...but in Scotland, activists survive eviction attempt

A JEWISH leader in Scotland has expressed disappointment over the Scottish Parliament’s reaction to an attempt to throw her and two colleagues out of a meeting where antisemitism was to be discussed.

Micheline Brannan, chair of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (ScoJec), said she had written to the Presiding Officer of the Parliament, Ken Mackintosh, about the incident, which took place last week at the Cross-Party Group (CPG) on Palestine where she and her colleagues were observers.

Philip Chetwynd, the CPG treasurer, refused to proceed with a discussion on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism — with which the Scottish government has recently said it agrees — if Ms Brannan and her colleagues remained. He described them as “representatives of Zionist organisations” and “ideological terrorists” in whose presence he felt “intimidated”.

But four Members of the Scottish Parliament attending the meeting said they could not support the exclusion. The trio were allowed to remain, though the item on antisemitism was not discussed.

In her letter, Ms Brannan described Mr Chetwynd’s remarks as “an antisemitic attack in the Scottish Parliament by the use of the term ‘ideological terrorists’”.

But Mr Chetwynd told the Scottish Herald: “We challenged their right to be there, because it was clear they were infiltrators.” He added: “I said I regard Zionists as ideological terrorists because I think that is what they are. They actually infiltrate and try and destroy pro-Palestinian activities wherever they come across it.”

A Scottish Parliament spokesman said Mr Mackintosh was “very sorry” to hear of Ms Brannan’s experience but had told her that, according to the code of conduct for CPGs, concerns over behaviour at meetings were a matter for the group itself.

Ms Brannan acknowledged there had been no technical breach of parliamentary rules, but was disappointed that Mr Mackintosh had not commented on Mr Chetwynd’s “offensive language”. Micheline Brannan