A SNP MSP suspended from the Holyrood Group for comments made about the Israel-Gaza war has been expelled.
John Mason was stripped of his whip in August after he posted on X that “there is no genocide in Gaza”.
He told BBC Scotland‘s Good Morning Scotland later that the situation “was nothing like” previous genocide examples.
Mason was expelled from the SNP after a meeting with the Member Conduct Committee held on Saturday. He has 21 days to appeal this decision.
Mason confirmed his expulsion via social media.
He wrote on X: “Very disappointed that I was expelled from the @theSNP because of my comments about Israel, Gaza and whether or not genocide has occurred.
“I continue to think that we should be willing to tolerate different views within the Party, as long as we’re all committed to Scottish Independence.”
Mason was suspended after Angus Robertson, the UK’s External Affairs Secretary, was pictured standing with Israel’s Deputy ambassador to the UK Daniela Grudsky.
Many SNP figures have been critical of Israel’s actions in the Middle East, and the diplomatic meeting triggered an internal backlash.
John Swinney, the first minister of Scotland, defended his face-to-face meetings with an Israeli government official.
The SNP said that it would not comment on the expulsion of his member until after the appeal period had ended.
A spokesperson for the SNP Chief Whip said that at the time of the Glasgow Shettleston MSP suspension: “To dismiss with a flippant attitude the death of over 40,000 Palestinians was completely unacceptable.”
This kind of intolerance has no place in the SNP.
The war began following Hamas’s unprecedented attack against southern Israel on 7th October 2023 in which approximately 1,200 people died and 251 other hostages were taken.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, more than 42,000 people were killed in Gaza between then and now.
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