COMMENT | Israel's right to self-defence is a myth

COMMENT | The US ambassador to Malaysia Edgard D Kagan has decided to stick with the same tired and indefensible points in defence of his country’s policy on Palestine-Israel. We totally reject those points.

We are referring to the interviews which Malaysiakini published on Aug 29 and Aug 30.

The framing of the occupation of Palestine by Israel as a conflict between two equal sides with the US doing its utmost as an honest broker to bring a peaceful resolution has no bearing whatsoever with reality. Persisting with such a framing is an attempt to delude the Malaysian public.

On one side, Israel is the occupying state, enormously powerful with the diplomatic, economic and military backing of the US and the West and on the other side, the Palestinians are the occupied people, militarily defenceless and at the mercy of the Israelis.

We point out to anyone, including the ambassador, who keeps mentioning “Israel’s right to self-defence” that under international law Israel as an occupying power has no right to self-defence while the Palestinians as an occupied people do have that right.