SNP MSP expelled from party over Israel comments considering appeal

An MSP expelled from the SNP over comments about the Israel-Hamas conflict is considering whether to appeal and will continue to sit in Holyrood as an independent.

Glasgow Shettleston MSP John Mason told the BBC he does not understand what party policy he contradicted.

He attracted fury from members of his own party in August when he posted on social media: “If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed ten times as many.”

He was reacting to former SNP MSP Sandra White, who had said: “We know what Israelis hope to achieve they are already committing genocide in Gaza,” adding that “innocent children are being massacred”.

In a post on X on Sunday Mr Mason revealed he had been expelled by the party over his comments and was “very disappointed”.

He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Monday: “I have the right to appeal so I need to consider whether I’m going to do that or not.”

He said although the party has “put (him) out” they are “still very much part of my heart”.

He added: “I will certainly not be joining any other political party. At the moment I am an independent MSP, I was elected for five years and I will keep to that promise of serving my constituents for five years.

“It makes no difference to my work locally.”

Mr Mason said: “I do not think Israel has committed genocide. There’s a war going on, lives have been lost, desperately sadly, as they have been in Ukraine, as they have been in every war.

“There is a difference between war and genocide and to say that every war is genocide, is not the way we use that word.

“When I had the meeting with the committee on Saturday most of the time was spent on a discussion on what is genocide.”

He said he felt those on the committee making the decision had “made up their minds that Israel has committed genocide, no matter what the evidence is, so I didn’t feel there was a lot of sympathy for me in the room”.

He said it “could be argued” that Israel’s actions are “not proportionate”.

He said he had hoped that the SNP would be “tolerant on issues like this” and said he does “not understand what the party policy is that I am disagreeing with”, saying he backs a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.

After the decision to remove the whip in August, a party spokesperson said: “To flippantly dismiss the death of more than 40,000 Palestinians is completely unacceptable. 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 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.”

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked a year ago, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250.

Around 100 hostages are still held in Gaza but a third are believed to be dead.

Israel’s bombardment and its ground invasion of Gaza have killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and left much of the territory in ruins.

Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters.