Scotland’s former first minister was slammed by the Holocaust Education Trust for referencing the Shoah during a debate on Gaza
September 5, 2025 10:49
A leading UK authority on Holocaust education has criticised Scotland’s former first minister for “weaponising” Holocaust language in reference to the war in Gaza.
During a Holyrood debate on Wednesday, Humza Yousaf used the words “never again” – a phrase coined after the Holocaust in reference to the murder of six million Jews – while discussing the conflict.
Yousaf, who served as SNP leader from 2023 to 2024 and whose wife has relatives in Gaza, said: “Never again. These are the words we repeat every single year when we attend Holocaust Memorial Day.
“We rightly gather and promise to honour the memories of the six million Jews and all of those killed during the evil of the Holocaust. Never again, we say. I’m not sure if in the annals of human history we’ve ever told ourselves a bigger lie.”
He added, “Gaza is the cemetery upon which our collective humanity has died.”
Following his comments, Karen Pollock CBE, the chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET), condemned Yousaf’s invocation of the Holocaust.
Speaking to the JC, Pollock said: “In 1945, the phrase ‘Never Again’ was coined in response to the horrors of the Holocaust – the systematic and state-sponsored murder of six million Jews.
“There is never an excuse for the deliberate weaponisation of Holocaust language and these comparisons are shameful.”
Yousaf, alongside current First Minister John Swinney and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, also described the war in Gaza as a genocide during Wednesday’s debate.
As the Palestinian flag was raised over the government headquarters at St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh, Swinney said: "In the face of genocide, there can be no business as usual."
Also on Wednesday, the Scottish Parliament announced new measures to formally recognise Palestinian statehood and prohibit public funding for defence firms engaged in business with Israel.
Scotland’s Jewish representative body, the Jewish Council of Scotland (JCoS), condemned the policy shift, claiming the announcement risked making life less safe for Scotland’s Jewish community.
The government’s stance could “undermine the safety, security and well-being of the Jewish community in Scotland,” said JCoS chair Timothy Lovat, who confirmed that the Council had formally expressed its concerns in writing to the First Minister’s Office.
A separate group, calling itself Scotland Against Antisemitism (SAA), called on the SNP to “retract its inflammatory language”.
SAA said Jews in Scotland were living in an “extraordinarily hostile environment” and the volume of antisemitism “should be a matter of national shame”.
“We number around 5,000 people, just 0.093 per cent of Scotland's population, yet we were the victims of approximately 17 per cent of all religiously motivated hate crimes last year.”
SAA added: “The Scottish Government holds no power over foreign policy and no meaningful influence over the State of Israel... the only people this announcement will materially affect are Scottish Jews".
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