Baseless, says Anwar of claim Hamas members trained in Malaysia

 The prime minister also says he informed US president Donald Trump of his past meeting with a Hamas leader.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during a working trip to Qatar in May 2024, where he conveyed his condolences to Ismail over the loss of several of his family members in an Israeli airstrike. (Facebook pic)

SEREMBAN:

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has rubbished claims by eight US lawmakers that Hamas members trained in Malaysia and that the federal government “welcomed terrorists while targeting Jews”.

“It’s baseless,” he told reporters here today.

The eight US lawmakers, who had earlier called on Washington to review its security and economic ties with Malaysia over Putrajaya’s policy barring Israeli citizens from entering the country, had based their claim on a report by an Israeli counter-terrorism research institute.

US categorises Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

Anwar said he had even informed US president Donald Trump of his meeting with a Hamas leader.

“There’s nothing unusual about it (relationship with Hamas),” he said.

In May 2024, Anwar met with Ismail Haniyeh during a working trip to Qatar, where he conveyed his condolences to Ismail over the loss of several of his family members killed in an Israeli airstrike in April.

The government in 2015 denied claims by Shin Bet, Israel’s secret service, that Malaysia was used as a training ground for Palestine students to attack Israeli assets.

Then deputy home minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said such claims were not only “ridiculous” but aimed at creating reasons to oppose Malaysia, a strategy often used against countries that Israel disliked. - FMT