PUTRAJAYA: The campaign to free Palestine will go on, unhindered by pressure from certain countries, says Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.
Speaking as the vice-president of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, Abdul Hadi said the whole world, not only Muslim nations, are standing up to defend the plight of the Palestinians.
“There is an effort to belittle the Palestinian struggle, to make this issue seem irrelevant.
“But they are not able to make the world ignore what is happening to the Palestinians.
“The issue of Palestine is not even a religious issue. It is now an international issue, and we have seen many countries united in standing up for the Palestinians,” he said in his speech at the MyAqsa Roundtable Conference for World Islamic Scholars on Baitulmaqdis here.
Abdul Hadi was among the hundreds of Islamic scholars from nearly 30 countries who attended the conference yesterday.
The event was held in light of the controversial move by US President Donald Trump to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
It triggered strong backlash from Muslims worldwide, who viewed East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestine nation.
Trump’s decision has also threatened to derail the Israel-Palestine peace process.
On Dec 21 last year, 128 countries voted against Trump’s declaration at the UN general assembly.
Dr Nawaf Takruri, who is the leader of the Palestinian Diaspora Scholars Association, urged Muslim countries to continue speaking out against the United States.
“We must continue voicing out against the US on this issue. We urge Islamic scholars to fight for Palestine,” said Dr Nawaf.
Other speakers at the conference were International Union of Muslim Scholars secretary Dr Ali Muhyealdin Al-Qauradaghi and MyAqsa Foundation chief executive officer Dr Noorazman Mohd Samsuddin.
Besides Abdul Hadi, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom also spoke on behalf of the Malaysian Government.