The ruling political party in Scotland has expelled an outspoken member and lawmaker over “utterly abhorrent”, “flippant” and “completely unacceptable” comments about Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
John Mason of the Scottish National Party (SNP) confirmed his ouster on Sunday, saying he was “very disappointed” about the party’s decision.
“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,” the member of the Scottish Parliament posted on X, hinting that he will be appealing his expulsion.
Mason on Monday remained defiant, telling BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme that he would be “happy” to repeat the comments that led to his initial suspension.
“There is a difference between war and genocide and to say that every war is genocide is not the way we use that word,” he said.
In August, the 67-year-old member of parliament since 2011, posted a comment on social media saying that “if Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed 10 times as many” in Gaza.
Mason was apparently reacting to another comment made by a fellow SNP member of parliament, criticising the “massacre” of Palestinian civilians, including innocent children, as a genocide.
The SNP is a nationalist party that supports Scotland’s independence from the United Kingdom. Many of its members are seen as critical of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, which has killed at least 42,289 people and wounded 98,684 in the past year.
After the controversy over Mason’s comments in August, the SNP conducted an internal deliberation on his conduct.
An SNP spokesperson was also quoted by news reports as criticising Mason, saying, “To flippantly dismiss the death of more than 40,000 Palestinians is completely unacceptable.”
A statement from the SNP at that time also referred to his comment as “utterly abhorrent”.
With Mason’s ouster, the party now holds 62 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament.