AS protests against the Israeli genocide on Palestinians grew bigger around the globe, there are some in Malaysia, Muslims included, who wondered what could such rallies achieve.

In fact, to some of the critics in Malaysia in particular, these rallies only serve to promote hatred over a geopolitical issue which some participants may have little or no inkling whatsoever other than merely following blindly.

Toy guns and children stomping on Israeli flags were used to strengthen their discomfort with the protests especially when it involved school-going children, leading to some even demanding that the Education Ministry’s Solidarity Week with Palestine be cancelled (Note: The Education Ministry had proceeded with it, albeit coming up with specific guidelines).

It was of course pointed out that the toy guns were cosplay-like, to denote the armed resistance against the murderous Tel Aviv regime.

After all, cosplay is common-place in Malaysia and ‘weapons’ wielded by participants in the past ranged from sophisticated guns to swords as wide as an Israeli flag, depending on the character they wanted to emulate.

From Fusion Sword, God Arcs, Gideon and Chastiefol to Chainsword, Arm Cannon and Omni-Directional Mobility Gear, these choice weapons picked from the anime and manga world, are not only steeped in violence and ruthlessness, they can wipe out not only Israel but the whole world.

But nary a concern on the cosplay.

To the critics of the Palestine solidarity week’s critics, concerns for perceived promotion of violence among children only seem to apply when it involved protests against Israel and by extension the US and its axis of evil.

It can of course be argued that cosplay is based on work of fiction while protests against Israel are not and in fact is in real-time.

If that’s the point, it seems letting young Malaysians live in of fantasy and at times delusional is better than exposing them to the harsh reality of the world no matter how unpalatable it may seem.

The need to shelter children from these harsh realities only give them a false sense of security and when they grow up and get exposed to them, they fear to stand up against injustices and for what is right.

And if they do, they cower in fear when chided and threatened, and with that, the threat diminishes the cause. Simply put the threat becomes news while the cause takes a back seat.

It must be heartening to Palestinians and their sympathisers the world over when they witnessed descendants of Holocaust victims marching alongside others of different faiths and creed in these protests in New York and even in Tel Aviv itself.

To some of these Jews, the Israeli regime’s atrocities that it heaped upon the Palestinians were as cruel, if not worse, than what was inflicted on their elders by the Nazis.

On cue, pro-Israeli media were quick to label them as self-loathing Jews while non-Jews marching with them were anti-Semitic.

If some Malaysians wonder what good are such rallies especially those mounted by Malaysians, at the very least it provides a perspective to the genocide committed by Israeli on Palestinians.

Otherwise, the narrative would have been in a vacuum based on the October 7 retaliation by Hamas.

It also put into context of how evil Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli regime are, of how equally murderous and hypocritical the US administration and Joe Biden are – and their preparedness to see the killings of thousands of Palestinians including babies and children for as long as their interests in the Middle-East remain intact.

It also helps those keen to know to realise that the real terrorists in Israel and that it is backed by the real godfather of terrorism, the US.

It also exposes lapdogs of the US and Israel in the form of the UK and Rishi Sunak. If anyone noticed, Sunak had been trying very hard to convince British citizens and presumably the rest of the world that the explosion on the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza two weeks ago was caused by a misfired missile from a Palestinian liberation movement.

Sunak claimed he had received solid reports from British intel.

Firstly, why should Sunak be bothered with what caused the explosion that killed some 500 Palestinians in the hospital? Isn’t that the very thing that the Israeli forces had been trying to do since October 7?

Had any of the Israeli attacks distinguished civilians, children or patients in hospitals and other sanctuaries?

In fact, the decades of Israeli occupation had witnessed the regime attacked civilian sanctuaries, and used phosphorous bombs on Palestinian children, so much so that the UN and other international bodies had declared Tel Aviv of committing crimes against humanity and their leaders war criminals.

And finally, did the intel that Sunak received come from the same British outfit which provided his predecessor Tony Blair about the non-existent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Or that the intel never gave him such information but Blair conveniently lied by claiming he received such intel.

In Sunak’s case, it can again be either or.

But back to Malaysia, in so far as the Malay Muslims are concerned, participating in such protests is enjoined upon them.

Among the collection of hadiths Arbain (40) (prophetic tradition), it is enjoined upon Muslims to stand up and fight an injustice and if they couldn’t, they should speak up against it. If they can’t do either, the protest must reverberate in their heart.

Yes, that is part of the Hadith Nawawi that the Education Ministry courted controversy when it wanted to introduce it to school children.

Anti-Israeli Jews and some of their Rabbis when showing solidarity with Palestinians shouted “not in our name”, denoting that the killing in Gaza and West Bank was not enjoined by Judaism. For that they are labelled as self-loathing Jews.

As for Malaysians, standing up for Palestinians should be in their name.

Humanity beseeches all. –Pic by BERNAMA