BlackRock haunts government's second pro-Palestine rally as critics hope Anwar will back away from airport deal

The second pro-Palestine rally by the government since Israel's genocide in Gaza last October is being held tonight in the shadow of the controversy surrounding Putrajaya's plan to invite a company owned by pro-Israel fund manager BlackRock into state-owned Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB).

The rally, to be attended by top government officials including Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, comes amid anger in the Muslim world over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh last week.

However, the rally was preceded by a demonstration last night where hundreds of protesters symbolically chose to gather outside Malaysia's first McDonald's outlet in the busy Bukit Bintang shopping district to call on the government to cancel the airport deal.

"The current Malaysian government is complicit with Israel Zionists!,"  read a banner displayed by a group of youths marching through the busy shopping district. "Stop the sale of MAHB to BlackRock".

The protest was organised by local group Palestine Solidarity Secretariat (SSP) to condemn Haniyeh's assassination in Tehran on July 31.

The group said the fact that Haniyeh was killed in a Mossad-planned operation in the Iranian capital validated concerns about allowing a company owned by a pro-Israel entity to manage key gateways such as Kuala Lumpur International Airport, where sensitive data and radar and security equipment are involved.

As part of the controversial deal, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a company owned by BlackRock, will acquire around a third of the shares in MAHB.

Critics and aviation experts have warned that hiring an external company to manage entry control poses a security risk, especially when it involves BlackRock, the New York-based global fund manager whose role in strengthening Israel's economy and its arms industry is well documented.

SSP spokesman, former PKR vice-president Tian Chua, welcomed the government's latest rally in support of Palestine, but reminded the Anwar government to immediately cease all activities and business dealings with pro-Israel companies.

"The government should review the business with BlackRock in view of the security risks involved, as the US and Israel would do anything to their advantage," he said.

"We do not want our sensitive equipment such as radar and satellites to be exploited so that they can attack anything they see as an enemy of the Zionists," the former Batu MP told MalaysiaNow.

A source in Anwar's party PKR told MalaysiaNow that the idea for a second rally came after Haniyeh's assassination which led to renewed condemnation of Israel by Muslim countries.

"We felt that the anti-Israel sentiment has reached a new high since October last year and we need to show the public that we are still firmly behind the Palestinian struggle, despite the BlackRock controversy that has put us on the defensive," the source, an MP who has long been associated with senior Pakatan Harapan (PH) figures, told MalaysiaNow on condition of anonymity.

Tian Chua, however, said Haniyeh's assassination proved that the government could not push through the agreement using economic arguments.

He said the operation in Tehran showed how far Israel would go, including infiltrating hostile states to carry out acts of violence.

He warned against giving the "enemies of Palestine" a role in managing airports.

"Israel will do everything to destroy the Palestinian struggle"

Tonight's event, dubbed the "Palestine Freedom Rally", will be held at the Bukit Jalil stadium, the same venue where the first government-organised solidarity rally for Palestine was held less than two weeks after Israel launched a massive bombing campaign against civilian facilities in Gaza, killing more than 40,000 people so far, mostly women and children.

The Malaysian chapter of global anti-Israel movement Boycott, Divestment, Sanction (BDS) has also welcomed the rally and called on the public to attend, with a reminder to the government to cancel its deal with GIP.

BDS, which has been at the forefront of protests against the plan, remains hopeful that Anwar will cancel the deal.

"We and all Malaysians are eagerly awaiting his announcement on this matter," the group told MalaysiaNow when contacted.

Anwar has dismissed protests against the sale of shares to GIP, saying the government cannot cut ties with companies that have links to Israel because it would "harm the country's economy".

He accused critics of exploiting the issue to score political points, claiming that even Hamas had no problem with Malaysia doing business with pro-Israel companies.

"I have spoken to the leadership of Hamas, the question does not arise. It's like being more Hamas than Hamas," Anwar had told the Dewan Rakyat in June.

Hours after the statement, the Palestinian resistance group called on Muslim countries to continue boycotting companies involved in Israeli war crimes.

"We call upon the peoples of our Arab and Islamic nations and the free people of the world to support all efforts leading to boycotting and isolating the entity and its backers," Hamas said in a statement on June 26.