The SNP spokesperson said: “To flippantly dismiss the death of more than 40,000 Palestinians is completely unacceptable. There can be no room in the SNP for this kind of intolerance.” The withdrawal of the whip means Mr Mason is effectively expelled from the SNP and must sit as an independent MSP until it is restored for his “utterly abhorrent comment.”

John Mason posted several social media messages insisting that Israel is not engaged in a continuous genocide on the people of Gaza. He went on claiming that if Israel intended a genocide of Gazans it would have killed ten times more – The National Scot report