Mevlut Ozkan
11 June 2025•Update: 11 June 2025
ISTANBUL
The Scottish National Party’s (SNP) leader in the House of Commons said Tuesday that an independent Scotland under the SNP would break ties with Israel and close its embassies.
Stephen Flynn told The News Agents podcast that he finds it “difficult to comprehend how you can deal with people who are so insistent upon killing a civilian population in the way that they are.”
Flynn said he was “deeply upset and angry about what's happened in Gaza and what continues to happen in Gaza,” criticizing the UK for its position that “has been so weak for far too long.”
He said he repeatedly heard promises from Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Hamish Falconer, minister for the Middle East, in the House of Commons.
“I’ve gone into the House of Commons on God knows how many occasions now and listened to David Lammy and Hamish Falconer, the Middle East minister, and they’ve told us how ‘we’re going to do this, or we’re going to do that, and this is the latest thing we’re going to do.’
“And then he stands up and says, ‘but they’re ignoring us.’
“Well, if they’re ignoring you, then do something that captures their attention,” Flynn said.
Israel, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a genocidal offensive in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, killing nearly 55,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
Aid agencies have warned of the risk of famine among the enclave's more than 2 million inhabitants.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war crimes against civilians in the enclave.
