THE SNP’s national secretary has issued a damning statement in a rare intervention after two of the party's parliamentarians met with a top Israeli diplomat.
It comes after the party’s foreign affairs spokesperson in Westminster, Brendan O’Hara, wrote to Angus Robertson expressing his anger after the Culture Secretary met with Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK, Daniela Grudsky Ekstein.
The meeting, which was not publicised until Grudsky posted about it on social media, has sparked further anger both within the SNP and from the Greens.
In the wake of the backlash, SNP MSP John Mason revealed that he had also met with the Israeli diplomat.
The SNP's national secretary Lorna Finn has now taken to Twitter/X to give her thoughts on the issue.
She said: “Disappointment doesn’t begin to cover how I feel about a minister and backbench MSP from my party meeting Israel’s depute ambassador.
“In the midst of a genocide it is unconscionable and lends legitimacy to the actions of [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s government.
“Regardless of the intent the pictures speak a thousand words. Language and tone used in tweets around what ‘Israel hopes to achieve in Gaza’ is deeply troubling.
“I hope much soul searching is going on today at all levels.”
SNP MSP for Glasgow Shettleston Mason had written on Twitter/X in response to news of Robertson's meeting: “I also met her last week. Useful discussion on what Israel hopes to achieve in Gaza.
“As UK learned in Ireland, to achieve peace we must talk to each other… including to people we disagree with.”
On Wednesday, we told how John Swinney broke his silence in the wake of criticism on the meeting, which had been kept secret for four days before details were released.
Robertson was said to have reiterated the Scottish Government’s calls for a ceasefire in Palestine.
In a series of tweets, Swinney defended the External Affairs Secretary and said: “I understand why some believe a face-to-face meeting was not appropriate, however, I thought it was necessary to outline our long-standing position on an immediate ceasefire directly, and explicitly, to one of Israel’s representatives in the UK.
“As First Minister and SNP leader, I will never hold back in expressing support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, an end to UK arms being sent to Israel, and the recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state within a two-state solution.”
