Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim gestures as he delivers his speech throughout his go to on the Malacanang palace, in Manila, Philippines, March 1, 2023. Aaron Favila/Pool through REUTERS/File Photograph
In response to worldwide indignation over this month’s lethal assault on southern Israel, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Monday that his nation doesn’t help Western efforts to denounce the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
With out going into specifics, Anwar claimed that Western and European nations had continuously requested from Malaysia to denounce Hamas in conferences.
“I said that we, as a policy, have a relationship with Hamas from before and this will continue,” Anwar said in parliament.
“As such, we don’t agree with their pressuring attitude, as Hamas too won in Gaza freely through elections and Gazans chose them to lead.”
Muslim-majority Malaysia has lengthy been an outspoken ally of the Palestinian trigger and a backer of a two-state answer to the Israeli-Palestinian challenge. Israel and it don’t trade diplomatic messages.
Previously, senior Hamas figures continuously traveled to Malaysia and met with its officers. Najib Razak, a former prime minister of Malaysia, disobeyed Israel’s siege of Gaza in 2013 by getting into the Palestinian territory on the invitation of Hamas.
Two days in the past, after Friday prayers, hundreds of Malaysians demonstrated in help of Palestine at mosques everywhere in the nation, waving flags and carrying indicators denouncing Israel’s navy operation in Gaza, which has thus far claimed the lives of a whole bunch of harmless civilians as retaliation for the bloody assault by Hamas militants final weekend.
The Muslim-majority nations of Southeast Asia have lengthy supported Palestine and known as for a two-state answer to the Center East battle that may enable the institution of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
After Friday prayers, at the least 15,000 protesters yelled “Free Palestine” as they gathered exterior Kuala Lumpur’s main mosque, a lot of them sporting scarves and waving Palestinian flags.
Moreover, they decried Israel, and a few of the demonstrators set an Israeli flag on fireplace.