I watched with dismay the footage of the recent Umno Youth protest at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre led by its deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin. During the protest, Umno Youth members were seen brandishing placards with one disturbing phrase, 'We Support Hamas'.

It intrigued me how a nation like ours, ruled by Barisan Nasional (Umno being a component party) could endorse such a protest which supported internationally-known terrorist organisations like Hezbollah and Hamas. Has our government got nothing to comment on this? Let us remind ourselves that two wrongs do not make one right. Truly, the act of Israel's retaliation towards Lebanon is to be condemned, but Umno Youth needed not proclaim its support towards terrorist organisations.

As the saying goes, 'It takes two hands to clap', it is evident that Israel's act of retaliation was provoked by the Lebanese army who captured a few Israeli nationals. How could Umno Youth be so biased as to condemn what Israel is doing but condone what Lebanon did? In my opinion, both are to be condemned for different infringement on human rights.

How could Khairy be so hypocritical as to declare that the protest he led was 'bukan isu Islam, bukan isu agama, tapi isu hak asasi manusia'? Couldn't he see that the captured Israelis' basic rights have first been robbed by their Lebanese captors?

Khairy has no reason to solely implicate the US in Israel's continuous attack on Lebanon just because Israel is using American-made weapons. Mind you, Hezbollah fired scores of Syrian- and Iranian-made rockets into Israel too. Is this fact to be overlooked? The problem Umno Youth desperately wants America to solve with Israel is the same problem the OIC should seek to solve with Syria, Iran and Lebanon.

As much as I condemn the war in the Middle East, I do not wish to join Khairy's cohorts in giving my support to Hezbollah and Hamas. In short, Khairy's claim that he is representing Malaysia's youth as a whole is nothing less than selfish.