SINGAPORE: The Embassy of Israel in Singapore has expressed deep regret over the lack of information that spurred Malaysia's outrage over Israel's raid of a Gaza Freedom Flotilla ship.
On May 30, Israeli soldiers raided the MV Mavi Marmara, one of six ships in the flotilla, which was on a humanitarian aid mission to Gaza. The ensuing clash between passengers and soldiers left nine activists dead. The 12 Malaysians on board, however, returned home unharmed.
Last week saw a spate of angry protests in Kuala Lumpur that included the burning of an Israeli flag and an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Malaysia has also called for Israel to be referred to the International Criminal Court.
The embassy's deputy chief of mission, Idit Abu, lamented the fact that much of the information surrounding the incident was omitted from the local and international media.
“There was footage of Israeli soldiers being attacked by the ship's passengers when they came on board,” she told FMT in a phone interview yesterday. “The soldiers didn't open fire until one of them was thrown overboard.”
“And not all the passengers were activists. One of them was a former US Marine who led the resistance. The Israeli naval forces intercepted six ships attempting to break the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip after numerous warnings from Israel.”
“However, only the demonstrators on board the Mavi Marmara attacked the naval personnel with live fire and light arms. Even a Malaysian policeman facing a mob armed with weapons would shoot in defence.”
“The press presented the incident from a very narrow perspective. The other side of the story took a long time to surface, even on CNN. And I don't think Al-Jazeera ever portrayed the other side.”
Idit pointed out that although another aid ship, the MV Rachel Corrie, was intercepted none of the activists was injured, which clearly indicated that Israel has no interests in creating armed conflict.
Scanty knowledge and a complex history
According to Idit, lack of knowledge of the full scenario and of the conflict's history has led to the misconception of Israel among Malaysians.
“Asians in general are not well-acquainted with the history and complexity of this conflict because Asia is far removed from the Middle East,” she said. “For instance, many Malaysians don't know that Israel maintains an ongoing humanitarian corridor for the transfer of food and humanitarian supplies to Gaza six days a week. This corridor is used by international organisations including the United Nations and the Red Cross.”
“Furthermore, the crossing on Israel's side has always remained open. Until last week, the only crossing that was locked and closed was the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian side.”
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced on June 1 that it would lift its blockade on the Gaza Strip indefinitely.
Idit also said that many Malaysians are not aware of the intricacies of the relationship between the Hamas and Fatah factions.
“Hamas violently took over Gaza, killing many Fatah activists there,” she explained. “Malaysians don't realise that Hamas offers nothing but war to Palestine and that Fatah offers negotiations that could lead to a better situation. Malaysians also don't know about the previous attempts for peace there.”
“We are very sorry to see so much hatred generated among Malaysians over the flotilla incident,” she said. “This means that the extremists are getting more support. Now instead of supporting Fatah, the Malaysian public may switch their support to Hamas without being fully aware of the consequences of doing so.”
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