Malaysia on Wednesday banned Israeli-flagged cargo ships from docking at its ports in response to Israel's actions in Gaza, which it said ignores "basic humanitarian principles", AFP reported.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in a statement that ships on their way to Israel will also be barred from loading cargo at any port in Malaysia, effective immediately.
Anwar singled out Israel's biggest shipping firm ZIM.
Malaysia's cabinet authorized ZIM to dock its vessels at Malaysian ports in 2002 but Wednesday's statement said that authorization had been rescinded.
"The Malaysian government decided to block and disallow the Israeli-based shipping company ZIM from docking at any Malaysian port," Anwar said, according to AFP.
"These sanctions are a response to Israel's actions that ignore basic humanitarian principles and violate international law through the ongoing massacre and brutality against Palestinians," he added.
Malaysia "also decided to no longer accept ships using the Israeli flag to dock in the country" and ban "any ship on its way to Israel from loading cargo in Malaysian ports".
Malaysia does not have diplomatic ties with Israel. Earlier this month, in fact, a Malaysian citizen was arrested after posting a video to social media in which he called for peace with Israel.
The country’s former Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, is notorious for his controversial statements against Israel and the Jewish people. In 2012, he wrote on his personal blog that “Jews rule this world by proxy.”
In August of 2018, Mahathir defended his right to be antisemitic, arguing that antisemitism is an artificial construct created to silence critics of the Jews.
In October that year, he 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 antisemitic statements during an appearance at Cambridge University.