“Moderate” Malaysia expands ban on Israeli athletes, banning all Israeli nationals from events it hosts

These are the “moderates.” Morocco, like Malaysia and Indonesia, is widely touted as a “moderate” Muslim country, where none of the “extremism” that reigns elsewhere can be found. And yet they are banning Israeli athletes from an upcoming Paralympics swimming qualifier. When have we ever seen a Muslim country act in a normal way toward Israel? Ever? Muslims, “extremist” or “moderate,” march in lockstep on that issue (and so many others). Why? Malaysia is half a world away from Israel. The idea that it has some grievance against it is absurd, except for one thing: Islam. Islamic Jew-hatred: it’s in the Qur’an.

“Mahathir’s Malaysia bans all Israeli nationals from events it hosts,” by Tashny Sukumaran, South China Morning Post, January 16, 2019:

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s government on Wednesday defended its hardline anti-Israel stance as it declared it would not budge on banning Israeli athletes from an upcoming Paralympics swimming qualifier despite facing criticism for that stance.

Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, met in his ministry by local groups lobbying for the Israeli athletes’ ban, said the government would refrain from hosting events featuring Israeli participants in the future.

The minister said the decision – made by cabinet last week – was premised upon “humanitarian reasons” and was about “fighting on behalf of the oppressed”.

Media reports this week had quoted the International Paralympic Committee criticising the Southeast Asian country’s strict stance on not admitting Israeli athletes, though the organisation said it was holding out hope for a solution.

The event, the World Para Swimming Championships, is to be held in July and is a qualifying event for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

The episode showed Mahathir’s eight-month-old government is standing pat on past administrations’ policy towards Israel…..