PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has lambasted Meta for removing his posts on the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh from Facebook and Instagram.
This is the second time Meta had removed Anwar’s posts on Hamas and its leader.
Anwar in his Facebook post warned the platform not to be a coward and a tool for the oppressive Zionist Israeli regime.
“Meta has once again acted biadab (insolent) and insulted the struggle of the Palestinian people by removing videos and condolence messages, as well as criticism of the killing of the late Haniyeh.
“It is unreasonable to consider posts honouring a fighter who sought to liberate his homeland from oppression and suffering as dangerous,” he said.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister’s Office ordered Meta to explain why a post from May, showing Anwar’s meeting with the Hamas leader, was taken down.
This request was made through a statement on Anwar’s official Facebook page.
The New Straits Times, meanwhile, said other social media posts by Anwar concerning the death of Haniyeh appeared to have been deleted.
On Instagram, user mhd.ekram had said, “Datuk Seri, the video you posted yesterday has disappeared. I want to know why” in relation to a post by Anwar on Hari Pahlawan, uploaded 18 hours ago.
It is believed that a video and a picture of Haniyeh were removed from separate social media platforms owned by Anwar.
Haniyeh was the international face of Hamas and the most senior leader of the Palestinian resistance group to be assassinated by Israel since the 2004 attack that killed its spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Gaza.
The 62-year-old Haniyeh was head of Hamas’s political bureau and had been living in Qatar since 2023.
The Islamist faction mourned the death of Haniyeh, stating he was killed in “a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran”.
He had attended Iran’s new president’s swearing-in ceremony a day earlier. – August 1, 2024.
