Malaysia would not be intimidated into changing its decades-old policy of not allowing Israeli nationals into the country, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Wednesday.
Anwar said Malaysia was also not in contravention of any international laws for having such a policy in place.
“I would like to respond to the United States lawmakers, some of them at least, who stated categorically that Malaysia is in contravention of international laws and was disrespectful of the rights of nations.
“This is totally absurd because, as far as we are concerned, this policy has been adopted by Malaysia for decades, that we are against the presence of any Israeli citizen, not Jews, but Israeli citizens here because they are part and parcel and complicit to the murders, crimes and continuous oppression, colonisation of Palestine and Gaza,” he said when met after the “Jelajah Rakan Muda” programme.
On Tuesday, several US lawmakers called on Washington to review its security and economic ties with Malaysia following Anwar’s remarks to deport dual citizenship-holding Israeli nationals in the country.
In a joint letter, US Congressmen Greg Landsman, Josh Gottheimer, Jimmy Panetta, Dan Goldman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Jared Moskowitz, Brad Sherman and Jake Auchincloss urged US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to clarify the steps to be taken in response to Anwar’s remarks.