AN SNP councillor has been suspended for three months after sharing allegedly “anti-semitic” material online.
Frank Anderson, a Nationalist councillor in West Lothian, was sanctioned after a hearing by an ethics watchdog.
The SNP is now facing calls for him to be expelled from the party.
The row related to a controversial blog on the pro-independence Grouse Beater website about GMB Scotland organiser Rhea Wolfson, who is Jewish.
Entitled ‘GMB - a cockney clique’, the blog cited Mein Kampf to claim Wolfson was making the most of Hitler’s fascist ideology.
In one section called “Hitler’s view”, the blog made the claim that Hitler had alleged that Jews gradually had assumed leadership of the trade union movement:
“Whether or not Wolfson is intellectually aware of Hitler’s outlook is unknown, but she certainly knows how to make the most of it”.
The blog also said: “The people of Glasgow voted for independence without caveat. They did not invite fifth column English unionists to come to their city to divert that just ambition.”
The SNP suspended and expelled Edinburgh-based Gareth Wardell, the blog’s author.
When the post was circulated online, Wolfson tweeted that she had “honestly never expected to see such outright support for such obviously anti-Semitic views”.
However, it also emerged that the blog was shared on social media by Anderson.
Anderson initially doubled down in comments to a newspaper: “I don’t accept that it was an anti-Semitic article, nor was I aware of any of Miss Wolfson’s Jewish heritage.
“The article was, in context, about the self-serving attitude of Labour.”
He later apologised “unreservedly”.
A complaint was later made about Anderson and the Standards Commission for Scotland held a hearing today.
It is understood he was suspended as a councillor for three months.
GMB Scotland Secretary Gary Smith said: “The SNP must now take a strong stance by expelling Councillor Anderson, just as they did with the author of the Grousebeater blog.
“The Standards Commission found Councillor Anderson’s actions to be “offensive and gratuitous” and suspended him from his elected post from three months. We believe his position is untenable.
“We expect the SNP to be consistent in their approach and to send a loud and clear message that there is no place for anti-Semitism in Scotland.”
