Humza Yousaf achieved three milestones with his election this week as Scotland’s first minister, the head of the country’s government. At age 37, he is the youngest; the first Muslim; and as Pakistani, the first member of a minority group to hold the title.
He also has a history of meeting with Hamas and has called for an arms embargo against the State of Israel. Yousaf has said in the past that “people are starving and dying a slow death” in the Gaza Strip.
Yousaf’s in-laws happen to live in Gaza. “Wife has been in floods of tears all evening,” he tweeted in May 2021 during Israeli airstrikes in response to thousands of rockets being launched by terror groups—Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad—entrenched in the coastal enclave. “Her brother lives in Gaza with his wife & three young children. He tells us it’s raining rockets.”
Other of his tweets have accused Israel of “killing innocent civilians” and “starvation of population of Gaza and continuing human-rights abuses.”
Yousaf’s victory comes following the resignation of the previous first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, on Tuesday after holding the position since the end of 2014. Yousaf won his Scottish National Party’s election on Monday against Kate Forbes in a close 52% to 48% vote.
