Humza Yousaf feels ‘powerless’ to protect family members trapped in Gaza – and he’s ‘angry’ at UK foreign secretary

Published

2 years ago

October 14, 2023

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As first minister of Scotland, Humza Yousaf sets many of the rules by which millions of Scots live their lives.

But when I interviewed him in Glasgow on Friday ahead of the Scottish National Party’s annual conference, what I saw before me was a husband and father who felt “powerless” to protect his family.

There were of course questions about the SNP’s dire polling; their by-election defeat to a resurgent Labour Party; the defection of an SNP Westminster MP to the Conservatives this week; Mr Yousaf’s divisive – and shifting – independence plan; and the drag anchor former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s arrest and wider police investigation into the SNP was having on the party.

But the primary concern for the first minister when we met in Glasgow was for the safety of his wife Nadia’s parents, her brother and his children, trapped in Gaza and fearful for their lives.

Follow live: Gazans told ‘go south if you want to live’

That morning, Mr Yousaf shared a tearful video of his mother-in-law Elizabeth El-Nakla, in which she spoke of the Gazans’ plight as Israel warned one million people to vacate the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

“Everybody from Gaza is moving towards where we are. One million people, no food, no water. Where are you going to put them?” she asked.

“Where is humanity? Where’s people’s hearts in this world, to let his happen in this day and age? May God help us. Goodbye.”

Mr Yousaf’s interview round with news outlets ahead of the conference is interrupted by phone calls with his family.

The first minister hasn’t slept and is tearful in our interview when he talks of how his wife and daughters are dealing with the situation.

He tells me he has promised his four-year daughter that her grandmother will be home for Halloween to paint her face as she does every year, even though he knows it’s a promise he might not be able to keep.

He says he’s shared the video because he feels “powerless and helpless”. “The only thing I can do is share their story,” he says/

To that end, the media round before the SNP conference has become far less about Scottish politics and far more about global matters.

The first minister tells me that he is publicising the plight of his own family to try to help all those trapped in Gaza as he demands Israel open up humanitarian corridors “immediately”.

“[It’s an] appeal to the international community, to set up international corridors, to end collective punishment, to allow supplies to come in, to allow the innocent people of Gaza to come out. That’s all I can do,” he said.

“What cannot happen, regardless of [Israel’s] military tactic, is for innocent men, women and children to pay the price. What has to happen now, immediately, today is the opening up of a humanitarian corridor.

“The humanitarian corridor has to allow Gazans, innocent men, women and children to leave and has to allow supplies, medical supplies, food, fuel, clear drinking water to come in.”

“Collective punishment cannot be justified. Neither legally or morally can it be justified.”

The first minister hasn’t heard from the prime minister, while the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly hasn’t responded to a letter from Mr Yousaf about the situation of his family and other Scots.

Mr Yousaf says it makes him “angry” and “disappointed” that he hasn’t been afforded that from a foreign secretary who visited Israel just this week.

Undoubtedly and understandably, Mr Yousaf goes into the SNP party conference almost completely preoccupied by his family’s predicament.

But when delegates gather in Aberdeen this weekend, there will be plenty of discussion too about Mr Yousaf’s first six months and the dire polling the party is enduring.

The last time there was a UK general election, Ms Sturgeon’s SNP was polling 45% and Labour was back in third at 18%.

Now the SNP is on 32% to 34%, with its lead down to 2 to 3% over Labour.

Meanwhile, the party is divided over what its independence strategy should be.

Ms Sturgeon’s position was that if the SNP achieved more than 50% of the votes in the Westminster elections, the SNP would have a mandate for another independence referendum (how she’d get the UK government on board is another matter).

Mr Yousaf’s attempt to lower the bar and claim a mandate if the SNP win the most seats in Scotland at the next general election is now looking dubious, with suggestions this week at conference that the leader might switch to saying the SNP must win a “majority” – 29 plus seats – to claim a mandate.

Whichever way, the idea that the first minister can claim his party is in a position to open formal independence negotiations should they lose 20 seats in a general election (the party currently has 48 MPs), seems ludicrous (he strongly disagreed with me when I put that to him).

Poor polling, a defection, an independence plan undecided and going nowhere, after six months in the job, Mr Yousaf must make progress to move beyond probation with his party.

But for now, the personal has to come first and Mr Yousaf will be hoping next week his political family will rally behind him.

Politics

Australian regulator asks High Court to allow appeal in Block Earner case

Published

5 hours ago

May 22, 2025

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Australian regulator asks High Court to allow appeal in Block Earner case

Australia’s financial regulator will seek the High Court’s permission to appeal a lower court’s ruling favoring fintech firm Block Earner, which found the company’s crypto-linked fixed-yield earning service is not a financial product.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission said on May 21 that it wants to ask the High Court of Australia to clarify what the definition of a financial product is and clarify the circumstances when an interest-earning product and the conversion of assets from one form to another are regulated.

“The definition of financial product was drafted in a broad and technology-neutral way, and ASIC believes it is in the public interest to clarify this,” the watchdog said.

“This clarification is important as it applies to all financial products and services whether they involve crypto-assets or not.”

On April 22, Federal Court Justices David O’Callaghan, Wendy Abraham and Catherine Button found that Block Earner’s crypto-linked fixed-yield earning product is not a financial product, a managed investment scheme or a derivative under the Corporations Act.

