Right, so Malaysia has taken possession of three Israel-bound containers, which are now hanging around one of Southeast Asia's busiest ports like lost luggage. They have been sitting there since 19 August without batting an eyelid, awaiting divine intervention or for someone in Tel Aviv to explain why a Malaysian port should do as it’s told.

Malaysia has banned Israeli shipping and Israel-bound cargo since 2023, which, if you were already aware of this, might make you wonder what all the fuss is about now. And it’s a case of, they always made an exception when they get to play the middle man. Transhipment as its called, where cargo gets offloaded from one vessel to another, without ever being imported, so Malaysia don’t technically handle the goods, they just let others do it instead.

That changed on 7 August however, when Malaysian border officials pulled a container reportedly headed for Elbit Systems, Israel’s weapons giant, aside for a spot of very unwelcome attention.

Now, Malaysia did not say it had found weapons. It said it was investigating whether the contents amounted to controlled or strategic goods. But Elbit ended up discovering nonetheless, that a shipping manifest, even an Israeli one, is not, in fact, a royal decree ordering Malaysian authorities to mind their own business.

Two weeks later came three more containers bound for Ashdod in Israel. They also got held while Malaysia reviewed the cargo and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim decided nobody should be left squinting at the shipping labels trying to work out the message as if they were written in code. Malaysia, he said, would not allow itself to become “a conduit for any shipment that supports or contributes to Israel’s military capabilities.”

And that is when the policy stopped being a statement and started becoming enforcement.