Mason expelled from SNP over 'unacceptable' Gaza posts

An SNP MSP who was suspended from the Holyrood group over comments about the Israel- Gaza war has been expelled from the party.

John Mason had the whip removed in August after posting on X that there was "no genocide" in Gaza.

He later told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland that the situation was "nothing like" previous examples of genocide.

Mason was expelled following a meeting of the SNP Member Conduct Committee on Saturday and has 21 days to appeal the decision.

Mason confirmed his expulsion on social media.

Writing on X he said: "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."

Mason was suspended days after External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson was pictured standing alongside Israel’s Deputy Ambassador to the UK, Daniela Grudsky

Many SNP figures are highly critical of Israel’s conduct in the Middle East and the diplomatic encounter prompted an internal backlash.

But Scotland's First Minister John Swinney defended the face-to-face meeting with an Israeli government representative.

The SNP said it could not comment on his expulsion until after the end of the period for an appeal.

At the time of the Glasgow Shettleston MSP's suspension a spokesperson for the SNP chief whip said: "To flippantly dismiss the death of more than 40,000 Palestinians is completely unacceptable.

"There can be no room in the SNP for this kind of intolerance."

The war began after Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 42,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.