The brother of a Scot killed by Hamas in the October 7 atrocities has accused former First Minister Humza Yousaf of ‘Jew-washing’.
Colin Cowan, 56, said the SNP’s actions following the terrorist attacks on Israel had cynically focused on avoiding criticism rather than combating anti-Semitism.
His comments come amid a growing row within the SNP over Angus Robertson’s meeting with an Israeli diplomat.
Colin Cowan (right) with his late brother Bernard, who was murdered by Hamas terrorists in Israel last October
Mr Cowan said the SNP Government had been happy to trade with China, while former First Minister Humza Yousaf met the Turkish president, despite concerns over both countries’ human rights records.
But External Affairs Secretary Mr Robertson’s decision to meet Daniela Grudsky Ekstein, Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK, has sparked a major row within the SNP – including calls for him to lose his job.
Mr Cowan also accused Mr Yousaf of using his grieving mother Irene as a ‘photo opportunity’ after posing with her at a memorial service, which he claimed was an ‘act of Jew-washing’, or an insincere display of solidarity with Jews.
Bernard Cowan, 57, who left his family in Glasgow when he was just 19 to move to Israel, was killed by Hamas in his home in Kibbutz Sufa in southern Israel, close to the border with Gaza.
The surprise attacks last year saw the terrorist group kill more than 1,200 people and seize about 250 hostages – with 71 of them reckoned to be still alive, according to latest estimates.
Writing in The Herald, Mr Cowan contrasted the SNP’s reaction to Mr Robertson’s meeting with Ms Grudksy Ekstein with the reaction to Mr Yousaf shaking hands with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the COP28 climate change summit in the United Arab Emirates last year.
Mr Cowan accused former First Minister Humza Yousaf of cynically using his grieving mother as a ‘Jew washing’ photo opportunity
Mr Cowan said Mr Yousaf had not faced widespread calls for his resignation at that time, in spite of the ‘shameful Turkish human rights record and their disgusting treatment of Kurdish people’.
He said: ‘Indeed, Scotland and China have a multi-million-pound annual trading portfolio, and this is in spite of China’s woeful and routine human rights abuses, including the imprisonment of its Uyghur Muslim population in north-west China. ‘China’s treatment of the Uyghurs has often been labelled a form of cultural genocide.
‘Yet, why have there been no calls for the resignation of Scottish leaders for their pursuit of strong relations with China?’
He added: ‘It seems to me that there is a blatant double standard here.’
Mr Cowan said Mr Yousaf – who was then First Minister – had met his family after his brother’s murder last October.
He said: ‘There is a photo of Mr Yousaf hugging my 82-year-old mother as our whole family mourned the loss of Bernard.
‘I have since reached the conclusion that the actions of the SNP since then… have shown me that this was nothing other than a photo opportunity for the party, an act of Jew-washing, to avoid any accusation of inaction on combating the rife anti-Semitism that we suffer from in this country.’
Mr Cowan said Scottish Jews are ‘fearful and we want to see a reaction from our First Minister John Swinney – one that acknowledges the legitimate fears of my community’.
He called on Mr Swinney to ‘meet with me and my family personally, and show solidarity with the victims of the deadliest day for Jews in 80 years’.
Last night Mr Yousaf his thoughts ‘continue to be with families who are suffering due to the horrific terror attack by Hamas on October 7, including the Cowan family’.
He said: ‘When I participated in the Service of Solidarity at Giffnock Shul [synagogue] in October last year, it was at a time of extreme personal grief as my in-laws continued to be trapped in a warzone in Gaza, not knowing whether they would live or die day-by-day.’
He said he supported the Scottish Government in ‘ensuring there are not normal diplomatic relationships with the Government of Israel until they comply with their international obligations and cease killing civilians with impunity’.
A Scottish Government spokesman said Mr Swinney would be ‘grateful for the opportunity to meet with Mr Cowan and his family’.
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