Writing as thousands of Malaysians protest against the war on Gaza outside the US embassy in KL, I refer to the letter Getting the facts on the Palestinian issue and can agree with the writer's assessment.

Malaysians should be aware that as Israel commits ever more war crimes against a defenseless population in Gaza, Jews around the world are also standing up in loud protest, and shouting ‘not in our name!’

There have been large-scale demonstrations in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem over the past few days, demanding not only ‘stop the war/stop killing civilians’ – but calling for an opening of Gaza ’s borders and an end to the vicious blockade that Israel instituted against Gazans months ago.

These demonstrations also call for immediate and direct negotiations with Hamas. Many smaller demonstrations in Israel against the government's war, from the first hours of the bombardment, have gone unreported in the international media.

Based in New York City, Jews Against the Occupation (Jato) argues that Israel is unilaterally responsible for the violence in the Middle East conflict. Jato advocates the

divestment movement and unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank, and has helped organise many protests over the past several years.

In Australia, the group Jews Against the Occupation-Sydney has spoken out against the attack on Gaza and Israeli murderous policies.

On Jan. 7, a number of Jewish women occupied the Israeli consulate in Toronto , denouncing the war on Gaza, and were subsequently arrested.

On Jan. 8, a large group occupied the Israeli consulate in Montreal , and 30 were arrested. They demanded the expulsion of the consular General and an immediate end to the Israeli invasion and siege of Gaza.

One of the participants stated: ‘The Canadian government's support for the ongoing atrocities in Gaza is totally unacceptable. Canada should immediately end diplomatic ties with the Israeli apartheid regime, starting with the expulsion of Israeli representatives from Canada.

Since the Canadian government has refused to do so, we are taking action ourselves’. They blocked access to the consulate for almost two hours before being physically removed by police. Their action has been applauded across North America.

Significant is the recent statement An Open Letter from Anti-Zionist Jewish Youth in Canada which brands the Jewish state as racist and articulates a total rejection of what Zionism represents.

Their declaration ends: ‘Let us not be silent bystanders while humanity suffers. Let us raise our voices, as Jewish youth, and demand a single, democratic state, with equal rights for everyone in Israel/Palestine. Ours is a generation that is committed to ending Middle-East violence by opposing all forms of discrimination, calling for a just peace within the entire region, and condemning Zionism to the dustbin of history’.

That sentiment is spreading across the world Jewish community, especially among the younger generation. Progressive Jews everywhere can applaud the move by the Malaysian government to donate US$1 million in humanitarian medical aid to the afflicted Gazan population, and the decision to reopen the Fund for Palestine in the foreign ministry.

Jews of conscience in many countries welcome the recent open letter by Dr Mahathir Mohamad to US president-elect Barack Hussein Obama, where he states: ‘Stop indiscriminate support of Israeli killers with your money and your weapons. The planes and the bombs killing the people of Gaza are from you’.