Youngest MSP aged 21 who ‘backed terrorism’
THE Green candidate who became Scotland’s youngest-ever MSP was last night at the centre of a row over his public support of Palestinian terror group Hamas.
Ross Greer, 21, was only 15 when he joined the Greens – and is now the party’s spokesman on Europe and external affairs.
But he has claimed there is ‘no compelling evidence of Hamas using human shields’, while saying they are used by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
On Twitter, he has also boasted that he had ‘wound up the Zionist lobby’.
Elliot Davis, joint-chairman of the Judeo-Christian Alliance, said: ‘It is deeply disconcerting to Jews and to all right-minded people in Scotland when an MSP is elected who supports a terrorist organisation.’
Paul Morron, president of the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council, said he would seek an early meeting with Green coconvener Patrick Harvie to discuss the party’s stance on Middle East politics.
A former Bearsden Academy pupil who is listed on the electoral roll as still living with parents David and Karen, Mr Greer contested the East Dunbartonshire constituency in the General Election and became an MSP after being top of the Green list for the West of Scotland.
He studied politics and psychology at Strathclyde University but dropped out to become Yes Scotland’s communities coordinator at the independence referendum.
In 2012, Mr Greer, who refers to the Queen dismissively as ‘Mrs Windsor’, asserted on Twitter that ‘imperial Britain was happy to live with Hitler’.
By 2014, he was tweeting favourably about Hamas: ‘How many civilians has Hamas killed? How many have the IDF? Were the four kids shelled on the beach terrorists? [Israeli shelling had killed four Palestinian boys on a Gaza beach earlier that month].’
In another tweet, Mr Greer said: ‘Both sides in the conflict ought to be held accountable – Israel for its 270+ dead, Palestinians and Hamas for their two dead Israelis.’
In May last year, he tweeted: ‘Labour Zionists really are awful. Party of internationalism and solidarity, unless you’re Palestinian people or half the time, just Muslim.’
Last night, Mr Greer said the Greens ‘support a peaceful settlement in Israel and Palestine and that requires all sides round the table’.
He insisted the party has ‘no hesitation in condemning Hamas violence’.
He said: ‘There should be a zero-tolerance approach to anti-Semitism.
‘What we have to be careful of is that we are separating out instances of genuine antiSemitism, of which there obviously have been some in the Labour Party recently, from issues of criticising the Israeli state and its actions.
‘People who were involved in crafting our party policy on this issue involved a number of Jewish members.’