All Malaysians must stand in solidarity with genocide victims

Ten months have passed since the callous and indiscriminate Israeli military onslaught in Gaza, resulting in over 40,000 Palestinians killed, the majority of them children, women and the elderly.

That number does not include those missing, buried under rubble and bombed to smithereens. It does not include those who have died from hunger and disease due to Israel's destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza and its restrictions on aid flowing in.

The world is witnessing a genocide. Yet, Israel, with military and political support from the US and its European allies, persists with impunity.

Such carnage cannot be justified. 

The US has shown its moral bankruptcy and hypocrisy as it keeps up a steady supply of advanced weapons to Israel while saying it is working on a ceasefire deal. As that play drags on, civilians, children and women are still being bombed by those same weapons. Lives are lost and families destroyed.

The resistance in Gaza is struggling to regain the rights, freedom and dignity of the Palestinians, which Israel has steadily stripped away. The dispossession of the Palestinians has come about due to historical injustices, aided by the imperial powers of the West since 1948. Thus, the violence committed by Hamas on 7 October 2023 did not take place in a vacuum.

The underlying reasons and historical injustices have to be addressed. Towards this end, Aliran calls for:

• An end to the supply of arms to Israel immediately
• An immediate ceasefire and end to the killing on both sides
• The formation of an international coalition for the recovery and reconstruction of Gaza
• The release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, including potential leaders of the Palestinians
• An end to the facade of prejudiced negotiations without honest brokers.

Aliran instead calls for honestly brokered negotiations for a peaceful and political solution that addresses the historical injustices inflicted on the people of Palestine to ensure:

• the Palestinians' right of return to their homes and property
• the cessation and reversal of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory
• genuine recognition of the Palestinians' right to self-determination
• the right to peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians and their neighbours

Aliran urges everyone in Malaysia to view the Palestinian struggle as a humanitarian issue borne out of a historical injustice.

True, there is perceptibly greater support for the Palestinian cause among Muslim Malaysians than the non-Muslim ethnic minorities. 

This is a product of the country's historically communalised and ethnically divided society.

But we should not project our own separateness onto the plight of the Palestinians or, for that matter, onto other struggles that involve oppressed minorities in other places like Myanmar and Sudan.

Everyone in Malaysia should join hands to oppose such injustices and persecution, no matter where they occur. 

Malaysia, as the Asean chair next year, should take the lead in condemning not only the genocide in Gaza but also the one in Myanmar, when more Rohingya are suffering at the hands of both the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army.

In such times, acts of compassion should be welcomed. They should not be politicised for political gain. Rather, they should be borne out of genuine compassion and solidarity with our suffering fellow human beings.

Aliran Kesedaran Negara is a Penang-based civil society group.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of MalaysiaNow.