minorities, and other countries as well, but we should still meet these people, still talk to them.
“Because again, you know, we are not going to resolve any of these problems, be it in the Middle East or in Asia or anywhere else, unless people talk to each other.”
He added: “Angus Robertson previously brought people from Armenia and Azerbaijan to Scotland to try and promote peace. And I would dearly like to see Scotland being a peacemaker throughout the world, as Norway has done in the past, with some success.”
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 8, during which over 1,000 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
The Hamas-run health ministry in the territory says more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since then.
Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 Hamas militants in the war.
First Minister John Swinney said Robertson’s meeting with Grudsky was “necessary” and allowed the Scottish Government to put across the need for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.
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