KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's move to ban ships bearing the Israeli flag from docking at its ports, if adopted by other Muslim nations, could add further pressure on Israel to scale back on its attacks on Gaza.
Universiti Malaya Peace and Conflict Studies expert Dr Muhammad Danial Azman said solidarity with Palestine was the best weapon for increasing global pressure on the Zionist regime.
"The growing international pressure, at the cost of the Israeli army's acknowledgement of the mistaken assault of their civilian hostages in Gaza, have pushed (Israeli prime minister Benjamin) Netanyahu to send another team of Israeli negotiators to meet representatives of Hamas in Qatar." he told the New Straits Times.
Without its military operations in Gaza, which is done under the pretext of rescuing Israeli hostages, there would not be political space for Netanyahu's failed leadership to display the Zionist regime's military might, he said.
Whether this message would translate to more pressure for Arab and Muslim nations to cut ties with Israel was subject to many political considerations, he said.
"Given the reality of the known diplomatic and business ties of a few Muslim countries with Israel, it is expecting too much from them.
"Countries like Turkiye and Egypt, and their geopolitical positions with Israel's security dilemmas are understood not to destroy further the present state of minimal ties that they have."
He said the small collective powers of many other countries, including Malaysia, in displaying diplomacy might work at a cost.
Geostrategist Dr Azmi Hassan said this could be an effective measure to achieve this, as military options were not viable and diplomatic solutions were moving at a slow pace.
"Just look at the United Nations Security Council. There have been delays just to reach a simple resolution (to boost aid to the Gaza Strip)."
He said the ban came under heavy analysis as some quarters accused Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of following the strategy of Yemen's Houthis that had launched attacks on ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea, but "the analogy used by the international media is wrong".
"The international community had been demanding for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, with some nations halting their ties with Israel and a widespread boycott movement against it.
"When the Russian-Ukraine war erupted, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union made a decision to bar any ship with Russian flag from docking at their ports.
"What we're doing here... already has a precedent."