Humza Yousaf has been urged to suspend an SNP MSP who said it was legitimate to criticise “the Jews” because of the Bible’s teachings.
In a debate at Holyrood about the war in Gaza, John Mason, who has often fallen foul of his party leadership for a series of controversial comments, said it was possible not to be antisemitic while criticising the Israeli state.
However, he added that “neither are the two completely distinct and unconnected” because most Jewish people in the UK had relations or friends in Israel.
“It is the only Jewish state in the world and, according to the Bible, is the land which God gave his chosen people,” Mason said.
“Now, having said that, it does not mean that we cannot criticise the Jews or Israel. God himself is hugely critical of his people in much of the scriptures, not least when he punished them by exiling them to Babylon and elsewhere.
“So, it is not antisemitic for some to say that the present Israeli offensive has been over the top and has possibly crossed the line from defence to revenge.”
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Yousaf, the first minister, is now under pressure to discipline an MSP who has already tried the patience of the party’s whips.
If he were to be expelled by the SNP, it would raise the possibility of a by-election in his Glasgow Shettleston seat, although there is no formal mechanism to remove MSPs in the same way that a recall can oust MPs from the House of Commons.
Craig Hoy, the Scottish Conservative chairman, said: “This is an appalling antisemitic comment from an SNP MSP that has no place in a mainstream political party.
“John Mason’s slur could not be more explicit — or ignorant. He must apologise immediately for the gross offence he has caused and Humza Yousaf must take action against his colleague.”
Asked about his comments, Mason told The Times: “Of course, not all Jewish people are in Israel, and not everyone in Israel is Jewish. However, there is a big overlap. And many Jewish people in Scotland or the UK have friends and relatives in Israel. So, as I said in my speech: ‘Clearly, antisemitism is not the same as valid criticism of Israel, but neither are the two completely distinct and unconnected’.
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“And I would just say that of all the SNP speeches in the debate today, mine was probably the most sympathetic towards Israel.”
Research by the Community Security Trust charity, published last week, found that the Hamas attacks on Israel and their aftermath drove antisemitism in Britain to its highest levels in more than 40 years.
In November, the European Commission warned that Jews across Europe were once more living in fear, with antisemitic attacks and abuse hitting levels not seen since the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s.
Mason has come in for heavy criticism previously. In 2022 he was told that he had brought the party “into disrepute” and received a written warning from whips at Holyrood for defending anti-abortion protests outside clinics.
In 2017 Nicola Sturgeon, then first minister, apologised to the families of three Scottish IRA murder victims after Mason had claimed members of the terrorist organisation could be considered freedom fighters.
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In March 2020 he continued to invite members of the public into his constituency office despite the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
At that time, Fergus Mutch, the former SNP communications manager, admitted he often felt he was “defending the indefensible” dealing with Mason, adding: “In the past, however, he’s only brought the party into disrepute. This time he’s risking lives.”
Speaking at a briefing after first minister’s questions on Thursday, a spokesman for Yousaf said of Mason’s most recent comments: “I haven’t heard it until obviously you’ve just mentioned it.
“I don’t want to comment on it specifically, but it’s important in the context of the conflict in Gaza and Israel that people take great care to mind their language.”
The SNP was approached for comment.
