Nicola Sturgeon has apologised to Scotland’s Jewish community after an MSP retweeted an “abhorrent” antisemitic image, which she then deleted.

The first minister wrote to the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities after Sandra White, a widely respected Scottish National party MSP, who represents Glasgow Kelvin, admitted causing deep offence by retweeting what she acknowledged was a repellent and offensive cartoon.

White said she had been horrified when she discovered what was in the image, which was attached to a tweet that linked to an article by the nationalist former diplomat Craig Murray on the Syrian oil interests of Rupert Murdoch and Lord Rothschild.

Murray did not send the controversial tweet, which had images of Murdoch pulling the strings of David Cameron, the former Labour leader Ed Miliband and the former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, as well as a cartoon showing piglets, including one carrying the Israeli flag suckling on an adult pig labelled Rothschild.

The SCJC told Sturgeon the tweet’s images were bizarre and hateful, and “reminiscent of the very worst of Nazi propaganda”. The first minister said she had raised the issue directly with White, who is a member of the Scottish parliament’s equal opportunities committee and prominent in raising pro-Palestinian issues at Holyrood.

“I know that she understands the seriousness of this accidental retweet and deeply regrets the offence it has caused,” Sturgeon told the SCJC. “We all share the view that nothing must be done that provides the views expressed in the image any legitimacy whatsoever.

“I do hope that Sandra’s letter addresses your concerns in relation to her actions. Regarding the original tweet itself, I find it and the image it contained abhorrent. As I stated at Giffnock [during a Jewish community public meeting], I will not tolerate antisemitism or religious or racial hatred of any kind at any level in our society.”

Ephraim Borowski, director of the SCJC, said he was pleased with White’s apology and that she had agreed to his request on Thursday to tweet it publicly; his only disappointment was that she had not done so immediately she discovered her error, he said.

The SCJC’s concern was that through her pro-Palestinian activism, White could be coming into contact with other people who had openly anti-semitic views. The image she retweeted was taken from notorious US neo-Nazi websites and was “blatantly anti-semitic”, it said.



Borowski added: “No-one is seriously going to suggest that Sandra White is personally anti-semitic.”

But he added he was concerned that there was a risk she could come into contact with people who undoubtedly are.

White, who was unavailable to comment, tweeted her apology on Thursday lunchtime. In her letter to the SCJC, she said she apologised “unreservedly for the offence that has been caused by my accidental retweeting of this offensive image which I too find repellent and offensive”.

She added: “I had not intended to retweet this picture, and was horrified to learn that I had done so. As soon as this was brought to my attention, I deleted the tweet.

“Anyone who knows me or has known me over the many years I have served in public office will know of my love and tolerance for all peoples; all faiths and religions. They will know of my steely commitment to stand up for all suffering prejudice regardless of race of creed. There is nothing that happens in Israel or Palestine that can be justification for any racial of religious hatred.”

The SCJC said this incident fuelled fears that there was a disproportionate political focus in Scotland on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which added to concerns that this contributed to wider antisemitism.

White was the most active MSP on Palestinian issues, it said. Of the 355 foreign affairs motions in Holyrood since May 2011, 65 had been about Israel, with only 13 on Syria and 15 on Iraq. White had proposed nine of the Israel motions and supported 20 “strongly condemning Israel.”

In a blog posted on Thursday, the Community Security Trust, a British charity working for the Jewish community, said the White controversy mirrored the behaviour of Gerald Kaufman, the Labour MP who had made remarks about “Jewish money” and the Conservative party last week. His comments were condemned by Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, as completely unacceptable.

Mark Gardner, author of the CST blog, said that Labour’s official response to Kaufman’s remarks were weak and inadequateand Kaufman had not apologised; the SNP had given a “sort of apology”. He later updated his blog to say that the latest SNP apologies were welcomed.