Nadia El-Nakla, an SNP councillor and the wife of Scotland’s first minister, says she is “pleading” with the UK government to let her host her Palestinian brother, as she revealed that her sister-in-law and their four children had escaped from Gaza after an intervention by the Turkish government.
El-Nakla called for a scheme similar to that offered to Ukrainian citizens “so that people aren’t caged into a war with no hope of survival”.
“The Ukrainian resettlement programme saved so many lives. Gazans should also have that opportunity, especially those with family in Britain,” she said.
She also described her horror at how far down the national news agenda the conflict had slipped over the festive season and described the attack on Gaza as “genocide”.
“It’s not even on the radar,” she said. “It’s the first time we’re seeing a textbook genocide in real time and it’s not even on the news.”
El-Nakla, a psychotherapist and a councillor in Dundee, has been outspoken in her calls for a ceasefire and international sanctions against Israel since her parents became trapped on a family visit to the city of Deir al-Balah after the Hamas atrocities of 7 October, when 1,200 people were killed and about 240 taken hostage.
Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla, who live in Dundee, were permitted to cross into Egypt along with other British nationals after almost a month. But Nadia El-Nakla and her husband, Humza Yousaf, have continued to share the brutal detail of the day-to-day impact of the bombardment, with her brother, his family and her elderly grandmother trapped there.
On Thursday, El-Nakla revealed that Turkey had submitted the names of her remaining family members as individuals they were willing to accept as refugees, after she attended a summit of leaders’ spouses in Istanbul demanding a ceasefire at the invitation of the first lady of Turkey, Emine Erdoğan.
But she said her brother’s name had been removed from the list, she assumed by the Israeli government, meaning that her sister-in-law and four children had to flee without him.
The family was also forced to make the “horrible” decision to leave her grandmother, who is 93 and requires round-the-clock care, because her sister-in-law did not have the capacity to care for her along with her children, who range in age from six months to nine years old.
Last month, the foreign secretary, David Cameron, rebuked Yousaf and threatened to withdraw cooperation with Scottish ministers after Yousaf met the Turkish president at Cop28 without a UK official present.
“I’m so grateful that they’re safe,” said a visibly emotional El-Nakla, speaking to the Guardian at the first minister’s official residence, Bute House, on Thursday afternoon. “My brother keeps thanking me for saving his kids.”
She described her frustration at the lack of resettlement options for her sister-in-law and children, who have been offered short-term refugee status in Turkey.
“I feel like a second-class citizen in my own country, because I don’t have the right to bring my own brother to stay in my own home.
“I can see people across the street hosting Ukrainian families, and rightly so. But I can’t host my own brother, to me that feels beyond upsetting … I was born here. I pay my taxes. I contribute to society. And yet the government that’s supposed to represent me is doing such a poor job.”
In a UK election year, she believes it is “absolutely” the case that voters should judge parties on their stance on Gaza. “UK government does not care about Palestinians, no matter how many times they stand up in the chamber and give the rhetoric of ‘Palestinian lives matter’, they’re just an echo chamber for the US foreign policy.”
As for Labour, she said that she was “confused” at how a party led by a human rights lawyer, Keir Starmer, was not calling for a ceasefire. “I understand that he is desperate to be the next prime minister, but these are really important points in politics where you have to make a decision what side of history you’re going to stand on.”
As important as it was to use her voice as a Palestinian Scot with a platform, she said, it was taking a psychological toll.
“I feel like every time I speak at an event or a rally, that there’s no dignity any more for me or my family. I’m genuinely having to plead for my family not to be killed or plead for my people not to be murdered. That doesn’t feel dignified.”
Her parents, who have now flown out to Turkey to support her sister-in-law, remained “extremely traumatised” by their own experience in the early weeks of the conflict, she said.
“When my mum was there, she felt that if the world knew what was going on, they would make it stop. Now she’s watching what’s continuing to happen and that creates a bitterness that actually no one’s coming to help.”
El-Nakla said she had been in touch with her brother, who continues to work as an emergency room doctor in increasingly dangerous circumstances, earlier on Thursday.
“There’s nothing that I can say to comfort him. I said to him to remember the line from the Qur’an that says with difficulty comes ease, and that ease should come soon. He replied: ‘I say that line about 100 times a day.’ They’re just so tired of it. There’s no respite.”
A UK government spokesperson said: “Over 300 British nationals and their dependants have so far left Gaza, and we are working around the clock to get the rest of those out who want to leave. We have a team on the ground in Cairo and at the Rafah crossing as required to provide consular assistance.
“Free transport is being provided from Rafah to Cairo where further consular support is available through the British embassy. Those that require accommodation are receiving two nights of hotel accommodation in Cairo funded by [the British government].
“Any dependants of British citizens who need a visa can apply for one.”
