John Mason has been expelled from the SNP over comments on the war in Gaza the party described as "utterly abhorrent".
The Glasgow Shettleston MSP had the whip withdrawn back in August after comments he made on social media about the ongoing war in the occupied Gaza Strip.
Dismissing concerns that the country may be in breach of the United Nations genocide convention, Mr Mason wrote: "If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed ten times as many."
The comments were immediately condemned, including by many in his own party, with former Westminster leader Ian Blackford calling him an "embarrassment" and "not fit to represent anyone".
Very disappointed to be expelled from @theSNP over my comments on Israel, Gaza, and whether or not there has been genocide. 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.
— John Mason (@JohnMasonMSP) October 13, 2024
Meanwhile, the SNP, in announcing that the whip had been withdrawn pending a disciplinary procedure, described his comments as "utterly abhorrent".
In the days following his suspension, Mr Mason issued a statement saying he stood by his words on social media.
On Sunday, the MSP took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to confirm that he had been expelled from the party.
He wrote: "Very disappointed to be expelled from the SNP over my comments on Israel, Gaza, and whether or not there has been genocide.
"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."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel