Malaysian famous preacher and philanthropist, Ebit Lew kept his promise in providing clarification on the allegations thrown at him regarding the humanitarian mission he carried out in Gaza, Palestine recently. Ebit, who appeared more than half an hour later than the promised time via Instagram and Facebook Live, insisted that he had to come forward to explain after receiving many offensive and vulgar words that disturbed his family including his late father.
In the earlier part of his conference, Ebit answered the allegations made by the two individuals who mentioned a lot about the Gaza mission, namely rapper Caprice and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cinta Gaza Malaysia, Nadir Al- Nuri. Hence, the press conference was to answer their allegations especially regarding Nadir Al-Nuri’s Telegram post on Tuesday (20th July).
According to Ebit, a lot of vile accusations were thrown at his name. He admitted that he was not afraid of the allegations because there is evidence recorded during his stay in Gaza and he would hand it over to the authorities after making a police report.
Curious to know what went down? Here, we list a breakdown of several points made by Ebit Lew to debunk the accusations made regarding his humanitarian mission controversy:
1. The aid mission was conducted with his own money
- Ebit Lew informed that the humanitarian mission was done using his own money. He also refuted the claim that he had opened any donations to fund his team aid mission to Gaza. The 36-year-old preacher said that he had used his own money to cover all the expenses there.
- Ebit Lew also questioned how the RM20 million fund collected by Cinta Gaza Malaysia’s team was distributed to the Palestinians. Ebit explained that he had to ask about the matter after some netizens claimed that he used the money donated by Malaysians to succeed in the humanitarian mission in Gaza.
- “Many berated me, accusing me of taking Malaysians’ money to go to Gaza. The fundraiser was the NGOs which was led by Nadir. During one of his live sessions, Nadir said that he received RM20 million. Nadir asked me regarding my funds, I think the question should be addressed to him, he should explain where the RM20 million is,” he remarked.
2. It is not a proposal, but a quotation
- Apart from that, Ebit Lew also answered the issue regarding an individual named Zul who is part of his team not replying to the message sent by Nadir on WhatsApp. He informed in his Live that the proposal sent by Nadir was about the quotation of goods that was worth 40 dollars.
- The amount is considered expensive as they received another cheaper offer which is about 20 dollars. So his staff not replying to the WhatsApp message should not be a big issue.
3. Issue regarding the purchased goods in Cairo
- The issue of his alleged sightseeing in Cairo was also answered as according to Ebit, he only went out to send aid to the Egyptian Red Crescent and returned back to his hotel. However, since he follows the tourism agency, the sightseeing happened only around the hotel area.
- Regarding the purchased goods in Cairo, Ebit mentioned that the reason for that was due to the limited medical supply in Gaza and there are certain medicines that are only available in Egypt.
- “The only legitimate NGOs that was allowed to enter Gaza is the Egypt Red Crescent so that is why when I handed over the goods to them, I was not worried. And other NGOs around the world also relied on them for the aid goods and underwent the same process, so it should not be an issue. Many Palestinians also shared that the medicine that they need is not available in Gaza and can only be purchased from Egypt, so my intention was only to provide them with medical care that they need,” he further remarked.
4. The minor misunderstanding
- In his statement on Tuesday (20th July), Nadir Al- Nuri mentioned that he had received a cold shoulder from Ebit Lew and his team and claimed that Ebit Liew was avoiding him and refused to talk to him. He also said that the team even asked them not to do a ‘live streaming’.
- Ebit answered the claim by stating that their team had never conducted live streaming while on a humanitarian mission even when he was doing charity in Malaysia. So, the instruction made to Nadir is a common thing that the team does.
- Regarding the cold shoulder allegation, Ebit explained that the process of entering Gaza takes 21 hours to travel alone. They have to travel through 21 checkpoints in 21 hours and were even accompanied by 12 army tanks. The team was bound to be tired, as they did not have time to eat or even visit the toilet.
- He further stated that might be the reason why he did not notice Nadir’s presence because he was rushing to perform missed prayers. After that, he went straight to the hotel and was only in Gaza for 3 days because he was worried about his late father’s condition.
5. There is no HALA company
- The most notable part during the live session was when Ebit Lew answered the claim regarding the HALA company which was said to have brought his team into Gaza. Ebit Lew stressed on the fact that he did not know about the company because the team entered Gaza with the help of the Malaysian Embassy and Wisma Putra.
- He explained that he had contacted the Mile of Smile company and found that to enter Gaza, they need to pay 10 thousand dollars per person which is about RM40,000. However, he then managed to enter Gaza with the help of Lucky tour company worth 2,500 thousand dollars, which only amounted to RM10,000 per head.
- “This is one serious allegation that they made. First thing first, I didn’t know anything about the HALA company. I entered Gaza through the Malaysian embassy. I acknowledged Nadir’s words stating that the only way to enter Gaza is through the Mile of Smile. I contacted Mile of Smile and we arrived in Egypt. We were told to pay 10 thousand dollars per person, which is approximately RM40,000 per person. To enter Gaza, we need two important approvals, one from the Egyptian government and another one from the military. With the help from the Malaysian government as well, we were able to enter Gaza,” explained Ebit.
6. Why was Caprice blocked?
- One of the main questions that bothered netizens was, why was Caprice blocked from his Instagram? To answer the question, Ebit Lew explained that his action to block the rapper’s Instagram account was because Caprice was considered a negative persona in his life.
- “Indeed, I will block all negative things from my life,” he explained in the press conference today. Ebit also told the real story that caused him to act in such a way. According to the preacher, the story began when he was visiting his dying father in the hospital. As we all know, Ebit once visited his father while wearing PPE gear earlier this month and he stressed that he had obtained permission from the Ministry of Health and Gleneagles Hospital to visit his father at the time.
- Ebit mentioned that in addition to making baseless allegations about his pictures with children in Gaza, Caprice also described Ebit’s action of visiting his father at the hospital as insensitive because there are many other ordinary people who cannot visit their families in the hospital.
- Ebit expressed his disappointment towards Caprice’s words and said that he did not expect someone who he considered as a friend to hurl such negative comments at him.
Ebit Lew also responded to some other allegations received and explained the truth behind the controversy. Through the live session that was tuned in by more than 200,000 audiences, the philanthropist Ebit Lew, however, calmly stated that he has forgiven all parties for the defamation and misunderstanding.
You can watch the full recorded press conference here:
Update:
The CEO of Cinta Gaza Malaysia, Nadir Al-Nuri appeared to somehow answered the question thrown at him by Muslim preacher, Ebit Lew today (Friday, 23rd July). In his Telegram post, he asked the public to reassessed the situation calmly.
“Relax, guys, I’m okay. Working with NGOs requires black and white documentation. No problemlah,” he remarked through his Telegram. He also asked the public to give him some time as he needs to settle other projects first.
Source: Ebit Lew’s Facebook
