Yousaf ’s Islamophobia claim in Gaza row rejected
THE MSP who questioned Humza Yousaf ’s “motivations” in a row over Gaza funding has denied Islamophobia and insisted the First Minister still has questions to answer.
Stephen Kerr, the Scottish Conservative backbencher, stood by claims that Mr Yousaf had a “clear conflict of interest” when he overrode officials to direct where aid was sent while members of his family were trapped in the warzone.
Mr Yousaf has reacted to the accusation, calling it an “Islamophobic” slur and a “far-right conspiracy”. An MSP from the Scottish Greens, in coalition with the SNP, accused Mr Kerr of “fuelling this smear” and suggested he should be removed from Holyrood’s standards committee. However, Mr
‘Funding that had been allocated to Unicef for a water project was pivoted and redirected overnight’
Kerr insisted Mr Yousaf had still not explained why he personally stepped in to insist Scottish Government funding was sent to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which has been criticised for links to Hamas.
Mt Yousaf’s officials had recommended that £100,000 to £200,000 should have gone to Unicef, but he overruled them, instead declaring that £250,000 of taxpayer money was given to UNRWA. Members of his family were given safe passage out of Gaza on Nov 3, the day after the Scottish Government announced the donation.
Mr Yousaf has claimed a story highlighting the sequence of events was “outrageous” and an unfounded attempt to “link me to terrorism”.
Asked about the row in a BBC interview yesterday, Mr Kerr said “no” when it was put to him that The Telegraph story had been described as “borderline racist and Islamophobic”. He stood by his claim that there were “significant questions about what his motivation is for using taxpayers’ money in the area”.
Mr Kerr said: “There are questions about how it came about that £200,000 that had been allocated to Unicef for a water project was overnight, on one email, pivoted and redirected. I don’t think we as a party, or people in general, have an unreasonable ask here. That is, what exactly happened and why was this decision made?
“The reaction of the First Minister I felt was an overreaction. I do not regret doing my job as a parliamentarian in scrutinising the work of the Scottish Government, including the work of the First Minister.”
Mr Yousaf ’s parents in law, Elizabeth and Maged El-nakla, were trapped in Gaza when their visit to relatives coincided with the Hamas attack on Oct 7.
The SNP leader and his wife, Nadia El-nakla, regularly spoke publicly of their desperation at the perilous situation their relatives found themselves in, during the Israeli bombardment and with border crossings shut.
Mr Kerr added: “No-one who watched the trauma that the First Minister went through during those days and weeks, when his family were stuck, locked in Gaza… of course there was an issue of personal interest.
“The question [about the funding decision] is very simple: what happened and why did it happen?”
Mr Yousaf has said his family was able to escape Gaza solely due to the hard work of Foreign Office officials and that to suggest otherwise is a “flat-out lie and smear”. He added that “funding to UNRWA was deemed the most flexible way of ensuring money got to where it was needed” and that several governments including the UK had given “millions” to the agency.