SOME among us ask why is Malaysia expending its energy on what is happening in Palestine when there are concerns aplenty at home to focus on?
As if by taking interest in issues that affect humanity elsewhere it cancels out Malaysia's interest in matters domestic.
The peculiar thing is the question is not being asked by the men in the Rapid bus. They are pretty happy if the government does the right thing.
To them, and to most Malaysians, really, doing everything Malaysia possibly can to stop ethnic cleansing is the right thing to do.
But there are certain stripes of men — politicians, and shockingly, professionals — who are disturbed to no end when Malaysia rushes to the aid of human beings, especially when they are Muslims.
Thanks be to God that these peculiar men are still within the realm of countables. They went to universities to get their head "educated", but forgot to school their hearts.
Granted, not all men are blessed with compassion. Compassion comes to the heart that is cleansed of hatred for fellow human beings. Let's be very blunt. Malaysia is absolutely right in condemning the heinous crimes of the Zionist regime of apartheid Israel. Here is why.
Firstly, as Malaysia is a Muslim country, it has every right to go to the aid of persecuted people who share the faith with its majority. Malaysia need make no apology for this.
Secondly, the plight of the Palestinians is especially tragic. They have suffered a double tragedy. Once at the hands of the duplicitous West which forcefully took Palestinans' land and gifted it to the European Zionists who had no connection to Palestine.
True, the Zionists from Theodor Herzl onwards claim Palestine to be theirs. Ask the non-Zionist Jews — there are many — and they will point to the Torah, the bible of the Jews, to show the Zionists' claim to be a fabricated one. No surprise here. Israel is built on one fabrication upon another fabrication. Forgive the pun. Like The Economist, we call this the "Steal of the Century".
Now, the Zionists want more and are prepared to kill to take the remaining land of the Palestinians. If there is an ounce of compassion left in our peculiar men's hearts, they will stand with Malaysia to end the war crimes of apartheid Israel. Do not go blaming Muslims for calling Israel an apartheid regime.
B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organisation, did the same. So did the New York-based Human Rights Watch. The latter is calling on the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel for crimes against humanity. The West, being itself guilty of war crimes, is blocking the ICC from doing its job. We are not surprised.
As this Leader was going to press, the US has blocked — for the third time — the United Nations Security Council from even issuing a press statement criticising Israel's atrocities.
China and Russia are right. The US was at its irresponsible worst behaviour on Sunday. We are glad Malaysia is on the right side of history. But we still wonder: why is there a pocket of peculiar Malaysians opposed to Malaysia speaking up for the Palestinians? Is it due to ignorance of history or religion? Or for political expediency? Is it a sign of deep-rooted intolerance and indifference towards others, of "me first before others"? We tell them: fix your moral compass.