A senior SNP minister has been accused of trying to stop his party’s members seeing what he discussed with a senior Israeli diplomat after officials refused to publish the minutes of the talks.
The Scottish Government rejected a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to hand over the minutes and agenda for the discussions between Angus Robertson and Daniela Grudsky, Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK.
Officials argued that making the documents public “may cause substantial prejudice to international relations” and warned it was a “requirement of international relations that confidentiality is not breached”.
But the Scottish Tories said they suspected that the rejection was to prevent SNP members furious about the discussions finding out what Mr Robertson had said.
Mr Robertson, the External Affairs Secretary, faced a huge backlash from his party’s rank-and-file after the Aug 8 meeting became public.
Livid SNP MPs, MSPs and members argued it undermines the party’s condemnation of Israel’s actions in Gaza and calls for a separate Palestinian state. Some demanded that Mr Robertson be sacked, despite John Swinney authorising the talks.
Mr Robertson managed to hold onto his job by making a grovelling apology to SNP members, saying he had not meant to imply a “normalisation” of relations with Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration.
He announced that the Scottish Government would hold no more meetings with the Israelis, unless a series of conditions were met. However, John Swinney later met Palestinian representatives.
The Scottish Tories said they had received an FOI response about the Israel talks in which everything had been redacted.
Alexander Stewart, the party’s deputy external affairs spokesman, said: “Secrecy and evasion have been the hallmarks of this SNP Government – but even by their standards redacting literally everything from a Freedom of Information response is incredible.
“Usually, their shameful lack of transparency is designed to keep the public in the dark. But given the furore Angus Robertson’s meeting with Israeli officials caused in his own party, you suspect this one is as much about stopping SNP MSPs finding out what was discussed.”
The Herald also requested the same documents but the Scottish Government refused, citing the public interest in being able to “maintain good and honest relations” with other countries.
It said the release of any information “may cause substantial prejudice to international relations between the UK and any other state.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “It is a requirement of international relations that confidentiality is not breached.
“That is why the Freedom of Information legislation includes provisions to exempt material that would prejudice substantially relations between the UK and any other state. This is the case in relation to this minute.”
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