Malaysia does not agree with Western pressure to condemn Hamas – PM

In response to international anger over last month’s fatal attack on southern Israel, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim stated on Monday that his country does not support Western efforts to denounce the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

Without specifics, Anwar said that Western and European nations have frequently requested Malaysia to denounce Hamas in meetings.

“I said that we, as a policy, have a relationship with Hamas from before, and this will continue,” Anwar said in parliament.

“As such, we don’t agree with their pressuring attitude, as Hamas too won in Gaza freely through elections and Gazans chose them to lead.”

Muslim-majority Malaysia has long been an outspoken ally of the Palestinian cause and a backer of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Israel and it do not maintain diplomatic ties.

In the past, senior Hamas figures frequently traveled to Malaysia and interacted with its officials. Najib Razak, a former prime minister of Malaysia, disobeyed Israel’s siege of Gaza in 2013 by entering the Palestinian territory at the invitation of Hamas.