BDS salutes the Malaysian government for decision to ban ZIM vessels

The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the largest Palestinian coalition leading the global BDS movement, salutes the Malaysian government for its inspiring decision to ban vessels from the deeply complicit Israeli shipping company, ZIM, as well as any other vessel flying the Israeli flag or headed for Israeli ports, from docking at Malaysian ports. 

This decision, following an effective campaign by BDS Malaysia, comes in response to Israel’s unprecedented crimes against 2.3 million Palestinians in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip, which dozens of UN experts have condemned as “a genocide in the making.” Malaysia was among the first states to designate Israel as an apartheid state. Its current decision shows states worldwide what effective accountability measures in response to Israel’s live-streamed genocide should look like. 

The BDS movement calls on all states to end business-as-usual with Israel, impose lawful sanctions, including a comprehensive military embargo, on it, and treat it as apartheid South Africa once was: a rogue state threatening world peace. This is the most effective form of solidarity with our liberation struggle.