It’s a day that ends in ‘y’ so the nationalists are fighting amongst themselves again. This time it’s over a controversial meeting between the Scottish government’s Culture Secretary Angus Robertson and Daniela Grudsky, the deputy ambassador of Israel to the UK. As Mr S revealed this week, certain Nats were rather upset about the encounter, in which discussions about energy, culture and the Middle East took place. Aberdeen Central MSP Kevin Stewart writing that: ‘I hope Angus Robertson also demanded an immediate ceasefire’ while his colleague Elena Whitham tweeted out, um, a sad face emoji. You can always rely on the SNP for serious politics, eh?
The SNP’s National Secretary Lorna Finn has taken to Twitter to rage about her ‘disappointment‘ and has called for ‘much soul searching’ over the meeting. Meanwhile the SNP Friends of Palestine group – of which Humza Yousaf’s wife Nadia El-Nakla was recently convenor – has posted six-tweet thread about how it was ‘shocked and angered‘ about the encounter.
And now, as reported by the Holyrood magazine, the Westminster group has waded into the argument. Brendan O’Hara, MP for Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber, has penned a lengthy two-page rant to the Scottish Culture Secretary questioning why his party thought it ‘politically…or morally…appropriate to engage in discussion’ with the deputy ambassador. Going on, the SNP’s former defence spokesperson fumed:
I simply cannot fathom why, with such well-documented breaches of International Humanitarian Law and with an ongoing investigation by the ICC [International Criminal Court] into crime of genocide against Israel, that the Scottish Government thought it politically…or morally…appropriate to engage in discussion about future cooperation in the fields of technology, culture, and renewable energy with a representative of this regime. In my opinion, no such discussions should be taking place with a government who is responsible for causing such unfathomable pain and suffering.
Crikey. Accompanying the backlash are suggestions that Robertson – a long-time Nicola Sturgeon ally – is coming under significant pressure to stand down. But First Minister John Swinney, who is also rather chummy with the Culture Secretary, has rushed to the defence of his cabinet minister. In a statement this week, Swinney said the meet was ‘necessary to outline our long-standing position on an immediate ceasefire directly, and explicitly, to one of Israel’s representatives in the UK’, but it’s not stopped his own politicians from blasting the move. And now SNP MSP John Mason has swooped in, revealing that he too met with Israel’s deputy ambassador last week – to torrents of criticism. Will they ever stop fighting like Nats in a sack?
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