KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s firm stance on Palestine, especially in front of Western leaders, has been crucial and necessary, says renown British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan (pic).
Mehdi emphasised the importance of Anwar’s message in advocating for Palestinians.
“I think his voice is absolutely crucial,” Mehdi said.
“(Although) I don’t agree 100% with everything he says, but I think what he said on Gaza, in terms of challenging the West, and going to Germany, sitting next to Scholz (German Chancellor Olaf Scholz) and challenging (him), as I said at the time, this was a voice that was very necessary,” he said when met at a networking event organised by HRD Corp yesterday.
Mehdi is the author of the New York Times bestseller Win Every Argument and currently leads his own news organisation Zeteo.
The host of the The Mehdi Hasan Show has interviewed a range of prominent figures, including scholars and politicians like Noam Chomsky, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Bernie Sanders, as well as celebrities like John Legend, Mark Ruffalo and Jon Stewart.
Mehdi is expected to interview the Prime Minister today.
He further praised Anwar, saying that the Prime Minister represents “more people in the West than many Western governments do”.
Anwar drew international attention when he criticised Western countries during a joint press conference with Scholz in Berlin on March 11, for their lack of action against Israel’s atrocities in Gaza.
Anwar, who was on an official visit to Germany, questioned the humanity of the West and condemned their “selective” and “ambivalent” attitude to the conflict.
Mehdi is in Malaysia as a speaker at the National Human Capital Conference and Exhibition 2024, aimed at addressing the critical conversation surrounding the role of AI in the workplace and its implications for the future of work.
Scheduled to run until Oct 2, the conference will explore ways to tackle challenges and leverage opportunities presented by the growth of AI for the region’s workforce and talent.
