Green MSP Maggie Chapman regrets ‘upset’ over Hamas social media post

14 October 2023

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Maggie Chapman said her social media post “sought to widen the context” of the conflict in Gaza

Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman has said she regrets the “upset and anger” caused by her social media post about the Hamas attack on Israel.

She has now deleted the post on X, formerly Twitter, in which she described the attack as “decolonisation”, not “terrorism”.

The party’s co-leader Lorna Slater spoke to Ms Chapman about it earlier this week.

Ms Slater said she did not support the initial statement.

More than 1,300 people were killed in Israel last weekend when Hamas fighters crossed the border to attack civilians and soldiers.

Palestinian authorities say nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Israel’s bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip launched in the aftermath.

In her initial post, Ms Chapman said the attacks on Israel were “a consequence of apartheid, of illegal occupation and of imperial aggression by the Israel state”.

She later said it was an attempt to “put this complex situation into some context”.

On Friday night Ms Chapman said posted a thread on X saying she had deleted the post which had caused “significant upset and anger for some”.

She wrote: “That was never my intention, and I regret where this was the result.

“This post has become a distraction to our collective efforts to focus on dealing with the unfolding humanitarian disaster.

“Our focus must be on how to prevent further killing and ease the suffering of all those affected by the conflict.”

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Ms Chapman acknowledged that Scottish Green MSPs shared the view that killing civilians was an act of terrorism and urged Hamas to release all hostages safely and immediately.

She also called for a “halt” to military operations to “prevent the continuing human catastrophe that is unfolding.”

Earlier this week, Lorna Slater told the BBC: “To attack unarmed civilians, to take hostages of civilians, these are clearly acts of terrorism and I and my party absolutely condemn those.”

The minister said she did not want social media discussions to distract from efforts to establish an immediate ceasefire and for humanitarian corridors to be set up to allow civilians to flee conflict zones.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October, with its fighters entering communities near the Gaza Strip.

Following retaliatory strikes by Israel, the death toll has reached 2,215, with 8,700 people injured, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Israel has told everyone in the north of the Gaza Strip – about 1.1 million people – to relocate to the south of the territory within 24 hours.

The UN said this is not possible and asked Israel to withdraw the order, warning of “devastating humanitarian consequences”.

The World Health Organization said Gaza’s health authorities had told it that it would be impossible to evacuate vulnerable hospital patients.

The Royal Air Force has been brought in to evacuate UK citizens from Israel, according to flight tracking websites.

Data showed an Airbus A400M transport made two return flights from Cyprus to Tel Aviv on Friday night, with the Foreign Office only confirming that it had made arrangements to get Britons out of the country after commercial carriers suspended services to Israel/

A statement said that “further flights are expected to leave in the coming days while commercial options are limited”.

First Minister Humza Yousaf, whose family members have been trapped in Gaza since the Hamas attack, has said Israel is “going too far” and that innocent civilians in Gaza can not simply be “collateral damage”.