OF all the foreign aid that Malaysia has given since independence, none has been more profound than that spent on the Palestinian cause. It's as if Palestine, under Israel's rule, is conjoined with Malaysia: whenever Israel hurts Palestinians, Malaysia too feels the pain. Every rampage by Israel triggers outpourings of Malaysian outrage and donations to the Palestinians, from the millions the government allocates to the small amounts that Malaysians donate.
Over the decades, in collaboration with Palestinian-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Malaysia has donated RM456 million in aid, channelling RM10 million last year to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, plus US$200,000 annually from 2021 to 2025. Funds were ploughed into medical aid, orphanage maintenance and construction, student financing in local universities, poverty alleviation, and social and agricultural projects. Malaysian NGOs, in escorting medical and food flotillas in the past, were confronted by Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers.
Another significant contribution was Malaysia's voice on the international stage, pleading for international aid for Palestinians while condemning Israeli barbarity. Risking the wrath of Western powers and media, Malaysia continues to reject the Israeli state, forgoing diplomatic and trade ties while barring Israelis from entering Malaysia.
In cementing this altruism, now comes a complex undertaking: airlifting injured Palestinian civilians — men, women, and children as young as eight months — and their families from Egypt, their temporary refuge, to Kuala Lumpur for medical treatment. Airlifted by two Royal Malaysian Air Force aircraft, the injured were screened by army medics before being transferred to Tuanku Mizan Military Hospital. Their injuries stemmed from the IDF's bloodlust. Israel's heavy weaponry, courtesy of the Americans, has massacred 40,000 Palestinians and injured 92,000. Essentially, the IDF's assault is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's strategy to cling to power and smother a potential conviction from his corruption case that would kill his career. Netanyahu dismissed pleas, even from Americans, for an immediate ceasefire, well aware that it would backfire on him.
The injured Palestinians were deprived of medical treatment after the IDF decimated Gazan hospitals and blocked travel abroad to seek help. The airlifts became necessary when the injured could not receive medical care long after they left Gaza. The cost of the airlifts is secondary: this is an evolution of Malaysia's humanitarian effort. Malaysia's initiatives to save the injured have included Vietnamese, Bosnian, Afghan, and Rohingya refugees. When more powerful nations ignored Nelson Mandela's and Yasser Arafat's pleas for help, Malaysia hosted them and endorsed sanctions against apartheid and Israeli occupation. This benevolence is Malaysia's global legacy: small country, big heart, and bigger grit.