大象传媒

As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to have reverberations across the globe one of the veritable elder statemen of the global south has called for the end of the war.

Mahathir Mohamad dominated politics for decades in Malaysia - a majority-Muslim country in Asia - serving as prime minister for a cumulative total of 24 years and, even in retirement, he鈥檚 never really left the political arena.

When he was born nearly a century ago Malaysia was part of the British Empire - then at its most extensive, an imperial system governing a quarter of the world including what are now Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Newsday asked him - now at the age of 98 - how he saw the current war in Gaza, and the state of political leadership in a less Western-dominated, changing world.

"Hamas did attack Israel but before that for 70 years Israel was repressing Palestinians."

"Israel has a right to defend itself. On the other hand Israel has rocketed and bombed Gaza until 40,000 people have died and many more been injured."

(Pic: Mahathir Mohamad ; Credit: Reuters)

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