SHAH ALAM, 21 July: Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has asked the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, and the government to suspend the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) discussions with the United States until they take action to condemn and stop the Israeli violence against Gaza.
In a joint statement, PR said that the United States are collaborating on the suffering of Palestinians by not taking action, and are in fact the major weapons supplier for Israel for a long time.
They said that despite being a major trade partner of Israel, the US has consistently failed to take any punitive action or issue trade sanction against the Zionist regime.
“We, the TPPA Caucus members from Pakatan Rakyat will suspend all our discussions with any representative of the US until further notice.
“We also urge all other Malaysian Members of Parliament to heed their conscience and support our position,” the statement said.
In the meantime, PR urged Najib to to follow Chile’s trade position and immediately sever all trade relations with Israel.
They said that Israel would not have ventured to commit the recent and all past atrocities in Gaza had the US taken a firm and committed stance towards securing justice and peace for the Palestinians.
“57 per cent of households in Gaza have no food security and 80 per cent of the population are dependent on financial aid.
“Over 90 per cent of the drinking water in Gaza is unsafe for human consumption.
“Palestinians have long endured such politics of dispossession and now they are being killed with impunity and without censure from the US,” the statement said.
Earlier, the US President, Barack Obama, clearly showed support for Israel in the Iftar at the White House on July 14 by giving Ron Dermer, the Israeli Ambassador to the US, a chance to speak during the event.
Obama also defended Israel’s “right” to “defend themselves” even though at the moment over 70 percent of deaths in Gaza involve women and children, according toe the United Nationa (UN).
Until now, the Israeli army has killed over 400 people and injured over 2,800 Palestinians.
Israeli attacks include 2,602 airstrikes, with a total of 649 buildings bombed.
NS