Playing A Dangerous Game – Here’s Why Facebook Removes News Of PM Anwar Meeting With Hamas Terrorists

 Defiant Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim thought he was clever and invincible when he deliberately met with Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh during his 3-day visit in Qatar. He wanted to send a message to Washington that even if Malaysian banking system was helping the terrorist organization in funding and money laundering, there’s nothing the U.S. can do.

 

Anwar has no idea the type of disaster that he’s putting the country into if the U.S. suddenly imposes sanctions on Malaysian banks such as Maybank, CIMB or RHB Bank for funding Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and other Western nations. In fact, Hamas is banned in Jordan.

 

Even military powerhouse like Russia and economic superpower like China were cautious about American sanctions. If Washington wanted to, it could easily punish Malaysia – isolate and send the country back to Stone Age with skyrocketing poverty like the North Korea. Just ask Russia how it lost US$300 billion in frozen assets and its banking blocked from SWIFT international payment system.

Anwar’s meetings with Hamas leaders comes days after the U.S. Treasury Department sent envoys to Kuala Lumpur to warn about Hamas raising funds through Malaysia. Due to his obsession with Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist organization that gave birth to “Arab Spring” as well as a spinoff called Hamas terror group, Anwar is leading the country to a “dangerous game”.

 

Exactly what does Anwar Ibrahim hope to achieve by provoking the U.S.? If the intention was to promote himself as a global Muslim hero, he should be careful as Arab de-facto leader Saudi Arabia and its allies hate Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas more than Israel. Hamas and Palestinian are two different things. And this is why the Arabs were suspicious of his support for Hamas.

 

This can be proven during a photo session with the leaders of the OIC countries at the 8th OIC Emergency Summit Media Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where PM Anwar was bumped to behind, where the first row was reserved for leaders from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, the PLO and even Syria. It shows he was not appreciated because the entire Arab world despised Hamas terrorists.

On the other hand, if the intention was to impress Malay audience back home, he should not waste taxpayers money jetting to the Middle East as the recent Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election result shows clearly that Malay Muslims still prefer Opposition Perikatan Nasional – even after splashing billions of dollars to appease them, and screamed till his face turned blue about Palestinians.

 

Anwar had failed to claim his seat at the high table of Arabs. So, what makes him think that he would get Washington’s attention by screaming that he could play a bigger role based on his friendship with Haniyeh? Even Qatar could close the political office of Hamas. Did Anwar know that Qatar has hosted Hamas’ political leaders since 2012 as part of an agreement with the U.S.?

 

Yes, even Qatar, an influential Gulf state that is designated as major non-NATO ally by Washington, cannot guarantee Haniyeh’s safety if Mossad gets Washington’s blessing to assassinate him. Some U.S. lawmakers have already called on Biden administration to re-evaluate its ties with Qatar if it does not pressure Hamas to make a deal to release hostages.

Crucially, the Jews have very powerful friends in every Western nation, friends who Anwar wishes he would not have offended. But even without governments’ involvement, Israel could create trouble for Anwar government. All that Meta, a re-branded company brand for Facebook, had to do was to remove or blackout news covering the premier’s meeting with Hamas leaders and voila, Anwar went berserk.

 

Hilariously, PM Anwar has instructed Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil to demand an explanation from Meta after Facebook posts by local news media covering the meeting with Hamas terrorist was taken down. Fahmi complained – “I condemn the move to take down the posts, particularly reports on the Prime Minister’s official work and activities. Meta has violated media freedom. I will also be writing to them to seek an explanation.”

 

In case Fahmi, who is still wet between the ears, hadn’t a clue, Meta has actually designated Hamas as a “dangerous organisation” and bans content praising the group. That means local news media glorifying Anwar’s meeting with his terrorist buddy were worse than content on Facebook that goes against “Community Standards”, forcing the social media platform to remove them.

While Facebook Community Standards‘ goal is to create a place for expression and give people a voice, content that promotes crime, violence and incitement, or those linked to dangerous organizations and individuals, would be removed to ensure the social media remains a safe place. Therefore, freedom of media, as whined, cried and bitched by Fahmi, does not apply here.

 

One man’s food is another man’s poison. Just because Ismail Haniyeh is Anwar Ibrahim’s best friend, it does not mean he is also Mark Zuckerberg’s buddy. Perhaps Fahmi, Anwar’s boy sent to do a man’s job, had no idea that the co-founder of Facebook is Jewish. Did the silly prime minister really think Zuckerberg will give space to terrorists who had massacred 1,200 Jews party goers on October 7, including raping and kidnapping?

 

The sickening and hypocritical part was when Anwar says Malaysia “appreciates the willingness of Hamas to release prisoners, especially children and women, and to accept the peace plan of the Arab world, the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) and the international community”. He is perhaps the only dumb leader who is grateful to kidnappers for freeing hostages.

Anwar was also trying to insult people’s intelligence by spinning that Malaysia has no relations with the Hamas militant military wing, but only with the political wing of Hamas. Sure, based on the premier’s twisted logic, he should also meet with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (political wing) as long as he avoids the IDF (Israel Defense Forces – military wing).

 

Considering that Malaysia has dropped 34 places to 107th in the World Press Freedom Index this year under Anwar’s brilliant leadership, it’s absolutely laughable that Fahmi has the cheek to lecture Facebook about media freedom. Since when that the American social media cannot remove pro-Hamas news, but the Malaysian government can remove pro-Israel news?

 

Last November, 30-year-old Harma Zulfika Deraman was sentenced to six months in prison and a RM500 fine for displaying the Israeli flag. But thousands were allowed to display and fly Palestinian flag. So, if Anwar can be bias towards Palestinian and Hamas to the extent of jailing pro-Israel supporters, Zuckerberg too can be bias towards Israel to the extent of removing pro-Hamas news.

Make no mistake. Facebook was targeting pro-Hamas news or articles, not pro-Palestinian. Meta will be laughing their socks and shoes off if the Malaysian government can’t tell the difference. Anwar should be ashamed for rubbing shoulders and hugging the same terrorists who had not only butchered and kidnapped innocent people, but also torturing and gang-raping civilians – including elderly and children.

 

Like it or not, there’s little the government can do as Meta is beyond its control. If the Communications Minister does not like the way Facebook blackout his boss’ intimate moments with Haniyeh, he can always boycott – even ban – the social media that has around 28.18 million Facebook users in Malaysia. It cannot force Meta to support a terrorist organization. - financetwitter

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.