The Scottish Government has refused to release minutes of Angus Robertson’s ‘secretive’ meeting with an Israeli diplomat, prompting accusations it is ‘hiding’ from scrutiny of the discussions.
In a freedom of information (FOI) response the Scottish Government said it was withholding both the minutes and agenda of Robertson’s meeting with Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK, Daniela Grudsky, on 7 August.
The Scottish Government argued releasing details of the meeting could damage “good and honest relations with states they choose to engage with”.
A spokesperson told The Ferret it is a “requirement of international relations that confidentiality is not breached” and said the Scottish Government remained “unwavering” in its support of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
But critics said there was no “legitimate reason” to keep the information from the public and questioned the transparency “surrounding all of Scotland’s international work”.
Grudsky claimed on social media that she had discussed “unique commonalities” between Scotland and Israel with Robertson as well as “cooperating” on areas including culture and renewable energy.
Robertson – the Scottish Government’s culture and external affairs minister – later apologised that the meeting did not solely focus on the war in Gaza following criticism from human rights groups and colleagues within the SNP.
One senior SNP MSP branded Robertson a “liability” over the affair and he faced calls to resign from his ministerial post.
However, first minister John Swinney said the meeting took place with his blessing and the “best of intentions”. He said it was arranged to put “to the Israeli government the opposition we feel to their activities in Gaza”.
Minutes should be published to evidence the government’s claims that human rights concerns were raised.
Neil Cowan, Amnesty International UK
Swinney’s predecessor as first minister, Humza Yousaf, was very critical of Israel’s actions in the Gaza war describing them as “tantamount to ethnic cleansing” in January.
Over 40,000 people have reportedly been killed in Gaza since Israel began its assault in retaliation for the Hamas attacks on 7 October, when the group killed nearly 1,200 people, many of them Israeli civilians.
The Scottish Government suspended meetings with Israel in the aftermath of the Robertson controversy until the country makes “real progress” on peace talks in Gaza.
Under FOI law, public bodies can withhold information about meetings with foreign officials if releasing it would “substantially” impact diplomatic relations. However, this exemption does not apply if it is outweighed by the public interest in releasing the information.
The Scottish Greens co-leader, Patrick Harvie – a former minister – called for the Scottish Government to “come clean, publish the agenda and allow scrutiny” of the “secretive meeting”.
He said: “It’s astonishing that the Scottish Government thought a meeting with a senior representative for a government that is inflicting genocide would be appropriate, and I can see no legitimate reason for refusing to publish details of it.”
Harvie added that while Robertson had claimed the meeting was arranged to discuss the assault on Gaza, “by hiding the agenda from public scrutiny, there is no way to tell what was said or where on the agenda it fell”.
Amnesty International’s programme director in Scotland, Neil Cowan, said the public “deserves to know more” about the meeting and “minutes should be published to evidence the government’s claim that human rights concerns were raised”.
Cowan added: “We’ve repeatedly raised concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding all of Scotland’s international work.
“I wrote to the first minister following this meeting to underline the need for transparency and urge him to undertake a full review of Scotland’s diplomatic, political and economic ties with Israel.
“As long as Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, its illegal occupation and its overarching system of racist apartheid continue, the Scottish government must confirm it has no intention of strengthening its ties with Israel.”
Carole Ewart, director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland said the case provided “further evidence” of why Scotland’s FOI law is “outdated and needs to be reformed”.
She added that given the anger around the war in Gaza, the meeting with Grudsky should have been “transparent by design”.
Ewart said: “Secrecy breeds suspicion so the Scottish Government’s interpretation of the public interest test to justify withholding information should be challenged.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The meeting request from the Israeli UK Deputy Ambassador was accepted on the basis it would provide an opportunity to convey the Scottish Government’s consistent and unwavering position on the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. This position was made clear by the Cabinet Secretary for External Affairs during the meeting.
“The Scottish Government remains committed to an immediate ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, an end to UK arms sales to Israel and will continue to press the UK Government to recognise a sovereign Palestinian state, as part of a two-state solution to secure lasting peace in the region.
“It is a requirement of international relations that confidentiality is not breached. That is why the Freedom of Information legislation includes provisions to exempt material that would prejudice substantially relations between the UK and any other State. This is the case in relation to this minute.”
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Featured image thanks to Scottish Government/Flickr
This story was updated at 10:15 on 13/09/24 to add a quote from the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland.
This story was updated at 15:23 on 13/09/24 to clarify that the meeting was not first revealed by a social media post by Daniela Grudsky. It was also amended to clarify that the Scottish Government did not say the meeting was exempt from FOI law.
I respect The Ferret for its invariably neutral stance, and taking up issues that others may not, but I concede that on this I do not see why you are still interested, and in the same way that a tabloid might be.
I can happily acknowledge that diplomatic discussions with Israel at this time can be regarded as ‘not a good look’ for the Scottish Government, but that point has already been made when the meeting became public. The exact details of the discussions were never going to be made public, as a standard diplomatic practice.
This is just now an excuse for opposition parties to make noise and claim that ScotGov is hiding things, when it is merely applying standard diplomatic protocols. Whether the discussions should have occurred in the first place, is another matter and fair game, but again, that has been and gone.
I therefore don’t understand why The Ferret is covering this entirely predictable response to the FOI, as if there is something unexpected or untoward about it. Just because it is Israel, that doesn’t make a jot of difference. You’d get the same sort of response if it was the USA or France or Germany, because the same standards apply. Why pander to what is obviously political point-scoring by opposition parties? There’s no real story here.
Mostly agree with Radio Jammor, except I have nothing against maintaining relations with Israel