Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday met with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who is notorious for his past anti-Semitic statements.
During the meeting, Haniyeh hailed what he called the "courageous" Malaysian leadership for supporting the rights of Palestinians, according to the Turkish Anadolu news agency.
The two met in Putrajaya, the administrative capital of the country, where they reviewed the current situation in Palestine, especially the latest “Israeli violations against Jerusalem,” said the Palestinian Culture Organization Malaysia (PCOM).
Haniyeh, who was accompanied by a delegation, also stressed the importance of "thwarting Israeli plans", the statement from PCOM added.
Mohamad reiterated his strong position in supporting the Palestinian people and their "just cause".
He expressed the need for a "comprehensive strategy" to strengthen the Palestinian people.
Mohamad has been serving as prime minister of the southeast Asian country since 2018 and previously served in the office in 1981-2003.
In 2012, he wrote on his personal blog that “Jews rule this world by proxy.”
In August of 2018, Mohamad defended his right to be anti-Semitic, arguing that anti-Semitism is an artificial construct created to silence critics of the Jews.
In October that year, the Malaysian Prime Minister said that Jews are "hook-nosed" and accused them of creating problems in the Middle East.
In June of 2019, he unleashed a stream of anti-Semitic statements during an appearance at Cambridge University.
“I have some Jewish friends, very good friends. They are not like the other Jews, that’s why they are my friends,” Mohamad said in response to a question about previous anti-Jewish statements. The response was met with laughter from some in the audience.
Last September, he spoke at Columbia University as part of its annual world leaders forum, where he defended his past anti-Semitic statements and questioned the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust.