WORLD MEDIA IN FRENZY OVER HAMAS-LINKED PALESTINIAN’S MURDER IN KL: FIRST JONG-NAM, NOW ALLEGED MOSSAD KILLERS IN TOWN – WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MALAYSIA’S SECURITY?

KUALA LUMPUR – The hitman-style slaying of Palestinian Dr Fadi Albatsh early today sent foreign media organisations into a frenzy as they made it the top story the world over.

While Malaysian police are still investigating the shooting of the engineering professor at Universiti Kuala Lumpur, the world media was quick to speculate about the circumstances of the murder.

Many repeated claims that Israel’s national intelligence agency, Mossad, were behind the killed of Fadi, who is said to have links with Palestine’s Hamas.

That his extended family in Palestine came out with a statement alleging Mossad were behind the “assassination” made the claims gather even more steam.

Palestinians gather in mourning outside the family home of 35-year-old lecturer Dr Fadi Albatsh, who was killed in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza strip. AFP

Al Jazeera, meanwhile, quoted Fadi’s father as saying definitively that Mossad was “suspected” of being behind his son’s murder.

The report also said that the victim and family had intended to fly to Turkey for a science conference on energy. Israeli news outlet Haaretz said he was due to fly to Turkey this weekend.

In fact, most news portals, including Israeli media such as Haaretz, The Times Of Israel and The Jerusalem Post also published articles based on statements by Palestinian authorities and Fadi’s family alleging that the two men involved in the killing were Mossad agents.

Many of the reports quoted initial reports by the New Straits Times over details of the killing, including that two men were waiting for Fadi on a road which he normally takes as he walked to a nearby Surau in Setapak for subuh prayers.

The news reports claimed Fadi, who had been living here for 10 years with his wife and three children, had prior to that been involved in the movement of Hamas fighters. He was said to have been living in Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, before moving here.

Palestinian authorities claimed that Fadi was an expert in energy use and had contributed much to the field of electrical engineering and energy production, especially in Palestine, and had been targeted by Mossad because of this.

This, they said, was similar to the December murder of Mohammed Zawahri, a well-known Palestinian aviation engineer who was an expert in drone construction who was also said to have had ties with Hamas.

– NST