KUALA LUMPUR: Thousands of protesters gathered in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday in Malaysia’s biggest display of solidarity with Palestinians since the beginning of the deadly Israeli onslaught on Gaza.
Malaysians have been taking to the streets since the escalation began over two weeks ago. Wearing traditional Palestinian scarves and carrying Palestinian flags, they have been calling for “Solidarity with Palestine,” and chanting “Save Palestine,” “Stop genocide in Gaza,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
The protest on Tuesday, dubbed the “Malaysia is with Palestine” rally, took place at Axiata Arena Stadium in the south of Kuala Lumpur, and was the biggest so far, with the 16,000-seat venue full as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim addressed the crowd.
“We are with the Palestinian people ... yesterday, today and tomorrow,” Anwar said.
“Malaysians were there from the days of Yasser Arafat, struggling for an independent Palestine until today, and we will continue without fear.”
The number of people killed in Gaza has exceeded 5,000 since Oct. 7, when Israel began its bombardment of the densely populated enclave following an attack by the Gaza-based militant group Hamas.
Women and children make up 60 percent of the dead, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, while more than 15,200 people have been injured.
“It is a level of insanity to allow people to be butchered, babies to be killed, hospitals to be bombed, and schools to be destroyed,” Anwar said.
“We are not asking for anything extra. We want the Arabs, the Palestinians, the people of Gaza to be treated as human beings ... Stop the killing. Give them food. Give them medicine. Give the babies the right to live. Is that asking too much?”
Some of those who attended the rally, such as Mohammed Hassan Tahir, 65, told Arab News they wished they could go to Gaza and help — but they knew that was impossible.
“We can’t go,” Tahir said. “But we can give our moral support. That’s why we are here.”
Israel has said it is carrying out airstrikes to protect itself, but those who took part in the Kuala Lumpur protest disagree.
“Israel says it is defending itself, but for me, I don’t think so,” said Nurul Aina Ishak, a student. “The way they are seizing land, taking (it) from the Palestinians, that is wrong.”
In recent days, Israeli airstrikes on residential buildings and hospitals have intensified despite repeated calls by international organizations for a ceasefire and humanitarian access. Israel has also cut off power, water, food, fuel and medical supplies to Gaza, stepping up its 16-year blockade of the enclave that is home to 2.3 million people.
“They (Israel) are bombing places that should be considered safe, schools and mosques. They are even targeting hospitals. I feel unhappy with what is happening,” another protester, Shuhaimi Shukor, a 43-year-old executive, told Arab News.
“I support the Palestinians because what is happening is unjust. They are being suppressed.”
For Shazir Samsudin, a 21-year-old business owner, being at the rally was a matter of solidarity — and a sense of brotherhood that has been fostered for decades.
“We, as human beings, want to support the Palestinians,” Samsudin said. “Palestinians are our siblings. When our siblings are in trouble, we want to take care of them.”
Malaysia, a multicultural Southeast Asian nation, has no diplomatic relations with Israel, while it boasts historic links with Palestine, and support for the Palestinian cause, statehood, and the right of Palestinians to their land, that transcends both political and religious divisions.
“An overwhelming Muslim and non-Muslim population is supportive of the Palestinian cause in the name of humanitarian grounds and Malaysia’s legacy of standing up for the cause of the underprivileged,” Collins Chong Yew Keat, foreign policy and security strategist from the University of Malaya, told Arab News.
But while Malaysia has always been among “the most persistent and vocal defenders of the Palestinian cause,” more is needed for its stance to have any real impact, he said.
“It will need Malaysia’s diplomatic craft to exert more than diplomatic pressure or galvanize regional or global people-centered pressure.”
‘Malaysia is with Palestine’: Thousands rally in Kuala Lumpur to support Gaza
https://arab.news/wd875
‘Malaysia is with Palestine’: Thousands rally in Kuala Lumpur to support Gaza
- PM Anwar Ibrahim says it is ‘insanity’ to allow people of Gaza ‘to be butchered’
- Rallies in solidarity with enclave have been ongoing in Malaysia for past two weeks
Indian commandos kill 10 Maoist rebels
- More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long insurgency waged by the Naxalite movement
- Gunbattle took place in a remote forested area of Chhattisgarh state, the heartland of the insurgency
More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long insurgency waged by the Naxalite movement, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalized Indigenous people of India’s remote and resource-rich central regions.
The gunbattle took place in a remote forested area of Chhattisgarh state, the heartland of the insurgency.
“Dead bodies of 10 Maoists have been recovered so far,” Vivekanand Sinha, chief of the state police’s anti-Maoist operations, said.
Sinha said the police recovered several automatic weapons from the rebels.
India’s home minister Amit Shah this year issued an ultimatum to the insurgents to surrender or face an “all-out assault.”
A crackdown by security forces has killed over 200 rebels this year, an overwhelming majority in Chhattisgarh, according to government data.
India has deployed tens of thousands of security personnel to battle the Maoists across the insurgent-dominated “Red Corridor,” which stretches across central, southern and eastern states but has shrunk dramatically in size.
