In praise of Humza Yousaf’s Israel response

Humza Yousaf is one of the most prominent Muslims in public life. This is tangential to his being elected SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland, but has handed him an unexpected role during the recent Israel-Gaza crisis. It’s one that he is taking seriously and, in my view, discharging well.

Yousaf doesn’t discuss his faith often – few leaders do – but he takes it seriously and released a picture of himself praying with his family in Bute House on his first day in the job. At a time when politicians tend to cover up their faith, it was quite a move – he was saying (as his rival Kate Forbes has said) that faith does have a role in public discourse and politicians are allowed to ‘do God’. Having a Hindu Prime Minister and (for now) a Buddhist Home Secretary underlines Britain’s status as a multi-faith rather than secular democracy. There’s a difference, and that difference is made when Muslims, Jews, Hindus and Christians in the public eye decide not to treat their faith as a dirty secret.

The Hamas atrocities and the ensuing events are personal for Yousaf, whose Dundonian wife, Nadia, has a Palestinian father. Both of her parents were trapped in Gaza as Israel retaliated following Hamas’s attack on 7 October. The couple only managed to escape this week via the Rafah crossing into Egypt. So Yousaf talks with a personal connection about the plight facing the thousands embroiled in the war unleashed by Hamas. The couple have said they are ‘heartbroken at the continued suffering of the people of Gaza’. At a time when neighbouring Egypt and Jordan are reluctant to accommodate the estimated one million displaced Gazans, Humza has offered Scotland’s services. He has no remit to do so (asylum is reserved to the UK government) but tugging at the leash of the union is the job of an SNP leader. 

Since entering Bute House, Yousaf has been mindful that his family connections could lead to questions about his feelings towards Jews and he has left no room for ambiguity. One of his first visits as First Minister was to Jewish leaders in Glasgow to assure them that ‘in the fight against antisemitism, the Jewish community in Scotland should be in no doubt that they have an ally in me as First Minister’.

He has been as good as his word. Soon after the 7 October atrocity he joined mourners at a synagogue in Newton Mearns, outside Glasgow, and met the family of Bernard Cowan, a Scottish Israeli murdered by Hamas.

‘Your grief is my grief. I stand here tonight to mourn with you all the innocent lives wasted in violence. I pray in solidarity with you all that the guilty are punished and the innocent protected. I want you to be in no doubt whatsoever that I, and the government I lead, stand with you and with all communities who are mourning the loss of innocent life.’

He then said something else, which I thought deserved more coverage than it got at the time:

‘When I pray tonight I will not only be praying for my in-laws, but praying for Bernard Cowan, and for all those innocent men, women and children who have been killed or harmed – be they Israeli or Palestinian. May God have mercy on all of them.’

It’s not often you hear any political leader in Britain using the words ‘when I pray tonight’ but Yousaf did – and made clear that, as a Scottish Muslim and husband to a wife of Palestinian heritage, he was praying for the Jewish victims of the Hamas atrocities. And he did so, he said, because Islam teaches the condemnation of the slaughter of the innocent: just as the Bible and Torah do. As he said:

‘It says in the Quran, my Holy Book, that if someone kills one innocent person, it is as if he killed the whole of humanity. No religion on earth condones the killing of innocent men, women or children. To those who wish to return us to the darkest ages of religious hatred – I say, you will not prevail.”

One of the problems with religion being largely absent from our national debate is that speeches like this are seldom reported. Social media pushes the debate to extremes and promotes voices on the extremes: that’s how the anger algorithms work, but this can mean the quieter acts of solidarity and respect go unnoticed. It’s the multi-faith tolerance, not the conflict, that defines British society. At a time when many are seeking to promote a ‘clash of civilisations’ narrative – talking up the idea of Muslims as having values somehow hostile to British values – it’s worth remembering that actual British tradition has been one of cohabitation and cohesion on a scale other countries struggle to manage.

Last month, Yousaf issued a joint statement with Jewish leaders and imams:

‘We express today our mutual respect and understanding, recognising our common humanity, and with love and compassion, knowing that our hearts are full of pain. We also acknowledge the suffering caused to innocent life as a result of recent events and wholeheartedly pray for the full recovery of the many injured and for those who have lost loved ones.‘

I wish Yousaf nothing but failure in his ambition to separate Scotland from the rest of the UK. But since the outbreak of war in Israel, he has conducted himself with dignity and courage by providing a voice for moderation, unity and solidarity with the Jewish community.