Malaysia urges sanctions on Israel at UN meeting

Malaysia urged sanctions on Saturday against Israel at the UN General Assembly.

"We must take action now" and sanction Israel, Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said in his address to the General Assembly in New York.

"The metastasis of Israel's brutality in Middle East cannot go on," he said, calling Tel Aviv’s assault on Doha earlier this month as "not merely an attack on a few representatives of Hamas," but "an insult to the efforts of all who have attempted to mediate" a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and a signal that Israel's "violence will continue to destabilize the region."

"The effect of this will spill over to the rest of the world," he said. "The atrocities may have begun with Palestine, but they certainly will not end with Palestine."

"There are only three real answers to this conflict," he said -- taking concrete action against the occupying force; lending long-term support to the development of a self-governing Palestinian state; and reforming the UN while ensuring that "such a travesty of justice never happens again."

As the UN marks its 80th anniversary, the word “congratulations” rings hollow, said Mohamad.

"Should we congratulate ourselves on our inability to bring an end to the occupation of Palestine, or should we congratulate ourselves for allowing a rogue state to undermine our charter and our efforts in Gaza? The clock is ticking. The bombs are falling and the light is fading. We have failed," he said.

Mohamad suggested three urgent reforms he deemed necessary for the UN's "survival": limiting, "if not abolishing," the Security Council veto; restoring authority back to the General Assembly and redesigning global financing mechanisms to ensure transparency and fairness for the Global South.

The US earlier this month vetoed a UN resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

"Reform is no longer a choice. It is our imperative to be better together. We must change together. Billions of lives depend on whether we succeed," he said.

He stressed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN), which is currently chaired by Malaysia, peace-making efforts in the region.

The Israeli army has killed nearly 66,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has rendered the enclave uninhabitable and led to starvation and the spread of diseases.