PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has been deemed the “forbidden land” by famous Facebook vlogger (video blogger) Nas Daily.
In his video entitled “The Forbidden Land!” posted on his Facebook page, Nas, whose real name is Nuseir Yassin, said he was not allowed to enter Malaysia because he owns an Israeli passport.
“The country you see behind me, is as hard for me to enter as North Korea. Because this is Malaysia,” he said, as he pointed to buildings believed to be in Tanjung Puteri, across the Straits of Johor.
“With my Israeli passport, it is almost impossible for me to enter their country and even more impossible for them to enter mine because of politics,” he said, adding that “Malaysia and Israel are not friends”.
Speaking in his one-minute video clip from Singapore, the Israeli-Palestinian who has been travelling full-time and making videos since 2016, said that he has made friends with several Malaysians in Singapore and learned about the country's food, culture and language.
Nas noted that this friendship with Malaysians “can only exist outside of Israel and Malaysia”.
Before ending with his iconic “That's one minute, see you tomorrow” tagline, Nas expressed hope of peace among governments.
“I am convinced that when governments make peace, we will meet inside of Malaysia, inside of Israel, and inside of Palestine. Inshallah.”
The video was viewed over 651,000 times and had 27,000 Likes five hours after it was posted on Thursday (Aug 30).
Facebook user Christine Gan said she was glad that Nas had finally featured Malaysia in his Facebook.
“I’m sure a lot of your Malaysian fans would love to have you here!” she wrote.
Grace K Dharmain wrote that she understood why Nas has not come to Malaysia until now. “There is (sic) so so many 1 minute stories to tell!"
Another Facebook user Fenny Masruri said that Indonesia does not accept Israeli passport holders either.
Malaysia does not officially recognise Israel, and Malaysian passports bear the inscription, “This passport is valid for all countries except Israel”.
Israeli passport holders are not permitted to enter the country without written permission from the Home Ministry.
However, the government allows Malaysian Christians to visit Israel up to 21 days for religious purposes.