KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called on the world community to build a consensus on suspending or even expelling Israel from the United Nations (UN).

Delivering the national statement at the Extraordinary Arab and Islamic Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, yesterday, Anwar reiterated that Israel has gone beyond reason and humanity itself in its vile and blatant perpetration of the genocide of the people of Palestine.

He said the Zionist regime’s cumulative acts of violence against an entire nation leave the international community with no choice but to demand swift and effective action, including embargo, suspension and even expulsion from the UN.

"The international community must act swiftly and forcefully. As an immediate measure, we must push, as Malaysia did at the UN General Assembly in September, to impose an immediate arms embargo against Israel.

"For the sake of not only the Palestinians but of humanity itself, we must punish and deter Israel’s repeated violations of international law and norms. We should, therefore, build a consensus towards suspending or even expelling Israel from the United Nations itself,” he said.

Anwar said Israel no longer belongs within the civilised community of nations, and its barbarism demands nothing less than decisive action to safeguard not just the Middle East, but the entire global order.

He said Israel has now struck at the very heart of the international community’s lifeline for Palestine by targeting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees.

"By barring UNRWA from operating, Israel is causing the collapse of the world’s humanitarian response, cutting off the most basic means of survival in Gaza for those who have already lost so much. We must put an end to this continued senseless carnage and take immediate steps to furnish more effective protection for UNRWA.

"Similarly, we must accord better protection for the UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, comprising nearly 50 nations, including Malaysia, who have been attacked and terrorised by Israeli forces,” he said.

Anwar warned that if the world fails to act, the violence will not stay confined; instead, it will spark a fire that could spread, endangering the entire region and beyond, as Israel’s trail of atrocities has already spread into Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Iran.

The Prime Minister acknowledged that, despite the significant challenges facing the Muslim world and the Ummah, there are commendable and sustained efforts to find solutions that will end the violence, destruction, and suffering of the Palestinian people and alleviate their long-standing and unspoken anguish, including through summits such as the Extraordinary Arab and Islamic Summit.

Anwar also emphasised that, ultimately, the victims are the primary concern, and the efforts to help rebuild Gaza from the devastation need to be intensified and without delay.

"We must draw a line in the sand, not only as Muslims but as fellow humans, united and bound by our fragile mortality and committed to a simple truth: a wish for a safer, kinder world for our children and the generations to come,” Prime Minister said. — Bernama