Malaysia snubs West, says relationship with Hamas from before, will continue

In response to international indignation over this month’s deadly attack on southern Israel, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim stated on Monday that his country does not support Western efforts to denounce the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Without going into specifics, Anwar claimed that Western and European nations had frequently requested from Malaysia to denounce Hamas in meetings. “I said that we, as a policy, have a relationship with Hamas from before and this will continue,” Anwar stated 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 long been an outspoken ally of the Palestinian cause and a backer of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Israel and it don’t exchange diplomatic messages. In the past, senior Hamas figures frequently traveled to Malaysia and met with its officials. Najib Razak, a former prime minister of Malaysia, disobeyed Israel’s siege of Gaza in 2013 by entering the Palestinian territory on the invitation of Hamas. Two days ago, after Friday prayers, thousands of Malaysians demonstrated in support of Palestine at mosques all over the nation, waving flags and carrying signs denouncing Israel’s military operation in Gaza, which has so far claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians as retaliation for the bloody attack by Hamas militants last weekend. The Muslim-majority countries of Southeast Asia have long supported Palestine and called for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict that would allow the establishment of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital. After Friday prayers, at least 15,000 protesters yelled “Free Palestine” as they gathered outside Kuala Lumpur’s major mosque, many of them wearing scarves and waving Palestinian flags. Additionally, they decried Israel, and some of the demonstrators set an Israeli flag on fire.