SNP nightmare as top MSP kicked out over Israel comments | Policy | news

A prominent SNP member has been kicked out of the party after posting “deeply offensive” comments about Israel on his social media.

John Mason withdrew the whip in August after writing on social media: “I personally do not believe that Israel has attempted, committed or is committing genocide. They certainly have the capacity to kill many more Palestinians than they they have done

“This does not mean that the loss of life is no longer too much. If Israel wanted to commit genocide, it would have killed 10 times more.”

Glasgow Shettleston MSP refused to apologize for the controversial comments, which SNP finance minister Ivan McKee described as “deeply offensive”.#

McKee told Mason to “educate himself” after social media posts hailed the opportunity to meet the Israeli ambassador in London.

Mason announced his expulsion from the party on Sunday, saying he was “very disappointed” with the decision and would continue his commitment to Scottish independence.

He said: “I am very disappointed to be kicked out of the SNP for my comments about Israel, Gaza and whether or not there has been genocide.

“I continue to believe that we should be able to tolerate a range of views within the party as long as we are all committed to Scottish independence.

At the time his controversial comments were made, an SNP spokesman described them as “completely unacceptable” as they “unequivocally dismissed” the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

They said: “Dismissing the deaths of over 40,000 Palestinians is completely unacceptable. There can be no place in the SNP for this kind of intolerance.

“The Chief Whip has today removed John Mason MSP’s whip with immediate effect, pending due process within the caucus.

Despite this, Mason doubled down, adding that he did not expect to lose the whip but needed to do “the right thing”.

He told BBC Scotland: “I thought about it for a long time and I would like to see Scotland, the UK, acting more as a peacemaker, rather than encouraging both sides.

“But I posted this tweet because I feel a lot. Israel, and the Jews in this country as well, feel very threatened and under pressure. Israel is a small country surrounded by very hostile states.”