Former council leader expelled over view that Hamas is a terrorist group

John Ross Scott was a former Roxburgh District councillor, honorary provost for Hawick and council leader in 2002 and 2003, when serving as a Lib Dem elected member on SBC.

He later moved to Orkney, where he was elected to Orkney Islands Council as an Independent in 2017.

Mr Scott joined the Scottish Greens during Covid before emerging top of the poll in his Kirkwall East ward in 2022.

But he has now been stripped of his Scottish Greens membership, apparently as a result of comments he made on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, regarding the conflict in the Middle East.

His belief that Israel was the “only true democratic state in the Middle East” and that Hamas and Hezbollah should be deemed terrorist groups are against the Scottish Greens long-standing policy to call for the removal of Hamas from the UK’s official banned terrorist list.

Last year party MSP Maggie Chapman claimed the atrocities of October 7, which saw Hamas invade Israel and kill 1,300 civilians at a music festival, were “a consequence of apartheid, of illegal occupation and of imperial aggression by the Israel state”.

Mr Scott’s views expressed on X and his belief that Israel had a right to defend its boundaries are at odds with many within his party.

On his social media page, he wrote in response to posts by Greens about the conflict in Gaza: “I will not side with terrorists and expect the Greens to do likewise. These are difficult hateful times . Let’s not make them worse.”

These views are believed to have led to a complaint by his Edinburgh and East Lothian colleagues which ended up in him being expelled.

Now Mr Scott, a former journalist, has launched an appeal against the expulsion, in particular over the manner it was implemented which he says did not allow him to respond to the complaint in person, claiming the protocols were “fundamentally flawed”.

Mr Scott said: “I want to appeal against the decision which I think is nonsense. I’ve always been a rebel within the ranks and a lot of them have been gunning for me on various different topics, particularly the Greens in Edinburgh who are not fans of mine.

“I have tried to change things and see things differently and they have obviously now got rid of me and if I get back in there are two options, one of trying to get change and making them see sense or basically quit and become an Independent councillor.

“I am not against Palestine, indeed I understand what is happening in the West Bank, but the terrorist aspect is different because Israel has to face terrorism on two or three fronts. I don’t want to be associated with terrorists, and that’s the basis of it.”

He added: “Regardless of what happens I will continue to serve as a local councillor fighting for the people I represent here in Orkney.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Greens said: “We do not comment on internal processes.”