It started in Suez and is approaching Malacca. The pressure on the hubs of global maritime trade has intensified a little more this week. The pulse on Israel launched by Yemeni rebels in the Red Sea has taken an unexpected, albeit more focused, turn in Malaysia. Its prime minister has announced that he will ban the entry of any Israeli-flagged cargo ship. Anwar Ibrahim has added an express veto for the merchant ships of the tenth shipping company in the world, of Israeli nationality: "My Government withdraws the authorization of Zim to dock in any Malaysian port".
The measure, "with immediate effect", has been justified by Anwar as a response "to the violation of fundamental humanitarian principles and international legality in Gaza" by Israel; he blames his army "for killings and atrocities against Palestinian civilians". Likewise, ships bound for Israel will be prohibited from loading goods at Malaysian ports.
Although Malaysia does not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel, since 2002 it has allowed Israeli Zim ships to dock at its ports. Since 2005 they could also unload goods. But the dramatic situation in Palestine would have made the current prime minister change his mind.
The multinational Zim was founded by Jews in Palestine in 1945. Haifa is its port of reference and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, where it has lost 43% this year. By some standards, Zim is the tenth largest container shipping company in the world by traffic volume (2.1% of the world total). It operates in more than 80 countries.
"The humanitarian crisis is on its way to affecting not only Palestine or the rest of the Middle East, but will mark world relations for many years," Anwar warned a month ago in San Francisco. He participated in the Asia-Pacific summit and did not bite his tongue when he took the floor, during the lunch of heads of state and government, including Joe Biden and Xi Jinping: "What is happening in Gaza , the way in which its massive destruction is tolerated, is clearly an abandonment of moral responsibility”.
According to the Malaysian Prime Minister, his Government has already received three requests from the United States diplomacy to list Hamas as a "terrorist organization". Which, according to him, he never plans to do. Before now, the leaders of the organization are received with honors in Malaysia, although five years ago a member of Hamas was shot dead in front of his house in Kuala Lumpur, allegedly by Mossad agents.
Malaysia is not alone in Asia, where much more populous Muslim-majority countries, such as Indonesia, Bangladesh or Pakistan, also do not recognize Israel. Palestine only. On Saturday, a British Amrey cargo ship carrying chemicals, Chem Pluto, was hit by an Iranian drone, according to US military sources. The cargo ship was going from India to Saudi Arabia. Iran did not want to comment.
As a side effect, in this Muslim summit of Southeast Asia, the boycott of Israeli companies or those allegedly supporting Israel in the current war has been strengthened. For example, the hamburger chain McDonald's was crucified in the Indonesian networks when it was disclosed that it was giving away McMenus to Israeli soldiers. The boycott emptied its restaurants in the archipelago and forced the local franchise to offer discounts of 50% and to assure its sympathy for "the resistance".
