Scottish government suspends meetings with Israel

The Scottish government has announced it will not hold any more meetings with Israeli ambassadors until “real progress” is made in peace talks over the Gaza conflict.

The SNP administration has faced criticism after External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson met Israel’s Deputy Ambassador to the UK, Daniela Grudsky.

Mr Robertson said he was sorry that the meeting was not “strictly limited” to talks about a ceasefire.

He said the government would not accept further invitations from Israel until “real progress” had been made towards peace, on humanitarian assistance and until Israel “co-operates fully with its international obligations on the investigation of genocide and war crimes”.

The meeting prompted a backlash from many SNP figures who have been highly critical of Israel’s conduct in the Middle East.

But after the fallout last week, First Minister John Swinney defended the face-to-face meeting in a statement posted online.

He acknowledged that some felt a meeting was “not appropriate”, but stood by the decision to accept the Israeli request.

Mr Robertson said the meeting was not an attempt to legitimatise the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza.

“The Scottish government has been consistent in our unequivocal condemnation of the atrocities we have witnessed in Gaza,” he said.

“The reality, however, is that this meeting has been taken by many to represent a normalisation of relations between the Israeli and Scottish governments.

“As such, it is clear that it would have been better to ensure that the meeting was strictly limited to the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the appalling loss of life in the region. I apologise for the fact that this did not happen.”

He said it would “not be appropriate to accept any invitation” for future meetings until “real progress has been made towards peace”.

The apology follows remarks on the conflict from SNP MSP John Mason who posted on X that there was “no genocide” in Gaza.

Mr Mason was suspended from the party’s Holyrood group but has said he “completely” stands by his remarks.

He told BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme that the situation in Gaza was “nothing like” previous examples of genocide.

Mr Robertson met Ms Grudsky on 8 August, but it was four days later before the Scottish government released a statement about it.

The statement referenced areas of “mutual interest” between Scotland and Israel, and said that Mr Robertson had “reiterated the Scottish government’s position in calling for an immediate ceasefire by all sides”.

It said that he had called for “the unconditional release of all hostages and the opening of safe routes to allow more humanitarian aid to reach the people of Gaza”.

A spokesperson has since said the delay in going public about the meeting was at the request of the Israeli Embassy on “security grounds”.

In his apology, Mr Robertson said it was his decision to take the meeting, which had been requested by Israel, but the first minister was made aware before it happened.

The external affairs minister said: “My view was that given the Israeli UK Deputy Ambassador had requested a meeting it was an opportunity to express the Scottish government’s clear and unwavering position on the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and I did exactly that.”

However SNP figures – including former ministers Emma Roddick, Kevin Stewart and Elena Whitham – criticised the decision to take the meeting.

Mr Robertson said it was really important for a country like Scotland “where we are aspiring to have an independent state” to have diplomatic relations and lay out any differences “when we are in dialogue with countries we are in disagreement with”.

Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, welcomed the apology for the diplomatic encounter which was “clearly an astonishing error of judgement”.

“Holding a meeting of this kind with the state of Israel at this time looks like normalising acts of genocide,” he said.

“It’s really important that the Scottish government has acknowledged what a serious mistake they made holding a meeting of that kind.

“But I want this to be about more than the optics of a single meeting, I want it to be about a change of practice.”

He urged the Scottish government to ensure financial support was not given to arms companies which supplied weapons to Israel or were “complicit in illegal settlements”.

A spokesperson of the Israel Embassy previously told BBC Scotland News that it was the work of foreign diplomats to engage and foster relations “as part of the longstanding and positive relationship between Israel and the UK”.

They said it remained “resolute in fulfilling our duty to represent the state of Israel”.

Last year Mr Robertson faced similar criticism after some SNP members felt he should have taken a firmer position on China.