In an effort to secure the release of 17 underprivileged Thai workmen held by Hamas, who had already killed 28 of them during its attack in Israel, BANGKOK – Buddhist-majority Thailand’s new prime minister flew to Palestinian-friendly Malaysia and reached out to other Arab countries.
Weeping families in desolate rural Thai villages claimed that their unfortunate relatives had traveled to Israel to settle home debts or improve their small standard of living.
In an effort to obtain philosophical assistance for their imprisoned loved ones and the deceased, family in Thailand attended nearby beams and held rites that combined Buddhist, Hindu, and monotheistic beliefs.
After learning that her 40-year-old father Owat Suriyasri had been taken as a hostage, worried Kanyarat Susani remarked,” We have many bills, and working abroad pays better than in Thailand.”
Since 2021, Owat has toiled in Israel, saving thousands of dough to help Kanyarat and their two children construct a home in Thailand.
She remarked to a cable agency news service,” I had hug him and state:’ I’ve missed you, I didn’t let you somewhere far away again.
Wannida Ma – asa bluntly remarked,” I hope he survives ,” about her husband Anucha Angkaew, who was kidnapped from an Israeli avocado farm.
In order to express her gratitude to her ancestors for guarding her sweetheart Phadung Buddmo, 26, Suphatra Asanok, 28, said,” a top Buddhist priest told us to maintain a ritual to worship them.”
According to the Bangkok Post, he was shot twice in the back by Hamas during an attack on a farmworkers’ tent.
The deceased in Thailand have not yet been transported back for burial or cremation.
There aren’t many Israeli surveillance and emergency personnel available to help with the retrieval of dead bodies because the majority of them have been sent to fight areas, according to the Post.
More than 7,000 terrified Siamese workers in Israel want to flee to Thailand, but another 23, 000 believe they will stay.
Due to their need to pay back hundreds of dollars owed to Vietnamese brokers who assisted them in finding work on farms and construction crews in the desert, some men were reluctant to leave Israel.
If a Thai agent is used to secure the job, Thai workers’ contracts are frequently for five years and are relatively cheap to organize.
The worker may still owe the seller money if a fleeing employee violates the contract.
For Thailand’s recently elected top, Srettha Thavisin, a former real estate tycoon who is in charge of an extensive coalition government made up of military-aligned parties, the Hamas-Israel war is the first global crisis.
On October 11, Srettha took a plane to Malaysia to join Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is in favor of the Palestinians’ social needs.
In a recent post on X, Anwar described desert disputes that date back to the middle of the 20th century, saying that” the[ Israeli government ] relentlessly confiscates land and property owned by the Palestinian people.”
According to a statement from the Malaysian foreign ministry on October 8,” Palestinians have been subjected to the prolonged illegal occupation, blockade and suffering, the desecration of al-Aqsa ] mosque ], as well as the politics of dispossession at the hands of Israel as an occupier.”
According to reports, Thailand pleaded with Muslim-majority countries like Malaysia, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, and others to persuade Hamas to free the Thais.
According to Thai spokesperson Kanchana Patarachoke,” Hamas would never hurt foreigners because they are not involved, and it does not need to increase the disputes.”
The foreign ministry of Thailand issued a negative statement following the Hamas attack:
Thailand joins the global community in condemning any use of murder and indiscriminate attacks and calls on all parties involved to desist from any activities that would further exacerbate tensions.
Two Thai personnel perished in a Hamas rocket attack on Israel in 2021.
Srettha, who is also Thailand’s innovative finance minister, visited Malaysia as part of an earlier scheduled trip that included stops in Hong Kong, Brunei, and Singapore to talk about local trade and investment. It is said that his visit to Malaysia was primarily focused on those topics.
Malay-Thai Islamists are waging a raging separatist conflict against Thailand along its southern borders with Malaysia.
Bangkok has a long-standing plan to” contain” the violence in the South, which has claimed the lives of more than 7,000 people over the past few years on all sides.
When Bangkok acknowledged Palestine as a country with pre-1967 borders and forged diplomatic ties by supporting the Palestinians’ 1988 declaration of independence, Israel expressed sorrow.
But, Bangkok’s covert nonconfrontational political abilities have historically been incredibly effective with Arab Islamists.
Trained Israeli Black September guerrillas stormed the Jewish Embassy in Bangkok fifty years ago and threatened to blow it up and kill the six Israeli diplomats who were in.
Dark September listed the names of 36 Palestinian prisoners and threatened to kill their six captives if they weren’t released from Israeli prisons and sent to Egypt.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej was appointing his brother as crown prince and heir to the throne at the same time in an elaborate ceremony held throughout the area.
The guerrillas were warned by Egyptian adviser to Thailand and Vietnamese military officials that it would be tragic if the issue marred the prince’s royal investiture on December 28, 1972.
” We sincerely apologize for not being aware of this today. We cherish your monarch. One of the Arab rebels told the Bangkok Post,” He is very good and wonderful.
” We hope the Thai people may be aware of our issue. After hanging a Israeli flag in the embassy’s glass so it could be seen from the outside, he declared,” This is our territory.
After an agreement was reached, the captives were swiftly released, and the Palestinians took off for Cairo.
Air Chief Marshal Dawee Chullasapya, Thailand’s then-Sufficient Command Chief of Staff, stated at the time:
” They apologized. They claimed they had no concern for Israel but had for Thailand and its ruler. They didn’t need to sow discord between the Arabs and Thailand.
To work out a bargain, the militants invited Dawee to breakfast inside the Jewish Embassy.
Dawee remarked at the time,” I brought in curried corn and meat.” Before they touched it,” I had to have” a meal. They should be our friends on a trip to Cairo, I suggested after haggling with them all day.
One Black September gunman said,” I hope some of the Thai people will become Palestinian soldiers with us ,” before they took off for Egypt.
British foreign editor Richard S. Ehrlich has been reporting from Asia from Bangkok since 1978. excerpts from” Rituals ,” two of his most recent nonfiction books. Killers. Conflicts. & amp, Sex. Here you can find” Apocalyptic Tribes, Smugglers & amp, Freaks” as well as” Tibet, India, Nepal, Laos,” Vietnam, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and New York.”