The announcement made by Foreign Secretary Angus Robertson followed a meeting last week with the Israeli Deputy Ambassador to the UK, Daniela Grudsky, which generated criticism within the Scottish National Party.

The Ministry apologized for the meeting, according to the public television STV, although several voices demanded the dismissal of Chief Minister of that territory, John Swinney.

Robertson explained that the meeting ‘was an opportunity to state the clear and firm position of the Scottish government on the need for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza’ and was not intended ‘to legitimize the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza’.

He also said that this exchange was interpreted by many as a normalization of relations between the Israeli and Scottish governments’, and for this he apologized.

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