Impose Sanctions On Israel Like Those Used Against Apartheid South Africa, Says Former Scottish First Minister
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A former first minister of Scotland has called on the UK to impose trade sanctions on Israel like those used against apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.
Scotland's former leader Humza Yousaf has accused the UK government of being "utterly complicit" in what he describes as genocide in Gaza and called for further economic pressure on Israel.
Writing in The House Yousaf, the Scottish National Party MSP for Glasgow Pollok, said his wife's relatives were among Palestinians becoming emaciated as a result of what he said was Israel's "campaign of forced starvation".
Yousaf, who succeeded Nicola Sturgeon as the SNP leader of Scotland in March 2023 before resigning in May 2024, said the UK should suspend its trade deal with Israel and sever ties with parts of the Israeli economy "associated with the genocide in Gaza and Israel's decades-long occupation".
"There is no doubt in my mind that the UK Government is utterly complicit in the genocide in Gaza, and must take action to ensure no further complicity," he writes.
"It is time to treat the Israeli regime just as we did apartheid South Africa, when many states took action, placing trade bans on some key South African exports and banning new investment to exert pressure on the regime. Today, Palestinians are asking us to demand that our own governments do the same."
In the 1980s, many countries, including the UK, imposed various trade sanctions on South Africa in response to the country's then-system of institutionalised racial segregation.
The Starmer government continues to face calls to step up its response to Israel's conduct in its war with the terror group Hamas in Gaza.
On Thursday, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey said the Prime Minister must "use whatever influence he has" to persuade US President Donald Trump to stop a planned Israeli military offensive in Gaza City.
"Netanyahu's assault on Gaza City will only deepen the cycle of violence, worsen the death and suffering, and put hostages' lives at greater risk," Davey said.
The Israeli military has started the planned offensive in Gaza City despite international condemnation. Over a million Palestinians live in the city, which Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has described as containing "the last terror strongholds".
On Wednesday night, Foreign Secretary David Lammy posted on X that an Israeli plan to build over 30,000 homes in the occupied West Bank "would divide a Palestinian state in two, mark a flagrant breach of international law and critically undermine the two-state solution".
Starmer announced in July that the UK government would join countries like France in recognising the state of Palestine in September, unless the Israeli government reached a ceasefire, committed to a long-term peace process and ended annexation of the West Bank.
The UK government has also called for Hamas to release all hostages.
The war in Gaza began on 7 October 2023 after Hamas invaded Israel's southern border, killing more than 1,200 and taking 251 hostages. Over 60,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Yousaf wrote in The House: "For my wife Nadia and me, it is deeply personal.
"We have no words of comfort for Nadia’s cousin Sally, who is in Gaza with her husband and four children, as they continue to shed weight and become emaciated while desperately searching for any scrap of food, during Israel’s campaign of forced starvation against the people of Gaza."
