Govt blocks Israeli shipping company from docking at Malaysian ports

By admin-s On Dec 20, 2023

The transport ministry will take action by imposing a permanent ban on the company, effective immediately.

(FMT) – The government has decided to prohibit vessels from Israel-based shipping company, ZIM, from docking at any Malaysian port.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the transport ministry would take action by imposing a permanent ban on the company, effective immediately.

“This restriction is a response to Israel’s actions that disregard basic humanitarian principles and violate international law through continuous massacres and atrocities against Palestinian citizens,” he said in a statement.

He said the Cabinet had begun allowing ships owned by ZIM to dock in Malaysia in 2002.

In 2005, he said, the Cabinet at the time granted ZIM approval to dock in Malaysia.

However, Putrajaya has decided to annul all decisions made by former governments regarding this matter, he said.

Anwar said the government had also decided to prohibit ships displaying Israel’s flag from docking at the country’s ports. Any vessels heading for Israel are also prohibited from loading cargo at Malaysia’s ports.

“Both of these prohibitions take effect immediately,” he said.

“Malaysia is confident that these decisions will not adversely affect the country’s trade activities.”

On Monday, BDS Malaysia, a movement that promotes boycotts against Israeli interests, called for the government to ban Israeli-owned ships, including those belonging to ZIM, from docking in Malaysia.

“Since they are owned by an Israeli company, by right, they should not be allowed to dock in Malaysia because the Malaysian government’s policy is not to have any trade relations with Israel,” it said in an Instagram post.

BDS Malaysia also urged the transport ministry to promptly direct the Port Klang Authority to reject the docking of a ZIM-owned vessel scheduled to arrive at Westports on Dec 26.

“Failure to do so implies that the Malaysian government is not serious about stopping the atrocities being committed by the Zionist regime on the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank,” it said.