John Swinney is facing mounting pressure to exclude the Scottish Greens from the SNP’s conference and unequivocally reject the party’s assertion that “Zionism is racism”.
The SNP leader was urged on Monday to abandon plans for Scottish Greens co-leader Gillian Mackay to address his party’s conference in Aberdeen later this week on the subject of independence.
A former SNP Cabinet minister also called on Mr Swinney to state more clearly that the SNP does not support the position adopted by the Greens.
The controversy follows comments from Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer, who endorsed the central conclusion of a motion passed by the Green Party in England and Wales describing Zionism—the movement to establish a Jewish state in the Middle East—as racism. Mr Greer also called Israel’s creation “an act of racism”.
Green MSP Ariane Burgess has also faced criticism after “liking” a social media image described as “grotesque and anti-Semitic”, showing the Israeli flag covered in blood with a swastika superimposed on it.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said Mr Swinney had a straightforward decision to make: either allow the Scottish Greens’ views to be legitimised by welcoming them to the SNP conference or withdraw the invitation.
Swinney has been urged to cancel plans for Gillian MacKay to speak at the SNP conference after Ross Greer backed a “Zionism is racism” motion
Mr Findlay said Mr Swinney had claimed to respect Scotland’s Jewish community and argued that, if that was the case, he should not give the Greens a platform. He accused the First Minister of regularly engaging in pro-Palestinian posturing at the expense of the Jewish community, while also pointing to his decision to bring the Greens into government and to Mr Greer’s description of him as his “work dad”.
He added that Scotland was experiencing what he called a disturbing alliance between hard-left politicians, neo-Nazis and “Islamofacists”, united by hostility towards Jews that he said was presented as opposition to Israel or Zionism.
Mr Findlay said he had spoken to SNP members who were “sickened” by the Greens’ presence, citing both the allegations of anti-Semitism and the party’s opposition to oil and gas.
Ms Mackay is scheduled to take part in a panel on independence at the SNP conference at The Event Complex Aberdeen on Saturday.
Former health secretary Alex Neil said he would be the “first person to criticise Netanyahu” and what he described as “genocide” in Gaza. However, he argued that the SNP leadership must make clear that it rejects the Green Party’s claim that supporting Zionism makes someone racist.
Mr Neil said support for a two-state solution necessarily involved recognising both an Israeli and a Palestinian state. He argued that both should be modern states founded on the needs of their people and the pursuit of peace in the Middle East, rather than on racism.
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He said the SNP should explicitly distance itself from anyone arguing that being a Zionist makes a person racist.
Mr Neil also questioned the decision to invite the Greens to the conference while excluding representatives of the broader independence movement.
During First Minister’s Questions last week, Mr Swinney said he did not agree with the conclusions reached at the Green Party conference that Zionism was racism. However, he declined to describe the Greens as anti-Semitic or racist.
Asked whether the First Minister’s response had gone far enough, Mr Neil, who remains an SNP member, said Mr Swinney needed to be more direct. He said supporting the existence of Israel did not make someone racist.
Green MSP Ariane Burgess liked an image on social media that the Jewish Council of Scotland deemed anti-Semitic
Mr Neil said he did not believe anyone “in their right mind” would defend Mr Netanyahu’s actions in Gaza or the West Bank, but stressed that criticism of the Israeli government was separate from the question of whether Israel should exist as a state.
He concluded that the Greens were “totally out of touch with reality” and said Mr Swinney must make it unequivocal that the SNP rejects the claim that Zionism makes someone racist.
Last week, Mr Greer doubled down on his position and said: ‘There is no avoiding the reality that modern day Zionism, the establishment of the state of Israel, was an act of ethnic cleansing – 700,000 Palestinians were cleansed from their homes, many thousands were massacred to do that.
‘That’s historical fact. The Scottish Greens stand opposed to any system of racial discrimination.’
He also claimed that the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism which the Scottish Greens have refused to sign up to ‘has been weaponised against those who simply point out that they were cleansed from their own homes because of their race’.
The Jewish Council of Scotland said the material which was liked by Ms Burgess, MSP for the Highlands and Islands, was ‘grotesque and anti-Semitic’ and urged the Scottish Greens’ leadership to condemn it.
Ms Burgess told the Scottish Mail on Sunday she liked the post by former SNP and Green MSP John Finnie ‘in error’.
An SNP spokesman said: ‘The First Minister has been clear he does not agree with the Green conference motion.’
