KUALA LUMPUR: The opposition does not use Zionist communications consultants to attract support, Gombak MP Azmin Ali said on Wednesday, March 24.

Defending Opposition Leader and PKR de facto head Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (Permatang Pauh-PKR) against an attack by Khairy Jamaluddin (Rembau-BN) last week, Azmin said that Anwar was not a Jewish agent.

During the debate on the royal address last Wednesday, Khairy had questioned Anwar on his relationship with former US ambassador to Indonesia Paul Wolfowitz.

"While it's true that the Permatang Pauh MP has known Wolfowitz for a long time, their relationship has not reduced Anwar's Malayness or his faith," Azmin, a PKR vice-president, said in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday.

"In fact, Anwar has always used his relationship to give his frank views to Washington," he added.

Referring to a meeting between Anwar and Wolfowitz five years ago, Azmin said the PKR adviser did not agree with the US invasion of Iraq and asked them to withdraw their troops immediately.

"Anwar told him that more Muslims were killed during the invasion than during Saddam Hussein's reign," said Azmin, who said he was present during the meeting.

"This was different from the then Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) president and Umno president Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's cordial meeting with the then US president George W Bush on Sept 18, 2006," he said.

According to Azmin, Anwar had asked the US government to remove renowned Islamic scholar Dr Shaikh Yusuf Qardhawi's name from their terrorist blacklist.

"Anwar also requested the US to share the tsunami fund, which stood at around US$2 billion (RM6.64 billion), with Islamic religious schools in Aceh and not keep it only for secular schools."

Anwar had alleged in the Dewan Rakyat that the public relations company, Apco, that was engaged by the government had Israeli links.

The former deputy prime minister claimed that several members of the company's International Advisory Council board had been former Israeli officials. Among them are former Israeli ambassador to the US Itamar Rabinovich.

The opposition leader also suggested that the prime minister's 1Malaysia campaign was coined after Israel's One Israel campaign in the Eighties.

Anwar said he will explain the allegations in the Dewan Rakyat next Tuesday.