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ABERDEEN — The U.K. is “enabling” Israel as it prepares to wage a ground offensive in Gaza, according to Nadia El-Nakla, wife of Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf.
Speaking at a fringe meeting at the Scottish National Party conference on Sunday, El-Nakla spoke of feeling “helpless” as her parents remain trapped in Gaza. Both she and Yousaf have made calls for the U.K. government to help establish a humanitarian corridor to assist civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Asked for her view of the U.K. government’s latest response to the Hamas conflict — where Foreign Secretary James Cleverly asked Israel to show “restraint” as the country continues to respond to Hamas’ surprise attack last week — El-Nakla said the government has enabled Israel by offering some limited military support.
Britain last week deployed military equipment including surveillance aircraft and naval patrols to the eastern Mediterranean. The government said the package was intended to prevent escalation of the conflict and reiterated the U.K.’s support for Israel.
“For me, I’m not sure why,” El-Nakla said, referring to the military support. “Israel has one of the strongest and most advanced armies in the world and I’m just not sure why they need more support,” she said.
“The U.K. is enabling the behavior of Israel, but gaslighting us at the same time,” she added, referring to what she feels is a lack of British care for the lives of civilians in Gaza. Yousaf previously said he feels the U.K. doesn’t value Palestinian lives as highly as Israeli ones.
El-Nakla, who was born in Dundee to a Palestinian father and a Scottish mother, was speaking at a Palestine Solidarity Campaign event at the SNP’s conference. Her parents are still in Gaza, after they travelled to visit a sick relative last week.
