MEDIA STATEMENT FROM BDS MALAYSIA
15 May 2018
On this very day, the 15th of May 2018, we commemorate the 70th year since the Nakba, when the Zionist entity came into being soaked in Palestinian blood. And today too, the entire civilised world will have witnessed how its expropriation of Jerusalem as its capital is accompanied by the blood of Palestinian martyrs, brave defenceless civilians who desired nothing more than a return to their rightful homeland.
BDS Malaysia, together with civilised humanity the world over, condemns in the strongest terms possible, the atrocities committed and being committed by Israel on peaceful, unarmed and non-violent Palestinian civilians who are participating in the Great Return March in Gaza.
In the current protest, Israeli military snipers have killed in cold blood 55 protesters, including children and the disabled, and injured at least 1,200. This violent response to the Great Return March clearly and undeniably is a deliberate Israeli government policy and by any reckoning is a heinous and blatant crime against humanity.
BDS Malaysia reiterates its condemnation of the US government’s re-location of its embassy to Jerusalem. It is a move that contravenes international consensus on the status of the city, eliminates any shred of desire on the part of Israeli leaders to seek genuine and meaningful peace and in fact encourages Israeli genocidal and apartheid policies towards Palestinians, as we are witnessing in Gaza. In short, it is a move that removes any further pretence that the US government is an honest broker in any effort to end the conflict and the sufferings of the Palestinian people.
BDS Malaysia wants the public in Malaysia and beyond to realise that we are not helpless or impotent bystanders in the face of Israeli crimes and apartheid against Palestinians. There are numerous actions that can be taken to add public pressure for the sufferings of Palestinians to be alleviated and ultimately ended with the birth of a Palestinian homeland.
Write to your elected representatives and the media highlighting what is happening in Palestine and demand that they speak out against any support by the US and European governments for Israeli apartheid.
Give financial assistance or contribute time and effort to the various aid organisations which are helping to lighten the sufferings of the people of Palestine.
Join in the boycott, divest and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israeli apartheid. This is gaining momentum the world over and is a peaceful and non-violent way to wake people up to Israeli aggression against and oppression of Palestinians.
We urge to take the above actions immediately. The massacre of innocent civilians must stop NOW and the deaths of the martyrs of Palestine must never be in vain.
Prof. Mohd Nazari Ismail, PhD
Chairman
BDS Malaysia