Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has rejected Western pressure to condemn Hamas, saying his government will continue to maintain relations with the armed group.
Anwar said that Western officials have repeatedly asked Malaysia to condemn Hamas in meetings but his government “does not agree” with their attitude.
“I said that we, as a policy, have a relationship with Hamas from before, and this will continue,” Anwar said on Monday in remarks to 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.”
Western governments have condemned Hamas and called on other countries to stand with Israel after Hamas earlier this month carried out the deadliest attack on the country in decades.
More than 1,400 people, most of them civilians, were killed when Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel by air, land and sea on October 7, according to Israeli officials.
Source from www.aljazeera.com