Malaysia PM Najib leads protest against Donald Trump’s Jerusalem decision

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak warned his “good friend” US President Donald Trump not to threaten retaliation against countries like Malaysia that supported a United Nations resolution urging Washington to withdraw its decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“Yes, I was welcomed warmly by the White House. Yes, President Donald Trump is my good friend. But as a principle, I will never sacrifice the sanctity of Islam,” Najib said in his speech at a rally after Friday prayers at the mosque in the federal administrative capital of Putrajaya. “We are not a country that asks for aid, not even from the United States. Even though it is a superpower, do not press us.”

Malaysia co-sponsored and was one of the 128 UN members who voted for the non-binding resolution during an emergency special session of the General Assembly on Thursday, with nine others voting against it and 35 abstaining.

Trump had on Wednesday said that Washington would be “watching” which countries back the resolution and threatened to cut aid to them.

Najib and Trump have a chummy relationship which has been turned into political fodder by the opposition as anger mounts in predominantly Muslim Malaysia over Trump’s announcement on December 6 to not only recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital but also that the US would move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.