John Swinney under pressure to BAN Greens from SNP conference over ‘Zionism is racism’ row

DAILYMAIL.COM • 3h ago

By MICHAEL BLACKLEY, SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL POLITICAL EDITOR 19:52 12 Oct 2026, updated 20:15 12 Oct 2026

John Swinney is under growing pressure to ban the Greens from the SNP’s conference and unreservedly condemn the party’s position that ‘Zionism is racism’.

The SNP leader faced calls on Monday to ditch plans to allow Scottish Greens co-leader Gillian Mackay to speak about independence at his party’s conference in Aberdeen later this week.

A former SNP Cabinet minister also urged him to be more explicit in making clear that the SNP opposes the position the Greens have adopted.

It comes after Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer backed the key conclusion of a motion passed by the party in England and Wales which described Zionism – which is the movement to create a Jewish state in the Middle East – as a form of racism. He also described the creation of Israel as ‘an act of racism’.

Green MSP Ariane Burgess also ‘liked’ a ‘grotesque and anti-Semitic’ image on social media depicting the Israeli flag with a swastika on it, covered in blood.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: ‘John Swinney has a simple choice – either legitimise the Scottish Greens’ anti-Semitism by welcoming them to SNP conference or ditch them.

‘Swinney says he respects Scotland’s Jewish community. If so, then he won’t give his Green friends a platform. He often indulges in pro-Palestine posturing to the detriment of Scotland’s valued Jewish community. He also brought the Greens into government and Ross Greer calls him his “work dad”. But he can no longer ignore their ugly anti-Semitism.

‘Scotland is suffering from the disturbing phenomenon of hard-left politicians joining forces with Neo-Nazis and “Islamofacists” in their shared hostility towards Jews, which they disguise as being anti-Israel or anti-Zionist.

‘I’ve spoken with SNP members who say they’re sickened by the Greens presence, due to their anti-Semitism but also their anti-oil and gas policies.’

Ms Mackay is due to speak at a panel on independence at the SNP’s conference at the 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, but added: ‘If the SNP is hosting it, I think the leadership have to make it clear that we do not agree with the statement by the Green Party that if you believe in Zionism it makes you a racist.

‘if you believe in the two-state solution you must believe there is going to be an Israeli state and a Palestinian state and by definition these should be modern states not set up on the basis of racism but on the needs of people and the need to get some kind of peace in the Middle East.

‘I think the SNP should be very explicitly dissociating itself from the people who say if you are a Zionist you are a racist.’

He also raised concerns about the party inviting the Greens to its conference and not representatives of the wider independence movement.

At First Minister’s Questions last week, Mr Swinney insisted he ‘does not agree with the conclusions of the Green Party conference’ that Zionism is racism but refused to brand them anti-Semitic or racist.

Asked if the First Minister had gone far enough in his response, Mr Neil, who is still an SNP member, said: ‘I think he needs to be much more explicit, that being a Zionist, believing in the need for a state of Israel, doesn’t make you a racist.

‘I don’t think anyone in their right mind would defend what Netanyahu has done in Gaza or the West Bank but that is a very different issue from should there be a state of Israel.

‘I just think these people (the Greens) are totally out of touch with reality and I think John Swinney needs to make his position absolutely clear that the SNP does not agree that being a Zionist makes you a 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.’

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