The bubbling crisis within the SNP has yet again sprung to the fore, following revelations that external affairs secretary Angus Robertson recently engaged in a secret “mutual interest” meeting with Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK, Daniela Grudsky.
Allegedly to discuss cooperation in culture and renewable energy, the meeting has been condemned by SNP MPs, MSPs, members, and Palestine solidarity activists alike.
Questions are being raised about why the meeting happened, why it was arranged in secret, and whether Robertson even had official approval for it. As news of this shadowy summit spreads, the outrage has only grown, engulfing the SNP.
A branch motion has even been tabled for the upcoming SNP conference, calling for Robertson to be sacked, which will possibly lead to even more acrimony.
Just as his party began showing its cracks, First Minister John Swinney swooped in to defend his cabinet minister, stating his approval and the necessity of the meeting – all while regurgitating hollow demands for a Gaza ceasefire, ending of arms sales to Israel, etc.
Secret liaison
Swinney claims that the call for a ceasefire was ‘discussed’. But there is little doubt amongst most that the meeting had the opposite agenda.
After all, had Angus Robertson dragged the Israeli deputy ambassador into a meeting to condemn the wanton slaughter and genocide being perpetrated in Gaza, we would surely be seeing statements from the Israeli Embassy accusing Scotland of being antisemitic!
On the contrary, Robertson possibly met Grudsky to dispel the notion that the SNP and the Scottish government are pro-Palestinian.
The party’s previous leader, Humza Yousaf, stood out among leading UK politicians by joining calls for a ceasefire early on in Israel’s brutal bombing campaign. At one point, Yousaf’s own family members were trapped in Gaza. And since resigning as First Minister, he has continued to be outspoken.
SNP members and politicians are evidently angry at the way Roberton’s smiles-and-handshakes meeting with Grudsky undermines the party’s previous posture, and gives the impression of ‘business as usual’ with a state perpetrating war crimes on a massive scale.
However, this party pantomime – and Swinney’s attempted coverup – are exposed by the slightest peak at the SNPs pro-NATO programme.
In advocating for this imperialist pact, they propose to increase defence spending to 2 percent of GDP (£4 billion) and have essentially scrapped any chance of nuclear disarmament.
How contributing to the world’s most rabid military alliance – whose members actively fund the genocidal Israeli regime – helps those being slaughtered in Gaza is beyond comprehension.
SNP politicians may not sound like the rest when it comes to Palestine, but in actions they completely toe the line laid by Washington DC.
Uni uproar
Despite the SNP’s attempts to keep this meeting under the radar, it has provoked a storm of criticism and discontent. Members are condemning the party and announcing their resignations on social media.
One SNP MSP, John Mason, has been suspended for actually defending the meeting, callously denying Israel’s acts of genocide in a series of provocative social media posts.
Mason had his own private meeting with the Israeli diplomats, after which he began posting on X that if Israel “wanted to” commit genocide, then the death toll in Gaza would be even higher.
Mrs Grudsky’s subsequent visit to University of Edinburgh has also been met with outrage and protests from students and staff. Grudsky was again glad-handing with Principal and Vice-Chancellor Peter Mathieson as if her government were not murdering civilians by the tens of thousands.
One senior lecturer expressed this mood directly to the vice-chancellor, stating that while universities and schools are bombed to the ground in Palestine, the war criminals responsible are accommodated in our corridors with smiles and photographs.
Another lecturer highlighted the hypocrisy contained in the university, alerting students to the far-right violence erupting in the UK, while simultaneously cooperating with Israeli officials who defended the actions of violent, racist settlers in the occupied West Bank.
Emails have been sent to protesting students, with assurances the university is listening to “all sides”, and that it “cares” for its Palestinian student population.
This drivel, identical to that from the mouth of SNP officials, flies in the face of the facts.
Anti-imperialism
The Scottish government claims to have kept their meeting ‘secret’ to ensure the safety of the deputy ambassador. Meanwhile, the University of Edinburgh justifies collaborating with these butchers to combat antisemitism and protect Jewish students.
This is nothing but a repulsive, cynical attempt to paint the Palestine movement as violent and threatening, while a merciless terroristic regime’s envoy uses the university to whitewash their bloodstained public image.
These events show how these ‘progressive’ capitalist politicians in Scotland are trying to play both sides when it comes to the Gaza genocide.
On the one hand, they bend a millimetre to public moral pressure and demand a limit to Israel’s mass murder. On the other, they signal to their imperialist masters that Israel can do as it pleases and still be treated like a vital ally, beyond all criticism.
This is why we say there can be no trust in any of them. Only the working class can wage a consistent struggle against occupation and imperialism
