Humza Yousaf has accused Foreign Secretary David Lammy of racism for meeting with an Israeli minister as part of efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza. The Telegraph has more.
The former First Minister compared Israeli military action to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but claimed the Foreign Secretary and Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, would not engage in the same way with Vladimir Putin or Sergey Lavrov, Moscow’s Foreign Minister.
He said the “only conclusion” to explain the different approaches was that the British response was “rooted in racism” because of the idea that “Arab lives simply do not matter to the same extent as European lives”.
The accusation of racism from Mr. Yousaf, who has said he intends to work to bring about international peace after he leaves politics next year, was branded “offensive and naïve” by the convenor of Holyrood’s cross-party group on Israel.
Mr. Lammy met with Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s Foreign Minister, in Israel on Sunday. The Labour politician said he had stressed the need for an “immediate ceasefire”, the lifting of aid restrictions on Gaza and the release of hostages kidnapped by Hamas in the October 7th 2023 attacks.
Both ministers later posted an image of them smiling and shaking hands on social media, with Mr. Lammy also meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority.
In comments to the National, a pro-independence newspaper, Mr. Yousaf accused Mr. Lammy of attempting to “cover-up” the meeting, despite the Foreign Secretary posting about it on his account on X, formerly Twitter.
He claimed it was “shameful” to meet with the Israeli Government and to “pose for photographs with the Government whose head is wanted by the International Criminal Court”.
Mr. Yousaf said: “I wouldn’t expect David Lammy to be posing, smiling with photographs with Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister.
“I wouldn’t expect Keir Starmer to be shaking hands and hugging Vladimir Putin. We wouldn’t expect any engagement at that senior level.”
He added: “The only conclusion one can draw with why the Israeli Government and the people of Gaza are treated differently is that it has to be rooted in racism.
“Arab lives simply do not matter to the same extent as European lives, and that to me is an indictment of the sad state of humanity that we currently live in.”
Worth reading in full.
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