Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR: The government has denied allegations by Israel’s secret service, Shin Bet, that Malaysia has been used to conduct military training for Palestine students to attack Israeli assets.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told The Malaysian Insider that the allegation is aimed at creating reasons to oppose Malaysia, a strategy often used against countries that Israel does not like.

“This is ridiculous, they are creating reasons to oppose Malaysia. You know this is what they (Israel) always do, when they dislike a country, this is what they do against countries that were attacked by the United States or Europe. They are creating reasons, making allegations, all this is ridiculous,” Wan Junaidi said.

He said the strategy was created for the public to believe their “untrue” allegations.

“So they say something which is ridiculous, then people start to believe things that never happened, after that what we know is they send bombs and drones. In fact, we never have trained military or militants here,” he said.

Shin Bet has for the first time presented details of its allegation last year that Hamas was training Palestinian students in Malaysia to conduct military operations, Israeli daily Haaretz reported. This time, the allegations form part of an indictment filed last month in the Judea Military Court against a Hebron resident, Waseem Qawasmeh, who was arrested on Feb 13 upon returning from Malaysia. The 24-year-old is charged with belonging to a banned organisation, making contact and receiving money from an enemy.

According to Shin Bet, Hamas men in Malaysia were actively recruiting Palestinian students studying in the country for military training. It said that upon completion of their stint, the trainees were sent to set up military networks in the West Bank, act as messengers between the territories and foreign countries, and carry out secret transfers of funds.

Last summer, Israel published details from the interrogation of a member of the Hamas tunnel forces in the Gaza Strip,saying the man had trained in Malaysia to paraglide into Israeli territory in order to carry out murders and kidnappings.

Malaysia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel and is a strong supporter of Palestine, with Datuk Seri Najib Razak being the first Malaysian prime minister to visit Gaza in January 2013.

Denying the allegations in August last year, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that Malaysia never had any cooperation with Hamas or other Palestinian groups other than in diplomacy, trade and culture.

“Malaysia is also a strong supporter of the Palestinians, morally and via humanitarian aid. The strong support of Malaysians is because of the long relationship between Malaysian and Palestinian leaders. This may have caused dissatisfaction on the part of Israel,” Zahid had said. — The Malaysian Insider

 

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 30, 2015.

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