Malaysia named among 51 countries involved in Israel's military supply chain, Al Jazeera probe finds

Malaysia has been named among 51 countries whose goods have contributed to Israel's military supply chain since early 2024, breaching the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) warning to all parties to observe the convention on preventing genocide such as that perpetrated against Palestinians which has resulted in more than 70,000 deaths.

The revelation follows an extensive investigation by Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera, which analysed customs records and official Israeli import tax data between 2022 and 2025, the period during which the Zionist regime carried out one of the most widely documented genocidal campaigns in modern times, wiping out entire townships and displacing millions of Palestinians.

The investigation traced military supply chains linked to countries that are parties to the 1948 Genocide Convention, including those with no ties to Israel, no formal recognition of the Zionist state, and those that have announced arms embargoes.

Although the amount involving Malaysia represents only a tiny fraction of more than US$885 million in imports of goods related to ammunition, explosives, weapons parts and armoured vehicle components by Israel between October 2023 and October 2025, it is likely to raise questions about whether there has been a lack of serious efforts to prevent direct or indirect trade with Israel, or worse, about the existence of local business entities involved in such business deals.

Checks with the Israeli Tax Authority (ITA) showed that 91% of the sales were recorded after the ICJ’s ruling in January 2024 that there was a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza, and its reminder to the 153 countries that signed the Genocide Convention of their obligations.

As expected, the US ranked first with some US$370 million in imports.

This was followed by India, which supplied 26% of Israel's total military goods imports, Romania (8%), Taiwan (4%), and the Czech Republic (3%).

Meanwhile, Singapore, one of Israel's staunchest allies in Southeast Asia - which in recent months has come under scrutiny from Malaysian politicians following its vague remarks on the US-Israeli war against Iran - supplied Israel with US$5.6 million in military-related imports, 88% of which were recorded after the ICJ decision, according to Al Jazeera citing data from ITA.

In Malaysia's case, a mere US$326 in imports was recorded in August 2024, according to Al Jazeera.

While the amount is negligible, the nature of the goods and how they were supplied is unclear. 

It is also not the first time Malaysia has faced allegations of involvement in trade with Israel despite Putrajaya's decades old policy of not recognising the Zionist state.

In September 2024, there was outrage among pro-Palestinian advocates in Malaysia over allegations that a local company was involved in facilitating the shipment of eight containers of explosives to Israel.

On Sept 13, 2024, the Malaysian chapter of the global anti-Israel movement Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) lodged a police report against United O7 Asia Sdn Bhd, stating that containers carrying explosives were on board the cargo ship MV Kathrin, which left Vietnam for Singapore and was destined for Slovenia before travelling overland to Israel.

Although a Danish co-owner of United O7 Asia Sdn Bhd later denied the allegations, there has been no update on the status of the police report.

BDS insisted that there were eight containers of RDX explosives scheduled to be discharged at a port in the Adriatic Sea and then delivered by other means to their final destination in Israel to be used for bombs and missiles.

"We have the evidence to support this," it said at the time.

MalaysiaNow is attempting to contact the relevant authorities for a response.

Any instances of even remote ties with Israel are bound to attract public backlash in Malaysia.

This was evident when Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim allowed a subsidiary of  BlackRock to join a consortium to take ownership of Malaysia Airports (MAHB), a government-owned firm that operates all of Malaysia's airports.

The decision was made despite BlackRock being at the centre of well-documented allegations of complicity in Israeli war crimes.

In June 2024, a statement by United Nations experts named BlackRock among dozens of entities, weapons manufacturers, and financial institutions as being complicit in war crimes and genocide.

Earlier, in May 2024, Anwar's government was accused of hypocrisy in his pro-Palestinian stance after defence companies that supplied arms to Israel were allowed to take part in a defence exhibition in Kuala Lumpur.