Scottish Muslim charity 'strongly condemns' Douglas Murray comments about Humza Yousaf

The author and associate editor at The Spectator has attracted fierce criticism after he said the First minister had “infiltrated” the political system.

Murray has previously been labelled “Islamophobic” and, speaking with a conservative US political talk show, he said: “Humza Yousaf, as far as I can see, is not the First Minister of Scotland.

“He’s becoming the First Minister of Gaza, or an ambassador for Gaza, or something like that.”

READ MORE: Scottish Parliament motions tabled calling for ceasefire in Gaza

In a statement sent to The National, the Muslim Council of Scotland (MCS) said: “The MCS has always worked for community cohesion and inclusiveness.

“We are aware of a significant rise in Islamophobia and strongly condemn Douglas Murray’s comments against the democratically elected First Minister of Scotland.

“He didn’t criticise the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for his support of ongoing genocide in Palestine.”

Murray also described Nadia El-Nakla (above) as a “nasty piece of work” and added: “People like Humza Yousaf, I say it carefully, have infiltrated our system.

“He does not seem to be much bothered by the situation of the Scottish people, or the people of Glasgow who have one of the lowest life expectancies not just in Britain but anywhere in Europe.

“He does not seem to care about that or if he does, he does nothing about it. But my word if you look at this social media proclamations ... you would think that he was indeed First Minister of Gaza.

“This is a problem that the Scots must sort out, the Scottish electorate must sort out, indeed the British electorate must sort out.”

READ MORE: Douglas Murray's 'racist' Humza Yousaf comments spark anger​

The statement from the MCS added: “Scotland is a welcoming country and this type of prejudice and hate creation has no place in our society.”

Murray has also faced criticism for an article published in the Jewish Chronicle on November 9. In the piece, the journalist said: "I'm genuinely baffled that so many people are agonising at a time when the situation before us all - Jews and non-Jews - could hardly be clearer. 

"As I am in Israel at the moment, I witness the situation with even more clarity. Nothing could surpass the barbarism of what Hamas did that day. I have seen and covered many conflicts in my life, but I have never seen anything quite like this.

"As I said after watching at the Israeli embassy the other day the unedited footage of the massacre, this is one occasion when saying that some people are worse than the Nazis is not hyperbole.

"Average members of the SS and other killing units of Hitler’s were rarely proud of their average days’ work. Very few felt that shooting Jews in the back of the head all day and kicking their bodies into pits was where their own lives had meant to end up.

"Many spent their evenings getting blind drunk to try to forget. Nazi commanders had to worry about staff 'morale'. When the war ended, the Nazis tried to pretend that Treblinka and other death camps never existed."

He then said that Hamas were "not just pleased with what they were doing - they were elated". 

Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer was among those to criticise Murray.

Writing on Twitter/X, the MSP said: "Douglas Murray doing outright Nazi apologism & Holocaust revisionism in the Jewish Chronicle today. 

"The man is an undisguised fascist but Suella Braverman says he holds 'perfectly decent views'. Even by Tory standards this is a government of extremists."