One of John Swinney’s senior ministers has offered a “profound apology” to SNP members after his meeting with an Israeli diplomat led to calls for his resignation.
Angus Robertson, the SNP Cabinet Secretary for External Affairs, insisted he had not meant to imply a “normalisation” of relations with Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration amid its military action in Gaza.
The SNP’s former Westminster leader met with Daniela Grudsky, Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK, on Aug 8, to discuss issues including culture and renewable energy.
The meeting, details of which emerged after Ms Grudsky posted on social media about her desire to develop Israeli links with Scotland, caused outrage within sections of the pro-independence movement who believe the nation should be ostracised.
The Scottish Government then announced a ban on meeting Israeli diplomats, a move which led to accusations of anti-semitism from Colin Cowan, the brother of Bernard Cowan, a Scot living in Israel murdered by Hamas in the Oct 7 atrocities.
On Sunday, there was a pro-Palestinian protest outside the SNP conference in Edinburgh with activists calling for Mr Robertson to be sacked.
Reiterating an apology he made last month, Mr Robertson told delegates that he wanted to “address” the “unhappiness” over his meeting with Ms Grudsky while “death and destruction” was being “meted out” by Israel on Gaza.
“As I have already said I am profoundly sorry that any impression was given of any normalisation with the Israeli government,” he said.
“When in fact the priority of the Scottish Government was to communicate support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, release of all hostages, an end of UK arms being sent to Israel and a recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state within the two-state solution.”
An initial statement issued by the Scottish Government about the meeting made only a passing reference to Israel’s military action, saying Mr Robertson had called for “an immediate ceasefire by all sides”, release of hostages and more humanitarian aid.
The party was taken aback by the scale of the backlash, later suspending John Mason, an MSP, from the SNP Holyrood group for rejecting claims that Israel was committing “genocide”.
In a bid to diffuse the row, Mr Swinney met Dr Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK. He said the Israelis’ conduct meant there would be “no further dialogue” with them.
