SNP MSP John Mason has said he “completely" stands by a social media post he made on the conflict in Gaza which saw him lose the party whip over the weekend.

The MSP for Glasgow Shettleston told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme he had thought for a long time before sharing his opinion on social media site X, in which he said Israel was not committing genocide.

The controversial post, which was widely criticised by some party members, claimed that "If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed ten times as many". 

A spokesman for the SNP described the Tweet as "completely unacceptable" and said mr Mason had lost the whip ahead of an internal review. 

But the MSP was unrepentant when speaking this morning. 

Mr Mason said: “I thought about it for a long time, and I would like to see Scotland, the UK, acting more as a peacemaker, rather than cheering on either side.

“But I put out that tweet because I do feel strongly. Israel, and the Jews in this country as well, feel very much threatened and under pressure.

“Israel is a tiny country surrounded by some very hostile states. And I don’t think us talking about genocide and just running down Israel, because it does reflect on the Jews in this country as well, I think we should be concerned about that.”

Mr Mason conceded that he had not foreseen the reaction to his social media post about Israel, adding: “I’m not someone who foresees the future exactly, but sometimes you have to do the right thing and just take the consequences.”

John Mason MSP on the campaign trail John Mason MSP on the campaign trail (Image: Andrew Milligan)

He also backed the decision by fellow SNP MSP Angus Robertson to meet the deputy Israeli ambassador last week, saying: “If we only meet people we agree with it would be a sad state of affairs. And I certainly think it’s Angus Robertson’s a role to be meeting people from all around the world.

“We strongly disagree with China and their repression of minorities, and other countries as well, but we should still meet these people, still talk to them. Because again, you know, we are not going to resolve any of these problems, be it in the Middle East or in Asia or anywhere else, unless people talk to each other.”

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He added: “Angus Robertson previously brought people from Armenia and Azerbaijan to Scotland to try and promote peace. And I would dearly like to see Scotland being a peacemaker throughout the world, as Norway has done in the past, with some success.”

When asked about the wider debate the issue had trigged within the SNP he said: “The SNP exists and is united for Scottish independence, and my hope is that we can focus on that, because clearly we are going to disagree on a range of issues, Israel being one, and other issues like assisted dying and many issues that come around.

“We have, we have a variety of views within the party, and that’s always been the case.”