Gaza bombings: Why Malaysians support Palestinians and slam Israel

With little to no food, access to water, and electricity, people trapped in Gaza are pretty much sitting ducks, with no real safe shelter within what many are calling an open-air prison.

So bleak is the situation that Palestinians have posted their last will and testaments on social media, as for them the worst is seemingly already here.

It has not even been four weeks since Leen Saleh, a Palestinian and Syrian young woman living in Malaysia, bid goodbye to a close family friend who was going back for good to Gaza so she could be reunited with her children, the youngest of which only eight years of age. Leen said the mother of four had travelled on September 22.

“Whenever we’re talking to her, she’s like, ‘This is the last day of the world – it’s like being in the hereafter what we’re living now’,” Leen told TRT World, relating conversations with the Palestinian resident in Gaza who, until recently, shared the same roof with her in Kuala Lumpur.

Having spent years living together, Leen adores her like an aunt. “She tells us she’s exhausted, she’s tired, and very terrified … her youngest kid, almost [bit] off his tongue, accidentally, because he was terrified of the sound of bombs. He’s not speaking until now.”

According to Leen, the child was five when he witnessed his first instance of war, away from his mother who had never experienced the terror of missile strikes before the events of October 7.

Apocalyptic scenes continue to emerge from Gaza, following a surprise attack on Israel, unprecedented in scale and nature – Hamas fighters had crossed the border on foot, bulldozing parts of the Israeli-Gaza fence, and even flew across on paragliders.

However, as many experts and analysts have noted, the assault was not unprovoked and did not just happen in a vacuum. It also does not justify or excuse Israel’s implementation of harsh, dehumanising policies and brutal retaliation towards the Palestinian people.

Israeli journalist Gideon Levy in his opinion piece published in Haaretz, the longest-running newspaper in Israel, wrote: “After 75 years of abuse, the worse [sic] possible scenario awaits it once again. The threats of ‘flattening Gaza’ prove only one thing: We haven’t learned a thing. The arrogance is here to stay, even though Israel is paying a high price once again.”

“Israel can’t imprison two million Gazans without paying a cruel price,” is what Levy titled the piece.

“It just feels like it’s not fair”

Born in Yarmouk camp in Damascus, Leen and her family moved to Malaysia in October 2012 after their home was bombed during the deadly unrest in Syria.

“So, basically, we’re not allowed to go back, visit, or even enter Palestine. My great grandparents left Palestine in 1948 [before] moving to Syria,” said the 26-year-old, who has an academic background in health rehab and physiotherapy.

She actively raises her voice about the struggles of the Palestinian people and feels “there is hope for our cause and resistance and freedom to move forward,” however, she speaks more sorrowfully about the fate of the innocent in Gaza.

“When we’re talking about feeling hope for the people’s situation, I don’t really feel it. I don’t see it coming anytime soon.” She adds that Gaza has been bombed many times over the last couple of decades, but this time, it is apparent that the situation is more dire than before.

“Of course, we survive after each and every war, and that’s what people do – they keep on living. But, as for now, they are expecting to starve. They are expecting starvation and a major human crisis, as [people currently in Gaza] have told me.”

On October 9, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the country is putting a “complete siege on Gaza,” which includes authorities cutting off electricity, food, water, and gas supplies to about 2.3 million people in the area.

Watching what can be described as a nightmare unfolding from the outside in a faraway country, Leen is plagued by sleepless nights — “I don’t feel like I can sleep when they’re not able to, you know. It just feels like it’s not fair.” — while her mom sheds mournful tears and some friends go through panic attacks due to the helplessness of it all.

“It's causing a huge stress on everyone,” Leen shares. “We feel paralysed. We feel like we’re not able to help enough. That’s the thing that kills you in the heart, you know, just feeling you’re useless and you can’t do anything.

“But we have to motivate ourselves and use everything we have, any platform, any facilities we have to speak up for them, raise their voices, or offer help by any means,” she insists.

