22/09/2024
Yesterday, approximately 25 participants attended a seminar co-organized by the Democracy Academy of Malaysia and the KLSCAH Civil Rights Committee, titled "Gaza Genocide: Past and Present of the Israel-Palestine Conflict."
Mr. Josh Hong shared a total of three historical documents that deeply influence relations between Israel and Palestine, the methods employed by Zionists in convincing the West to allow the building of Israel as a nation, and how surrounding Arab countries banded together to start a war against Israel.
He expressed that the struggle of Palestinians should not be simplified as a form of terrorism; instead, it should be viewed as a armed national liberation organization. Nevertheless, he also emphasized the importance of human rights and disagreed with killings of Israeli civilians or the violations of Gaza civilians' human rights by Hamas. The Two-State solution can only be realized with guarantees of Israel's national security.
Furthermore, Josh also called upon the Malaysian government to not only support the Palestinians located thousands of miles away but also to support the refugees of the Palestine and other nations with different ethnicity and religions located in Malaysia. He strongly emphasized that the importance of consistency in providing international humanitarian aid and ensure it is provided to nations at war without differentiation based on ethnicity or religion.
The participants empathized with the complexities of the Israel-Palestine conflict; however, they unanimously believed that our countrymen must not disregard this issue, as the genocide has caused forty thousand lives in Gaza. At the end of the seminar, the participants raised the Palestinian flag to call on immediate cease fire and uphold Palestinians' rights in pursuit of their self-determination and nationhood.
