PETALING JAYA: Malaysians are up in arms over a former American counter-terrorism analyst’s claims that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is “not interested in peace” and that the country had been hosting Hamas operatives for years.
In a post on X on Sept 18, Jonathan Schanzer shared Anwar‘s Sept 17 post on the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Anwar had posted: “Gaza is crushed, the West Bank dispossessed, the region bombarded. Israel’s vow against a Palestinian state is a vow of permanent apartheid. Malaysia stands firm for justice, for Palestine.”
Schanzer’s post raised the ire of many Malaysians, with many responding to it.
Many posts were in Malay, with some using threats and crude language.
X user @izzatisshi wrote: ” Talking about peace but not realising that the US is a strong ally of Israel in the genocide… Malaysia will always stand firmly with Palestine. You and your country can continue bowing to Israel’s dictates because you will never be free from being controlled by them.”
Another user, @BayuBumant9654 called out the hypocrisy and added that it was people like him that were not interested in peace.
User @helmi9rajab repeated the popular Palestine slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.
Meanwhile, @fadzil_rey sarcastically wrote “Ah yes, we are the real obstacle to peace in the Middle East. Not the bombs, not the occupations, not the blockades”.
As of press time, the post had garnered around 2.4 million views shared about 900 times.
In a follow-up post, Schanzer courted more controversy, saying: “Nearly a million views. Almost entirely Malaysian trolls.
“The responses are humorous and occasionally demented,” he wrote.
