Humza Yousaf has been warned he will be seen as an “an apologist for antisemitism” unless he ends the SNP's coalition with the Scottish Greens, following a widely condemned tweet from Maggie Chapman. 

The North East MSP, who is the deputy convenor of Holyrood's human rights committee, was heavily criticised over the weekend for tweets which claimed the Hamas attack in Israel was not terrorism.

READ MORE: Humza Yousaf's family trapped in Gaza amid Israel conflict

On Sunday, the Green tweeted: “What’s happening in #Palestine is a consequence of #Apartheid, of illegal occupation, m & of imperial aggression by the Israel state. Palestinian civilians have seen their homes destroyed, their water stolen & their land appropriated illegally.”

She also shared a tweet from another account which said: "The OPPRESSED are fighting back for their rights.. Don't let the Western media fool you into thinking it's terrorism, this is decolonization..”

More than 700 people were killed when Hamas broke through Israel’s border on Saturday.

Another 130 are believed to be being held captive after gunmen snatched people in towns, along highways and at a music festival.

The hostages are known to include soldiers and civilians, including women, children and older adults.

There are claims that some women have been raped.

The Herald:

In a letter to the First Minister, Scottish Tory MSP Jackson Carlaw, who represents Eastwood, home to many in Scotland’s Jewish community, said the “vile comments” should be the end of the “toxic Bute House Agreement”.

He also pointed to Angus Robertson's unequivocal condemnation of the attack.

Mr Carlaw said: “Maggie Chapman’s vile comments in the wake of Hamas’ appalling attack, which has killed hundreds of Israeli civilians, has rightly provoked outrage on social media.

“It lays bare the disgusting bigotry that pollutes the Scottish Greens and makes them totally unfit to be a party of government.

“This post doesn’t come in isolation – her colleagues regularly post or like messages that are grossly offensive to Jews, while the Greens’ refusal to sign up to the IHRA definition of antisemitism tells you all you need to know about their extremism.

“But Maggie Chapman’s comments are so unacceptable that Humza Yousaf must end the toxic Bute House Agreement and kick the Greens out of his government. If not, he will be deemed an apologist for antisemitism.

“Angus Robertson, like every right-minded person, has condemned Hamas’ actions, so we can only assume he is uncomfortable being in government with a party which refuses to view Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

“It defies belief that Maggie Chapman can hold views as callous and abhorrent as these while serving on the equalities committee. Her position on that committee is now untenable.”

READ MORE: UK condemns ‘horrific’ attacks by militants on southern Israel

Humza Yousaf told journalists he found the call from Mr Carlaw "terribly crass".

The First Minister said: “I have seen the tweet, and Maggie Chapman is responsible for what Maggie Chapman says.

“To somehow equate what is happening in the geo-political situation between Israel and Palestine, to reduce it to an issue about whether the Bute House Agreement can go on or shouldn’t go on, I think is terribly crass.”

The SNP leader, whose in-laws are currently trapped in Gaza, described the Hamas attacks as “unjustifiable."

“Innocent civilians being killed will not help us towards peace and an innocent Israeli life is worth, of course, the same as an innocent Palestinian life.

“An innocent child getting killed, it doesn’t matter whether they’re Palestinian or Israeli.”

In his tweet, Mr Robertson, the Scottish Government’s External Affairs minister, said: “The scale and horror of Hamas terrorism against Israel and Israelis sadly keeps growing. There is no justification for their actions.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also said there was “never any justification for terrorism or for the loss of innocent life”.

He told the Daily Record: “So I unequivocally condemn Hamas. They have made peace harder, not easier. And, ultimately, we need a peace process because there is no peace and there is no process at the moment.

“Any peace process has to, of course, deliver security for the people of Israel and security for the people of Palestine. It has to be a negotiated settlement, and it has to address occupation and the siege.

“But, unequivocally, I condemn all loss of life. I condemn terrorist attacks. There's never any excuse for that. And unless we go back to seeing every life as being equal and stop the dehumanisation of people, we're not going to see peace in the region.”

Respondong to Mr Carlaw's letter, Scottish Greens external affairs spokesperson Ross Greer said: “Deliberately massacring innocent civilians is a war crime and an act of pure evil. We condemn Hamas without hesitation. 

“Palestinians have the right under international law to resist the Israeli occupation by force, but Hamas fighters murdering young people at a music festival and kidnapping wheelchair-bound pensioners is no act of resistance.

“Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine must be recognised as the root cause of these cycles of violence and both Hamas and the Israeli Government held to account for the war crimes they have committed. 

"There is no military solution that does not consign thousands more innocent people, Palestinian and Israeli, to their deaths. The only path to peace starts with Israel ending its siege of Gaza and the occupation of all Palestinian territory. 

“Half of the population of the Gaza Strip are children, so it is critical that a ceasefire is reached before Israel follows through on the threats issued by its military and political leaders."

On Sunday, Israel formally declared war, striking more than 1,000 targets belonging to the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group.

The attack has been backed up by a complete closure of the Gaza strip, with no electricity, water, food or fuel allowed into the enclave.

An Israeli military spokesman said the army has called up around 300,000 reservists.

So far, nearly 500 Palestinians have been killed in the retaliatory strikes, with more than 123,000 Gazans displaced by the fighting.

One of the most high-profile targets on Saturday was the Supernova music festival.

More than 260 bodies have reportedly been recovered from the site, according to rescue agency Zaka.

"It was a massacre," said Yaniv, an emergency medic who was called out to the party. He told public broadcaster Kan News: "I've never seen anything like it in my life. It was a planned ambush. As people came out of the emergency exits, squads of terrorists were waiting for them there and just started picking them off.

"There were 3,000 people at the event, so they probably knew it. They had intelligence information."

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Among those missing is British man Jake Marlowe, 26, who was working as a security guard at the music event, and German tourist, Shani Louk, whose mother believes she was kidnapped.

Another woman, 25-year-old Noa Argamani is believed to have been taken hostage at the festival, her family and friends say.

Hamas said it launched the attack in response to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, its blockade of Gaza, its discriminatory policies in annexed east Jerusalem, and tensions around a disputed Jerusalem holy site sacred to Muslims and Jews.

The Scottish Government and the Scottish Greens have been approached for comment.