A MEMBER of the SNP who helped oversee party discipline has quit the party after it emerged she had compared Israel to the Nazis.
Denise Findlay, who was elected to the SNP’s conduct committee in October, resigned after material she had posted on social media was passed to Channel 4 News.
Ms Findlay had been supported in her bid to join the conduct committee by MSP Joan McAlpine and the then SNP MP Joanna Cherry QC.
The SNP said that when challenged about her actions, Mrs Findlay had resigned from the SNP, calling her views “entirely at odds with the ethos of the party”.
Ms Findlay tweeted tonight: “I’ve had to resign from the SNP. There are tweets where I’m arguing that Israel=Nazi should not be part of the definition of anti-semitis. They were given to Channel 4”. This was followed by three sad face emojis.
She said she was stil voting for the party and supported independence.
I’ve had to resign from the SNP. There are tweets where I’m arguing that Israel=Nazi should not be part of the definition of anti-semitism. They were given to C4 ☹️☹️☹️
— DeniseFindlay (@GraceBrodie) December 4, 2019
Ms Findlay’s tweets date from 2018, when the UK Labour party was being criticised for not signing up to the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semtism, which includes comparing the actions of Israel to the Nazis.
On 19 July 2018, she wrote on Twitter: “Israel with its treatment of Palestinians and latest apartheid laws is Nazi. It is not anti-Semitic to call Israel a Nazi state.”
On 23 July, she wrote: “Israel’s action against Palestine are definitely Nazi - This is all about surprising perfectly justified criticism of Israel.”
On 1 August, she wrote: “Saying Israel is a Nazi State is not anti-Semitic it’s true.”
A day later, she tweeted: “Israel’s behaviour towards Palestinians Is Nazi. It’s the truth call it what it is Nazi.”
And on 5 August, Ms Findlay wrote: “Problem is the definition means you cannot refer to Israel as a Nazi State, giving special protection to Israel under cloak of anti-semitism.”
Ms Findlay last week urged SNP voters to back Neale Findlay, the party’s former candidate in Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath after he was suspended by the party for alleged anti-Semitism.
A software engineer from Dundee, Ms Findlay’s said in her October pitch for the conduct committee post that she SNP activists should vote for her as she would “protect members from spurious complaints brought by our opponents of the media”.
Endorsing her at the time, Ms McAlpine tweeted: “ Denise Findlay my No1 choice for the Member Conduct Committee. This is important. Nine places to be filled.”
Ms Cherry tweeted: “#Vote #DeniseFinlay1 Conduct Committee.”
An SNP spokesman said: ‘There is no place for anti-Semitism in Scotland or in the SNP.
“All political parties have a duty to show leadership, and we will always take tough action in order to reassure the Jewish community that these matters are taken seriously.
“When challenged on her actions, Denise Findlay resigned from the SNP. The views she expressed are entirely at odds with the ethos of this party.”
In further tweets this evening, Ms Findlay explained her departure.
She said: “It’s the tweets, the fact I’m on the conduct committee and that I’d donated to Neale Hanvey’s crowdfunded. C4 had that information about me.
“Apparently because I’m on the Conduct Committee and donated to Neale Hanvey’s crowdfunder and they have screenshots of the tweets.”
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