STEPHEN Flynn launched a blistering attack on Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay during a Holyrood debate on sanctions against Israel, urging him to reflect on calling him a "coward" while Israeli military pilots bomb civilians across the Middle East.
The exchange came during a Scottish Greens opposition debate on strengthening the Scottish Government’s Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) policy against Israel and companies operating in illegal settlements in occupied Palestine.
Findlay’s amendment to the motion was voted down, while the substantive motion passed as amended.
Flynn addressed Findlay directly after the Scottish Tory leader attempted to intervene. Flynn rejected the intervention and the Tory leader called the Transport Secretary a "coward".
“I have listened to more than enough Tories on this issue, ones with far greater status than Mr Findlay will ever have,” Flynn said.
“So I would encourage him to sit down and to perhaps listen to my comments in this regard.”
Gesturing across the chamber, Flynn added: “The only cowards, Mr Findlay, are the individuals who take to the air to bomb civilians – men, women and children. And maybe he should reflect upon those very points.”
Findlay is seen laughing.
Earlier in the debate, Findlay claimed that antisemitism was driving the broader pro-Palestine protest movement across Scotland.
“I will concede that not all of the useful idiot flag-wavers on Scotland’s streets are antisemitic,” Findlay told MSPs.
“But antisemitism fuels this movement. Their belief in the destruction of the state of Israel is explicit – just listen to their poisonous chants about ‘from the river to the sea’.”
Findlay also recounted meeting with Glasgow Friends of Israel, before taking an intervention from Scottish Green MSP Kate Nevens.
Nevins rejected the conflation of anti-war protests with antisemitism, citing remarks from British Jewish commentator Emily Stevenson.
“Refusing to align British Jews with the actions of a violent ethnonationalist government in the Middle East makes us safer,” Nevens told the chamber.
“The conflation of antisemitism with criticisms of the Israeli government is making Jewish populations in the UK and around the world less safe. A population should not be held to account for the actions of the Israeli government.”
The debate was brought forward by the Scottish Greens to demand that SNP ministers close what they described as loopholes in Scotland’s boycott policy.
The Greens’ motion sought to automatically bar any company, parent company, or subsidiary linked to illegal West Bank settlements from receiving public procurement contracts, enterprise grants, or government funding.
Ministers have faced growing pressure from campaign groups and opposition parties after Scotland backed BDS principles 12 months ago, but subsequently included Barclays among the banks selected for its £1.5 billion devolved bond issuance programme.