A longtime ally

Malaysia has no diplomatic relations with Israel and has long been vocal in its support for the liberation of the Palestinian people.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim expressed his solidarity with Palestine on October 8, following an official statement released by the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and is one of the few in the region to outwardly oppose Israel’s illegal occupation and blockade.

The Muslim-majority Southeast Asian nation is a country of racial as well as religious diversity.

Student bodies, nonprofit organisations, as well as everyday citizens have taken to the streets, besides social media, to protest the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, and it is telling that there is a tendency for Malaysian Muslims to be more aware and vocal about the ongoing bombardment.

Leen says mainstream Western media has played a role in people's lack of understanding, in some cases, a lack of care, when it comes to what’s happening on the ground in Gaza, which she believes is due to the former’s “normalising of the siege over Gaza … plus making this sound like a fight between religions.”

However, she highlights that people regardless of their faith have also been in contact, “and they want to know everything – the consequences of the war on the human side, the losses of the people, how they get food, supplies, water from the city, and how they can speak up for Palestinians.”

As of October 16, the death toll in Gaza from Israeli attacks has risen to more than 2,600, with 50 Palestinian families now erased completely from the civil registry according to Palestinian Health Minister Mai al Kaila.

Israeli airstrikes have also been recorded targeting alleged “safe routes” by the Israeli army, killing at least 70 fleeing civilians, as reported and verified by several human rights organisations, including Amnesty International.

Leen says: “People sometimes get tired of seeing all this news, watching videos, and knowing the information. For them, this is like a cliche now, unfortunately.

“So, I ask them not to normalise this and to remember, if they are tired of the news, these people in Gaza and Palestine, they are the news. They are living the news and the situation that we are reading about in the comfort of our homes, our couches, and our bedrooms.”

Malaysians for Gaza

In 2021, many Malaysian netizens took to social media to express support for Palestine, causing hashtags, such as #Israelkoyak (koyak translates to torn or ripped), to trend after Israeli airstrikes hit a high-rise building which housed The Associated Press as well as Al Jazeera offices in Gaza.

More recently, netizens began using #Israelcuak (local slang which translates roughly to Israel nervous) in condemnation of Israel after a local NGO launched a social media campaign, “as a means to gather support from the people of Malaysia, especially from the youth of Malaysia,” said its chairman Nadir al Nuri Kamaruzaman, 36.

While he has been based in Gaza for about 10 years now, the 36-year-old recently returned to Malaysia to tend to temporary work matters in September.

His wife and seven children, the youngest a year and a half old, are currently trapped in Gaza.

“I was in Gaza in 2014, 2018, 2021 — all these past wars or attacks on Gaza, I was living there [experiencing] what the people of Gaza experienced with my family. This is actually the first time that Gaza is being attacked and I am separated from my family,” said Nadir.

People in Gaza have reported power blackouts, including at hospitals, as Israel cut all fuel and other essential services. Internet access is also limited after most telecommunications infrastructure crumbled or sustained damages from constant airstrikes.

“If I can't get a response from them, I don't know their situation, whether they're sick, dead, alive — it's impossible to know. They mentioned that the situation this time is worse than previous years’ attacks … I don’t know the fear that my children are facing.”

Nadir has met with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, alongside other NGOs, to discuss a potential “mega gathering of Palestinian defenders” aimed at raising funds and awareness for Gazans.

He added that the project is expected to unite the government and opposition sides, with both having given initial approval.

According to Nadir, Malaysians have always been passionate about the plight of Palestinians, and that “the issue has been embedded with love in their hearts since childhood.”

Another Malaysian, 22-year-old Pavinya Ramachandran, who is a national athlete and financial engineering graduate, said it is “unfair” for some people to make judgements without doing proper research on the matter.

“In my opinion, how long is Palestine going to stay that way? And of course, they have to fight back, in order to make a difference for them, for their families,” said Pavinya.

She added: “Most of us are very [upset] to see what’s happening in Gaza, ‘cause this is something that’s been happening for the past 75 years.”