Angus Robertson faces conference backlash over Israel meeting

SNP members are seeking to oust external affairs secretary Angus Robertson from his cabinet role, claiming he brought the party into disrepute by meeting with deputy Israeli ambassador Daniela Grudsky earlier this month.

There was an angry backlash to the meeting, which came after more than 10 months of violence in Gaza, with the territory subjected to prolonged bombardment from Israel after it was attacked by Hamas in October last year.

A number of current and former MSPs and MPs condemnded Robertson's actions, with some calling for him to step down from government.

Last week Holyrood revealed that SNP MP Brendan O’Hara, the party’s Middle East spokesman, had written a letter to party bosses saying the meeting would “lend legitimacy” to Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s government and undermine actions taken by the SNP’s Westminster group, which has repeatedly called for a ceasefire.

The Mail on Sunday reported that the veteran MSP Christine Grahame had also written to First Minister John Swinney to complain about the meeting, saying she had “long considered [Robertson] a luxury the front bench does not need” and adding that he is now “a liability”.

According to a report in The Times newspaper, the party’s Dalkeith branch has lodged a motion of censure against Robertson, with the aim of having it heard at the party’s conference at the end of the month.

The branch, which the paper says is being supported by Scots Asians for Independence, is demanding that Robertson be investigated by the SNP’s conduct committee for “bringing the party into disrepute” and that he be suspended as a minister pending a Scottish government investigation.

“The SNP has led on condemnation of these actions in Gaza and the public trust us to take a moral standpoint,” the motion says.

“The SNP leadership must at all times follow and reflect the wishes of its members as expressed at conference.

“To agree to a meeting for any purpose, other than to singularly condemn the actions of the current government within Israel, is a breach of that trust, trust placed in the hands of senior ministers by both party members and the electorate.”

Swinney defended Robertson after Grudsky posted a photo of their meeting on social media, saying it had been “necessary to outline our long-standing position on an immediate ceasefire directly, and explicitly, to one of Israel's representatives in the UK”.

“The Scottish Government received the meeting request and accepted on the basis it would provide an opportunity to convey our consistent position on the killing and suffering of innocent civilians in the region,” Swinney said.

It comes after the party withdrew the whip from Glasgow Shettleston MSP John Mason at the weekend after he wrote on social media platform X that if Israel “wanted to commit genocide” in Palestine it would have “killed ten times as many” as it already has.

He was responding to former Glasgow Kelvin MSP Sandra White, who posted that the SNP should “disown you as I have” after he wrote that he was “very pleased” that Robertson had met Grudsky and that he had also met her for a “useful discussion on what Israel hopes to achieve in Gaza”.

The party later announced that it had withdrawn the whip from Mason with immediate effect, saying that “to flippantly dismiss the death of more than 40,000 Palestinians is completely unacceptable”  and that “there can be no room in the SNP for this kind of intolerance”.

“The chief whip has today withdrawn the whip from John Mason MSP with immediate effect, pending internal parliamentary group due process,” the party said in a statement.

“The SNP group will now meet to discuss the matter, with a recommendation that the whip be suspended from John Mason for a fixed period of time because of this utterly abhorrent comment.”

Mason said he was “disappointed” to have had the whip withdrawn, but reiterated the claim that Israel “have the ability to kill many more Palestinians than they have”.

In a statement he said: “My primary desire in relation to Israel and Gaza is that there should be peace talks, negotiations, and eventually peace. I would like to see Scotland (and the UK) playing its part as a peace-maker (as Norway has done previously), encouraging all sides to talk and negotiate.

“Too many lives have already been lost in Israel, Gaza, and beyond and, as I said when I spoke in Parliament, many people feel that Israel has moved from a position of self-defence to seeking revenge.

“However, 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. And we should remember that it is Iran and Hamas who have stated that they want Israel wiped off the map… that sounds more like an intention of genocide than anything Israel has said or done.

“As far as my suspension by the SNP is concerned, I am obviously disappointed about that. However, that will work its way through the party process in the usual way.”