Published On 7/6/2026
A prominent member of the Malaysian Parliament said on Monday that a parliamentary committee will hold a hearing on July 16 to discuss a $96 million deal concluded earlier this year between an Australian company operating in Malaysia and the US Defense Department (Pentagon) to supply rare earth elements.
The session comes in light of objections raised by the deal, and accusations that the Australian company provided materials used in the manufacture of American weapons used by Israel in its war on the Gaza Strip.
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Representative Wong Chen, who chairs a parliamentary committee on international relations and trade, said the aim of the session was to verify the details of the deal and find out whether it had violated any domestic policies.
Wong added to reporters that the committee will hear statements from representatives of the Australian company Linus Rare Earths and Malaysian government officials, as well as environmental organizations and human rights activists.
He stated that the results of the session will be presented in the form of recommendations to formulate Malaysia’s policy on rare earth elements, as the country seeks to attract investments to build its local industry.
“What is the purpose of rare earth elements? If it is for renewable energy, we will support it, but if it is for weapons, I think we should reject that,” Wong added.
Increasing protests
Wong made the remarks after receiving a note from about 50 protesters, including activists from Greenpeace and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, who gathered outside Parliament House to demand greater transparency and accountability regarding the rare earth elements supply chain.
Lineas, which runs one of the world’s largest rare earth element processing plants in Malaysia, faced protests over the four-year deal, and some human rights groups accused it of supplying materials to make American weapons that Israel used in its war on the Gaza Strip.
Israel has launched repeated raids on the Gaza Strip since a ceasefire was reached in October last year. These raids, targeting, and violations of the ceasefire, as of today, Monday, have led to the death of 1,072 Palestinians and the injury of 3,463 others, according to data from the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip.
Since the start of the Israeli war of annihilation on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been martyred and more than 173,000 injured, in addition to widespread destruction that affected 90% of the infrastructure in the Strip.
