‘Accidental’ retweet of anti-Semitism by MSP to escape sanction

A Scottish parliamentarian is to escape sanction because she “accidentally” shared an anti-Semitic cartoon with her 6,800 followers on Twitter in November.

Sandra White, the MSP for Glasgow Kelvin and a member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), told a standards hearing that she meant to delete the cartoon showing spy and terrorists suckling from a pig labelled ‘Rothschild’.

The piglets, including one in an Israeli flag, are named ‘MI5,’ ‘CIA,’ ‘Mossad,’ ISIS’ and ‘Al-Qaeda,’ and are shown suckling from a ‘Rothschild’ sow, with the picture incorporating a Star of David.

The Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee heard how White thought she had deleted the image from her Twitter feed using her iPhone, and that she had subsequently issued two apologies: one public, and one to the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities.

In its report, published this week, the Committee said it unanimously agreed with the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland, who found that White was not in breach of the Code of Conduct for MSPs.

Bill Thompson, the Commissioner, interviewed White in March, and concluded that “although the cartoon was offensive and could in other circumstances have been regarded as bringing discredit upon the Parliament, I am satisfied that [White] did not intend to re-tweet the cartoon, the content of which she decried”.