Scottish government says it will cease holding any meetings with Israeli officials

The Scottish government says that it will cease holding any meetings with Israeli officials until there is “real progress” made toward a peace deal.

The announcement comes in a statement made by External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson, essentially apologizing for holding a meeting two weeks ago with deputy Israeli envoy Daniela Grudsky.

Robertson faced backlash in his party for the meeting, and issues a statement saying that it was never intended to be seen as “legitimatizing the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza.”

Moving forward, he says, “it would not be appropriate to accept any invitation for a further meeting. This will remain our position until such time as real progress has been made towards peace, unimpeded access to humanitarian assistance is provided and Israel cooperates fully with its international obligations on the investigation of genocide and war crimes.”