ASIC said the court will consider its application. Special leave is required in an appeal to the High Court, and it’s only granted in cases where it would answer significant legal questions or matters of public interest.

A Block Earner spokesperson told Cointelegraph the matter has now escalated to a “broader legal question” around the definition of a financial product, which extends “well beyond Block Earner, and the crypto sector.”

“We believe the Full Federal Court’s April ruling was a strong and well-reasoned decision that upheld the integrity of our operations,” the spokesperson said. “We remain confident in the soundness of that judgment and will respond to ASIC’s application through the appropriate legal channels.”

Legal saga ongoing since 2022

ASIC first launched legal proceedings against Block Earner in November 2022, arguing the company needed a financial services license to offer its yield product, which was available from March 17, 2022, until the company shut it down on Nov. 16, 2022.

In February 2024, an Australian court initially ruled the fintech firm would need a financial services license to operate its crypto yield-bearing products.

Another June 2024 ruling in Australia’s Federal Court released Block Earner from any financial penalties because it had “acted honestly” and pursued its legal opinions before launching the products, which ASIC appealed.

Block Earner appealed the Federal Court’s decision that it needed a financial services license on July 9, 2024.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

Politics

VanEck to launch Avalanche ecosystem fund

Published

7 hours ago

May 21, 2025

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VanEck to launch Avalanche ecosystem fund

VanEck plans to launch a private digital assets fund in June targeting tokenized Web3 projects built on the Avalanche blockchain network, the asset manager said in a statement shared with Cointelegraph.

The VanEck PurposeBuilt Fund, available only to accredited investors, aims to invest in liquid tokens and venture-backed projects across Web3 sectors, including gaming, financial services, payments, and artificial intelligence.

Idle capital will be deployed into Avalanche (AVAX) real-world asset (RWA) products, including tokenized money market funds, VanEck said.

The fund will be managed by the team behind VanEck’s Digital Assets Alpha Fund (DAAF), which oversees more than $100 million in net assets as of May 21.

“The next wave of value in crypto will come from real businesses, not more infrastructure,” Pranav Kanade, portfolio manager for DAAF, said in a statement.

Thematic crypto funds

VanEck’s PurposeBuilt Fund is the latest in a series of funds from the asset manager and rivals designed to offer exposure to projects and companies in fast-growing segments of Web3.

On May 14, VanEck launched a new actively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) to invest in stocks and financial instruments providing exposure to the digital economy.

In April, VanEck launched another ETF investing in a passive index of companies operating in the crypto space.

Asset managers such as VanEck are requesting the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) permission to list upward of 70 crypto ETFs.

The wave of ETF filings is in response to US President Donald Trump softening the agency’s regulatory stance toward crypto after Trump took office in January.

Avalanche RWA ecosystem

Avalanche has emerged as a hub for real-world assets (RWAs) and other institutional-oriented crypto projects.

Its interrelated networks, called subnets, allow institutions to run Ethereum-style smart contracts in a controlled environment. On May 16, Solv Protocol launched a yield-bearing Bitcoin token on the Avalanche blockchain, targeting institutional investors

Avalanche has around $1.5 billion in total value locked (TVL) as of May 21, according to data from DefiLlama.

“We’re seeing a shift away from speculative hype toward real utility and sustainable token economies,” John Nahas, chief business officer at Ava Labs, said in a statement.

Magazine: Danger signs for Bitcoin as retail abandons it to institutions — Sky Wee

Politics

US lawmaker reintroduces bill amid pushback on Trump’s crypto ties

Published

8 hours ago

May 21, 2025

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<div>US lawmaker reintroduces bill amid pushback on Trump's crypto ties</div>

A Democratic representative in the US Congress will support a blockchain bill at a time when many left-leaning lawmakers are blocking crypto-related pieces of legislation due to concerns with President Donald Trump’s potential conflicts of interest.

In a May 21 notice, Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer said he had reintroduced the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, a bill that “solidifies that digital asset developers and service providers that do not custody consumer funds are not money transmitters.”Emmer, a Republican, said Democratic Representative Ritchie Torres would co-lead the bill, making it a bipartisan effort in Congress.

“The Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act reflects a thoughtful, bipartisan effort to get digital asset policy right,” said Torres. “While similar language was voted down in markup last Congress, we took that feedback seriously and returned with a smarter, sharper framework that protects innovation without compromising oversight.”

Cryptocurrencies, Law, Politics, Congress — *Reintroducing the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act on May 21. Source:* *Tom Emmer*

Representatives of advocacy organizations, including the Crypto Council for Innovation, Solana Policy Institute, Digital Chamber, Coin Center, DeFi Education Fund and Blockchain Association, said they would support the proposed blockchain regulatory bill. It was unclear whether Emmer and Torres had a majority of votes in the House of Representatives for the legislation to pass.

Torres has supported many bills and policies favorable to the crypto industry since assuming office in 2021. Together with Emmer, he has led the Congressional Crypto Caucus to advance crypto-friendly policies in the House since March.

A bipartisan blockchain bill amid memecoin concerns?

Other Democratic House members, including Representative Maxine Waters, have suggested they intend to block any legislation related to crypto and blockchain until Republicans address Trump’s connections to the industry, such as his family’s stake in World Liberty Financial and his TRUMP memecoin. The president is planning to host a dinner with up to 220 people holding the most significant amounts of his memecoin on May 22.

Cointelegraph reached out to Torres’ office for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions