IPOH, Oct 27 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today declared himself the "number one” champion of the Palestinian people in Malaysia, after his party PKR was alleged to have links to Zionist Israel.

Instead, the PKR president who is challenging former Pakatan Harapan colleague-turned-rival Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu for the Tambun parliamentary seat in the November 19 general election, touted his close ties with Hamas leaders, including former Palestine president, the late Yasser Arafat.

"Peja accused me of supporting Israel. When we talk about politics, we should have morality,” Anwar said in his speech when meeting military veterans at Dewan Orang Ramai RT Batu 10 here.

Peja is Ahmad Faizal’s nickname.

"I was close with Yasser for a very long time. Even when I was jailed, Yasser wrote a long letter to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was then prime minister, explaining that he was making a mistake putting me in jail.

"I’m the number one fighter for the Palestinian people in our country. So I don’t think we have to talk about this matter and instead we should focus on how to improve the country and the economy,” Anwar added.

Ahmad Faizal, who is the incumbent MP for Tambun, had challenged Anwar to state his stand on Israel after two out of 11 people were recently charged in a Malaysian court with abducting a Palestinian.

The two accused, identified as Nidahrahyu Zainal and Rafibafie Amdan, were reported to be working for the Israeli spy agency known as Mossad and had been spotted waving a PKR flag.

PKR has publicly denied that the two accused were its members.

Ahmad Faizal demanded PKR investigate the extent of pro-Israeli infiltration among its ranks.