Malaysia enjoying booming but discreet trade with Israel, says Times Of Israel

Malaysia has a "booming but very discreet" trade partnership with Israel 

• in public Malaysia clearly anti-Israel, but it was importing more from Israel
• in 2013 Najib Razak made a visit to Hamas-ruled Gaza
• Yet all that time, his country was importing more and more Israeli products 
• Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics tells of booming trade between Israel & M'sia
• In 2011 Mukhriz Mahathir confirmed trade between M'sia and Israel 
• Times of Israel said 2013 M'sia & Israel trade reached US$1.529bil (RM4.9bil)
• almost double previous year's figure
• imports from Israel make up US$1.457 bil (RM4.7 bil) of that amount
• Israel - Malaysia trade continues to accelerate
• Jan to July 2014, Israeli exports to M'sia US$884.7mil (RM2.8bil)
• 27% jump over same period last year
• M'sia's foreign trade figures do not mention Israel at all
• trade with Israel is included under "Other Countries".
• significant chunk traced to Kiryat Gat in Israel where Intel churns chips
• exports these to a second assembly plant in Malaysia
• Every shipment recorded in Israel’s trade statistics
• studiously ignored by M'sia
• Israeli govt 5% co-investment in Kiryat Gat plant (US$290 million)
• Israeli exporters & buyers in M'sia use 3rd countries like S'pore
• Hush-hush trade between Israel has been going on for decades
• conduits such as Cyprus, Turkey and Jordan
• direct trade is registered to Saudi Arabia and Yemen
• allure of Israel’s high tech seems to outstrip political hostility
• Israeli govt says trade volume with M'sia "pleasantly surprising"
• commerce as a "stepping stone" to more cooperation
• Israel ..more than happy with this
• no secret Israel periodically engage dialogue with these countries
• Israel likes to establish diplomatic relations & rep offices
• – September 15, 2014

My views : In 1997 during the tenure of the cruel and evil dictator Mahathir Mohamed, the Israeli cricket team visited Malaysia to play in a cricket tournament.  (Note how the evil and cruel dictator has been doing the exact opposite things that a cruel and evil dictator should not have done - like retiring from office, allowing the Israeli cricket team to play here etc).

All Muslims please note this. The dislike against Israel is largely based on the belief that the Israelis are occupying (which indeed they are) a spot of land from which the prophet is believed to have embarked on a magical journey to heaven, riding on a magical animal with the hybrid body of a horse or donkey (the narrative varies) and  a pair of magical wings. The magical animal took the prophet to heaven and back. 

Because of this belief,  that spot is now part of a mosque known as the Dome of the Rock, deemed the third "holiest" place in Islam, after Mecca and Medina.  Hence, since the Israelis really do occupy this spot, everything about them is disliked by the Muslims.

On the other hand the booming but discreet trade with Israel is based on more tangible and real needs - technological and agricultural products. Not only billions of Ringgits worth of micro chips are imported every year from Israel but from time to time the famous Jaffa oranges from Israel are still available here.  

Microchips and Jaffa oranges are real and tangible. They have a real impact on our lives. Without micro chips our modern life will grind to a halt. Jaffa oranges make a good orange juice, just like most other oranges.