Najib Abdul Razak faced a backlash from pro-opposition and pro-Mahathir Mohamad news portals as well as blogs for allegedly meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the UN General Assembly in New York recently. Najib vehemently denied the allegations and said he only shook hands with Netanyahu as they crossed paths. Some Israeli portals allegedly spoke well about Najib and keyboard warriors in Malaysia are having a field day.

What is so wrong if Najib merely shook hands with the Israeli PM as they came face to face? As a prime minister and an international figure, he has to conduct himself professionally on the global platform. If such a simple gesture can be equated to being pro-Israeli then you would also have to label DAP as anti-Islam.

How is that so?

For the last couple of years China has banned civil servants, teachers and students in a Muslim dominated region of Xinjiang from fasting during the Ramadan month. Recently Chinese Ambassador Huang Huikang visited Petaling Street and mingled with the Chinese there in a very friendly manner. Why did DAP not condemn and questioned Ambassador Huang with regard to banning of fasting during Ramadan in China?

Extrapolating from how Najib is labelled pro-Israeli, then DAP has to be anti-Islam. Is that so?

Obviously not. We know for a fact that the Chinese in Malaysia are not anti-Islamic. In fact, I myself have many Chinese friends. Therefore, professional conduct with another person does not mean anything negative.

The United States of America (USA) is one Israeli’s largest trading partners. It has been postulated that the US government has given a total of about US$121 billion to Israel since World War 2 and a huge chunk from this amount is channeled towards military technology developments.

President Barack Obama not long ago even announced an additional USD$225 million funding for Israel to improve a home-grown Iron Dome missile interceptor. Besides that, USA is the biggest exporter of military supplies to Israel.

Considering all that, don’t you think we should boycott the USA also? That means no more Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Google, i-Phones, Macs, Intels and Hollywood. Let’s all get back to living in tree houses!

Pro-Mahathir blogs have been suffocating for ideas and hence decided to use the ‘handshake’ story to spin. While Dr Mahathir Mohamad likes us to believe he is anti-Jew, he himself shared a very close relationship with Israel.

According to an online paper available at the Institute of Jewish Affairs website, in 1996 the Israeli Port Authority sponsored an international conference and a 16-member delegation from Malaysia attended with government approval and funding. Numerous discussions also took place between Israeli and Malaysian government in the 1990s to increase trading relationship between the two countries. So what is Mahathir barking about so much now?

Throughout his tenure, Mahathir constantly condemned and blamed George Soros for the 1997-98 economic crisis and numerous issues. However, in 2006 after leaving office Mahathir has made public appearances with Soros and has gone on to claim that they are friends. So, who is the double headed-snake now?

What conspired between Najib and Netanyahu in Israel is definitely what any normal professional individual would do. Stop picking small insignificant occurrences and make it an issue. There is enough going on already in this country.