Member of Scottish Parliament dismissed from party over X comment dismissing 鈥榞enocide鈥� in Gaza

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  • Scottish National Party spokesperson said the "flippant" dismissal of the death of over 40,000 Palestinians "is completely unacceptable"

LONDON: Member of Scottish Parliament John Mason was expelled on Saturday from the Scottish National Party with immediate effect following a 鈥渃ompletely unacceptable鈥� social media post about the ongoing Israeli onslaught on Palestine鈥檚 Gaza Strip.

In response to an X comment by former SNP MSP Sandra White criticizing Israel鈥檚 conduct in Gaza, Mason denied that the Israeli military鈥檚 actions in Gaza amounted to 鈥済enocide.鈥�

He wrote: 鈥淭here is no genocide. If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed ten times as many.鈥�

White had replied to a post by The Herald saying, 鈥淲e know what Israelis hope to achieve they are already committing Genocide in Gaza. Talk? You mention Talk whilst innocent children are being massacred.鈥�

This came after the SNP鈥檚 foreign affairs spokesperson in Westminster, Brendan O鈥橦ara, wrote to MSP Angus Robertson voicing his anger over the culture secretary鈥檚 meeting with Israel鈥檚 Deputy Ambassador to the UK Daniela Grudsky Ekstein.

Mason then revealed that he had also met with the Israeli diplomat.

Mason said he was 鈥渄isappointed鈥� by his suspension, but a spokesperson for the SNP Chief Whip responded: 鈥淭o flippantly dismiss the death of more than 40,000 Palestinians is completely unacceptable.

鈥淭here can be no room in the SNP for this kind of intolerance.鈥�

The Scottish party鈥檚 spokesperson added that the SNP Group would meet to discuss stripping Mason of the whip, with a recommendation of a fixed-period suspension for his 鈥渦tterly abhorrent comment.鈥�

On Oct. 7, the Israeli military launched a wide-scale operation in the Gaza Strip, annihilating entire cities in the besieged enclave, killing at least 40,000 people, at least 25,000 of whom were women and children, and displacing more than 90 percent of the population multiple times.

In December, South Africa submitted to the International Court of Justice a case accusing Israel of committing 鈥済enocide鈥� against Palestinians in Gaza.

The international monitor Human Rights Watch, alongside other humanitarian and human rights groups, warned that the Israeli government was deliberately starving civilians in Gaza as a tool of war.