The Scottish international secretary’s current actions had been criticized because the “normalization” of ties with the Jewish state
Scotland mentioned it has suspended all conferences with Israeli officers till there may be “actual progress” in the direction of peace in Gaza. The announcement follows criticism of a secret assembly between Exterior Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson and an Israeli diplomat earlier this month.
In an announcement on Monday, Robertson basically apologized for assembly Israel’s Deputy Ambassador to the UK Daniela Grudsky Ekstein two weeks in the past, insisting that it didn’t “signify a normalization of relations” between the Israeli and Scottish governments.
It was Ekstein who requested the assembly, Robertson mentioned. He noticed it as an “alternative to precise” Scotland’s “unwavering place on the necessity for a right away ceasefire in Gaza,” the minister defined.
“Nobody supposed that this assembly be offered as legitimizing the actions of the Israeli authorities in Gaza. The Scottish authorities has been constant in our unequivocal condemnation of the atrocities we now have witnessed in Gaza,” he added.
“Going ahead, it’s clear that… it could not be applicable to simply accept any invitation for an additional assembly… till such time as actual progress has been made in the direction of peace.”
Robertson confronted backlash from the ruling Scottish Nationwide Get together (SNP), with some critics calling for him to be suspended, and describing him as “a legal responsibility.”
There has additionally been criticism over the “secrecy” of the assembly, because it solely got here to gentle after Grudsky posted an image on X (previously Twitter) alongside Robertson.
The federal government of the UK, of which Scotland is a component, has additionally been calling for a ceasefire between the militant group Hamas and the Israeli armed forces.
British Overseas Secretary David Lammy just lately visited Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, assembly his Israeli counterpart Israel Katz and Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa.
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