KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has urged Malaysians to continue boycotting products or brands linked to Israel or any country supporting Israel amid the current conflict in the Middle East.
“We have to continue our boycott efforts because they (the companies involved) are the ones that support Israel’s acts of killing Palestinians,” Mahathir said at a six-day pro-Palestine gathering outside the US embassy here.
Mahathir also urged Putrajaya to take stronger action against the US, which he accused of contributing to the deaths of Palestinians.
“Yes, we still have diplomatic ties with the US due to commercial activities, but there are still other ways to show that we disapprove of the US attitude towards the killing of Palestinians,” he said, without elaborating on the “stronger action” Putrajaya can take.
The former Umno president said he had never witnessed a war as cruel as the current conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, despite having witnessed many wars and military conflicts in his lifetime.
He said the Israeli military has disregarded basic human rights and claimed their goal was to wipe out Palestine instead of winning the war.
On Dec 9, the US vetoed a United Nations resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza conflict. The decision was criticised by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim the same day. He said he was saddened by the “outrageous decision” taken by the US.
In October, Anwar said Malaysia had received three “demarches”, or diplomatic notices, from the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur seeking to change Malaysia’s position on the Israel-Palestine conflict and Hamas. The US had asked Malaysia twice to change its position of refusing to recognise Hamas as a terrorist group. - FMT
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.