PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution yesterday came to the defence of party de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim by holding up a mirror to his boss' detractors.

In particular, he aimed his shot at Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who has accused Anwar of being "two-faced" for his remark that he supports efforts to protect Israel's security.

NONE Najib cannot say the BN government has been consistent in its support for Palestine, Saifuddin said, especially when it did not even recognise the Palestinian government in 2006.

He said when Malaysia hosted the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting in May 2006, the government sidestepped democratically-elected Palestinian foreign minister Dr Mahmoud alZahar to please the United States.

"Former foreign minister Qadummi was invited to speak on behalf of Palestine. This was not surprising, since Palestinian PM Ismail Hamiyeh and Dr Mahmoud represented Hamas, which the US and Israel consider a terrorist outfit," Saifuddin said.

As a result, he recalled, Mahmoud, who was part of Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh's cabinet, boycotted the NAM meeting. Ismail is still serving as prime minister.

Malaysia guided by US, Israel

"This incident shows the BN government's inconsistency when it comes to Palestine... showing also that its foreign policy towards Palestine is guided by US and Israeli policies on Palestine," he said.

He added that the incident, which was slammed by the-then PAS deputy president, Nasharuddin Mat Isa, also showed that Malaysia would not recognise a government of the people.

"Only the US and Israel refused to recognise the Hamas-led Palestinian government, and Malaysia followed suit... Does this not show that the Malaysian government is inconsistent?" he asked.

Najib was commenting on reports that Nasharuddin had recently met with the Palestinian PM, who expressed shock and disappointment over Anwar's statement.

Anwar's comment on Israel, made in a Wall Street Journal interview, has also courted criticism from the syura council of ally party PAS, which called on Anwar to retract his statement.

"If the statement was reported wrongly or carried a different meaning, I, together with all syura council members, advise Anwar to take legal action and sue the Wall Street Journal to clear his name," PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat had said.

The PKR de facto leader had, soon after the WSJ interview was published, said what he meant was that he is an advocate of the two-state solution to end the long-running Israel-Palestine crisis.