TRADE unionists, human rights activists and politicians gathered outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh yesterday to tell the Israeli ambassador that he is not welcome north of the border.

Mark Regev was invited to Holyrood at the behest of Presiding Officer Ken MacIntosh and has visited both Edinburgh and Glasgow universities, where he was met by protests.

He also spoke at a meeting hosted by former Labour MP and arch-Blairite Jim Murphy.

SNP MP for Edinburgh East Tommy Sheppard told the Star: “Mark Regev is no ordinary ambassador. He is, in fact, one of the architects and enthusiastic propagandists of Israeli government strategy, which is the most right wing in Israel’s history.”

Speaking at the rally earlier, Mr Sheppard applauded demonstrators for “making sure we send Mr Regev back to London with a clear understanding that people in Scotland unanimously support the rights of the Palestinian people and are opposed to the Israeli government’s continued military occupation and oppression of Palestine.”

SNP MSP Sandra White told the crowd: “The Palestinian people must be allowed to go back to their land and claim what is rightfully theirs, and that’s why we stand here in solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

Labour MSP Pauline McNeill said: “My blood is boiling to think that the Israeli ambassador has been invited to our Parliament.

“We remember his face on our television screens day in, day out, justifying the horrific and brutal bombing of civilians in Palestine.

“There is nothing that has made me so angry this year as him being welcomed to our Parliament.

“The situation for Palestinians has never been so bleak [but] there has never been a time in its history where people and countries have failed to challenge the impunity of Israel in order to end the occupation and the discrimination against Palestinians.”

MSPs will debate the Palestine issue on November 1.