ANAS Sarwar appears to have called the situation in Gaza a genocide for the first time publicly after he was confronted by a protester during a speech.
The Scottish Labour leader was interrupted by an activist during a press event in Glasgow on Monday morning.
Footage showed Sarwar saying: “There is a genocide happening in Gaza.”
At this, the protester said: “Have you told your party leader? Have you told your party leader that there’s a genocide happening in Gaza?”
As the protester spoke, Sarwar went on: “I believe that Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal and he will have to face [inaudible] for his actions.”
His comments put the Scottish Labour leader at odds with his UK boss Keir Starmer who has avoided calling Israel’s destruction of Gaza and the mass slaughter of civilians a genocide.
Anas Sarwar giving a speech at Glasgow Caledonian University - disrupted a Palestine supporter while chanting takes place outside@LBC l @LBCNewsScot pic.twitter.com/Afkx72Sb15
— @GinaDavidson (@ginadavidsonlbc) September 1, 2025
Foreign Secretary David Lammy criticised those calling Israel’s assault on Gaza a genocide, saying in October that it “undermines the seriousness” of the term genocide.
He said that the situation was not comparable with genocides such as the Holocaust or the Rwandan genocide.
But the UK Government's position is at odds with leading genocide scholars, some United Nations officials and human rights experts such as Amnesty International.
Francesca Albanese, the UN expert on human rights in occupied Palestine, has repeatedly labelled Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide and last year highlighted a report by the research group Forensic Architecture, which produced an 827-page document entitled "A Cartography of Genocide".
Sharing the report, she said: "The main findings of this monumental work is that ‘Israel’s military campaign in Gaza is organised, systematic, and intended to destroy conditions of life and life-sustaining infrastructure’.
“We call it genocide because it is genocide.”
First Minister John Swinney called the catastrophe in Gaza a genocide for the first time publicly at the beginning of August, also after being interrupted by protesters.
Speaking to journalists after the event, Swinney (below) said: "It’s quite clear that there is a genocide in Palestine – it can’t be disputed.
“I have seen reports of terrible atrocities which have the character of being genocide.
“I’ve expressed that and obviously it’s not reached all those individuals, but that’s my feeling.”
Sarwar, who has taken a stronger line on Israel than UK Government ministers, previously said there "there is a plausible case for genocide that the Israeli government has to answer and one day I believe will have to answer to the [International Criminal Court (ICC)] and the [International Court of Justice (ICJ)]".
Arrest warrants have been issued by the ICC for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant. The ICJ is currently considering a genocide case against Israel and has already ruled the case is plausible.
