Scottish MP defiant after party sacks him over ‘abhorrent’ Gaza remark
John Mason of the Scottish National Party (SNP) confirmed his ouster on Sunday, saying he was “very disappointed” about the party’s decision.
The member of the Scottish Parliament posted on X, implying that he will be attempting to appeal his expulsion, saying, “I continue to believe that we should be able to tolerate a variety of views within the Party as long as we are all committed to Scottish independence.”
Mason on Monday remained defiant, telling BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme that he would be “happy” to repeat the comments that led to his initial suspension.
The definition of “war” and “genocide” is different, he said, and saying that every war is genocide is not how we use the word.
In August, the 67-year-old member of parliament since 2011, posted a comment on social media saying that “if Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed 10 times as many” in Gaza.
Mason was apparently reacting to another comment made by a fellow SNP member of parliament, criticising the “massacre” of Palestinian civilians, including innocent children, as a genocide.
Scotland’s independence from the United Kingdom is supported by the SNP, a nationalist party. Many of its members are seen as critical of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, which has killed at least 42, 289 people and wounded 98, 684 in the past year.
After the controversy over Mason’s comments in August, the SNP conducted an internal deliberation on his conduct.
An SNP spokesperson was also quoted by news reports as criticising Mason, saying, “To flippantly dismiss the death of more than 40, 000 Palestinians is completely unacceptable”.
His statement was also described as “utterly abhorrent” in a SNP statement at the time.
Source: Aljazeera
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