India has pumped millions of dollars into infrastructure development in remote areas and claims to have confined the insurgency to 45 districts in 2023, down from 96 in 2010.
The conflict has seen a number of deadly attacks on government forces over the years. Twenty-two police and paramilitaries were killed in a gunbattle with the far-left guerrillas in 2021.
Sixteen commandos were also killed in the western state of Maharashtra in a bomb attack that was blamed on the Maoists in the lead-up to national elections in 2019.
Second Australian dies after suspected Laos alcohol poisoning
- A total of six foreign tourists have now died of suspected methanol poisoning in a backpacker hotspot in northern Laos
SYDNEY: A second young Australian tourist has died after apparently ingesting tainted alcohol while on holiday in Laos, Canberra’s foreign minister said Friday.
“All Australians will be heartbroken by the tragic passing of Holly Bowles,” Penny Wong said in a statement. “Just yesterday, Holly lost her best friend, Bianca Jones.”
“I know tonight all Australians will be holding both families in our hearts,” the foreign minister added.
A total of six foreign tourists have now died of suspected methanol poisoning in a backpacker hotspot in northern Laos.
They were from Australia, Britain, Denmark and the United States.
Many of the victims were in their teens or early twenties and fell sick after a night out in Vang Vieng.
Australian officials are now pressing Laotian authorities for a full and transparent investigation into what happened.
Alcohol tainted with methanol is suspected to be the cause of death.
Methanol is a toxic alcohol used in industrial and household products like antifreeze, photocopier fluids, de-icers, paint thinner, varnish and windshield wiper fluid.
Despite being toxic to humans, it is sometimes used in cheaply made home brew.
At least 10 killed in Afghanistan attack, interior ministry says
- It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack
KABUL: At least 10 people were killed by gunmen in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province, Interior Ministry Spokesperson Abdul Mateen Qaniee said on Friday.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.
The Taliban took over the country in 2021 and vowed to restore security to the war-torn nation. Attacks have continued, many of them claimed by the local arm of the militant Daesh group.
In September, 14 people were killed and six others injured in an attack claimed by Daesh in central Afghanistan.
China urges ICC to take ‘objective’ position after Netanyahu arrest warrant
- Warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant ‘for crimes against humanity and war crimes’
- China, like Israel and the United States, is not a member of the International Criminal Court
BEIJING: China urged the International Criminal Court on Friday to remain objective and fair after it issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“China hopes the ICC will uphold an objective and just position (and) exercise its powers in accordance with the law,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in response to a question about the court’s warrant for Netanyahu.
The ICC issued warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday “for crimes against humanity and war crimes” committed between October 8, 2023, and May 20 this year.
It said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe the pair bore “criminal responsibility” for using starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally attacking civilians.
Netanyahu denounced the move as anti-Semitic and the court’s accusations as “absurd and false.”
China, which like Israel and the United States is not a member of the ICC, said it “supports any efforts by the international community on the Palestinian issue that are conducive to achieving fairness and justice and upholding the authority of international law.”
Lin also accused the United States of “double standards” in response to a question about the US opposition to the court’s pursuit of Netanyahu, but its support for a warrant against Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“China consistently opposes certain countries only use international law when it suits them... and engaging in double standards,” Lin said.
US President Joe Biden has condemned the warrants against Israeli leaders, calling them “outrageous.”
COP29 host urges collaboration as deal negotiations enter final stage
- Sweeping plan that would see rich nations pledge to hand over hundreds of billions of dollars to help poorer countries grapple with the worsening impacts of global warming
BAKU: COP29 climate summit host Azerbaijan urged participating countries to bridge their differences and come up with a finance deal on Friday, as negotiations at the two-week conference entered their final hours.
World governments represented at the meeting in the Caspian Sea city of Baku are tasked with agreeing a sweeping plan that would see rich nations pledge to hand over hundreds of billions of dollars to help poorer countries grapple with the worsening impacts of global warming.
Economists have said developing countries need at least $1 trillion annually by the end of the decade, but wealthy nations have so far been resisting. Negotiations have also been clouded by uncertainty over the role of the United States, the world’s top historic greenhouse gas emitter, ahead of climate skeptic President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
“We encourage parties to continue to collaborate within and across groups with the aim of proposing bridging proposals that will help us to finalize our work here in Baku,” the COP29 presidency said in a note to delegates on Friday morning.
It said a new draft deal would be released at midday in Baku, in the hopes of a deal by the end of the day.
Past COPs have traditionally run over time.
Division and discontent over the negotiations have already spilled into the open, after a fresh deal draft was released by the presidency on Thursday that offered two vastly different options that left no-one happy.
Although the 10-page document was slimmed to less than half the size of the previous versions issued at the summit, it avoided stating the total funds countries would aim to invest each year, leaving the space marked with an “X.”
It also reflected big divisions over issues such as whether funds should be offered as grants or loans, and the degree to which different types of non-public finance should count toward the final annual goal.
“I hope they find the sweet spot with this next iteration,” said Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society, a veteran observer of COP summits. “Anything other than that may require rescheduling flights.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres returned to Baku from a G20 meeting in Brazil on Thursday, calling for a major push to get a deal and warning that “failure is not an option.”
