FIRST Minister John Swinney was booed and heckled outside the Scottish Parliament as he spoke about recognising Palestine at an event for the Jewish community in Edinburgh.
Swinney addressed a large crowd outside Holyrood on Sunday to mark the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks.
His address followed a deadly attack at a Manchester synagogue last week.
Two men were killed after attacker Jihad Al-Shamie rammed a car into and stabbed worshippers gathering for a service to mark Yom Kippur at Heaton Park Synagogue.
At the time of the attack, Al-Shamie was on bail after being arrested on suspicion of rape.
Al-Shamie was shot by police at the scene after the attack.
Swinney stood on a platform outside the Scottish Parliament to call for peace in the Middle East and the release of hostages.
But in arguing that the recognition of Palestine was part of the path to peace, Swinney was loudly heckled with crowds chanting “bring them home” over him.
Swinney argued the recognition of a Palestinian state is the “necessary route to securing peace”.
In videos posted online, shouts of “rubbish!” and boos can be heard as Swinney attempted to move on with his address.
After struggling to get words out over the crowd, he went on to say: “All of us who believe in the sanctity of human life believe there must be peace to enable human life to be protected.
“Those values will underpin all that I do as First Minister to bring our communities together and to ensure everyone in our society can live in peace and solidarity and safety in our community, and those will be the actions my government takes.
“On this occasion, I stand with you in remembrance of those who have lost their lives.
“I stand in solidarity demanding the return of the hostages. I stand with you in demanding peace for all of our communities and that we may live in harmony together in our country.”
After he finished his speech, he was booed loudly by the crowd.
Posting on his own account, Swinney said: “Today I took part in a vigil with members of the Jewish community in Scotland to remember those killed in the atrocious terror attacks by Hamas and to call for the return of the hostages.”
The UK formally recognised Palestine as a state last month.
Australia, Canada, France and Portugal have also announced formal recognition.
About 1200 people in Israel were killed when Hamas gunmen stormed through the border, while 251 others were taken hostage, on October 7, 2023.
Since then, the death toll in the Gaza Strip has exceeded 66,000, according to the health ministry.
