Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is insisting that any Israeli citizen found in the country will be deported immediately, and even American pressure did not help change his mind.
“We will continue this policy and will not allow Israelis to set foot in Malaysia,” Ibrahim said in an interview with local media.
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Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has met with Hamas officals, won't back down
(Photo: AP)
The affair began following social media reports about a joint technology project called “Network School,” a co-living and co-working venture founded by a former senior executive at the crypto company Coinbase. The initiative operates in the Forest City area in the state of Johor in southern Malaysia. Claims spread on social media that some participants in the project were Israeli citizens with dual citizenship who had entered the country using non-Israeli passports.
Following Ibrahim’s statement that any Israeli citizen found in Malaysia would be deported, a group of Republican lawmakers demanded a reassessment of Malaysia’s economic and security ties with the United States. However, Ibrahim has now reiterated his position and stressed that pressure from the United States will not change it.
According to Ibrahim, “Malaysia is an independent country and we are free to express our views. Therefore, despite the threats, I will firmly defend the rights of Malaysians and the decision made by the Malaysian people to remain steadfast in banning the presence of any Israeli citizen in the country.”
Any Israeli citizen found in the country will be deported immediately
(Photo: Getty Images)
The Malaysian prime minister also referred to a meeting he held with Hamas leaders and said he raised the issue in his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. “During our meeting, I told Trump that I had indeed met with a Hamas leader to express condolences to their families, who had suffered from the impact of the bombings and the killing of their women, children and families. There is nothing unusual about that,” according to Ibrahim.
Ibrahim stressed that “Malaysia maintains good relations with the United States, but we cannot be cowards and fail to condemn the killing of innocent people in Gaza.”