Malaysian Explains Anti-Jewish Remarks

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad refused to apologize Friday for a speech in which he said Jews ruled the world, accusing the West of a double standard in criticizing Muslims and Jews.

Defending himself against international condemnation, Mahathir gave a news conference a day after addressing the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, the world's largest Muslim group.

In the speech, he said that "Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them."

The statement drew immediate criticism from Israel, the United States and other countries, and raised fears that it could fan violence against Jews. But it got a standing ovation from the kings, presidents, sheiks and emirs - including key U.S. allies - gathered in Malaysia's capital, Putrajaya.

Falwell, a conservative Baptist minister, outraged Muslims by saying in an interview last year with CBS'"60 Minutes" that he had concluded Muhammad "was a terrorist."

"Are we not allowed at all to criticize the Jews if they do things which are wrong?" Mahathir asked. "If Muslims can be accused of being terrorists, then others can accuse the Jews of being terrorists also."

Mahathir, 77, a senior statesmen in the developing world who will retire Oct. 31 after 22 years in office, has long been an outspoken leader. He is a staunch advocate of the Palestinians and strongly opposed the war in Iraq, but also has jailed terror suspects from the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group.

In his news conference, Mahathir accused "most" European leaders - by which he also generally means Americans and Australians - of being biased.

"The fact is that they are biased," Mahathir said. "Most of them are biased. Not all; most of them. And they feel that while it is proper to criticize Muslims and Arabs, it is not proper to criticize Europeans and Jews. Apparently, they think they are privileged people."

Mahathir said the thrust of his speech had been to urge Muslims to step back from violence, rethink their strategies, and find a peaceful way through acquiring knowledge to gain strength and unity so they would gain respect and their rights.

"What I said in my speech is that we should stop all this violence, all these killings, all these suicide bombings, all this massive retaliation," Mahathir said. "I am against violence, I am against terrorism."

He also said that remarks earlier Friday by his foreign minister, Syed Hamid Albar that expressed regret over misunderstandings if any offense occurred did not amount to an apology.

Syed Hamid had told The Associated Press: "I'm sorry that they have misunderstood the whole thing. The intention is not to create controversy. His intention is to show that if you ponder and sit down to think, you can be very powerful."

In his speech, Mahathir had said Muslims had achieved "nothing" in more than 50 years of fighting Israel.

"They survived 2,000 years of pogroms not by hitting back but by thinking," Mahathir said of the Jews. "They invented socialism, communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so that they can enjoy equal rights with others."

Mahathir said the world's 1.3 billion Muslims "cannot be defeated by a few million Jews."

In Washington, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli called Mahatir's remarks offensive and inflammatory.

Israel's Foreign Ministry said it was "a desecration of the memory of 6 million victims of anti-Semitism."

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, said Mahathir's speech "is an absolute invitation for more hate crimes and terrorism against Jews. That's serious."

In their reactions to the speech, most of the leaders at the summit focused on the aspects that Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher called "a good road map" toward Muslim empowerment.

Asked by the AP whether he thought the speech was anti-Semitic, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said: "I don't think so."

- Urged a faster transition to full sovereignty for Iraq, but toned down an earlier plan calling for a greater role for the United Nations.

- Strongly condemned threats by the Israeli government against Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. The nations also asked the international community to force Israel to remove a security barrier that winds into Palestinian land and to ensure the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from Palestinian and Arab territories.

- Condemned the recent Israeli attack inside Syria as a violation of international law and the U.N. charter, and urged U.S. Security Council to prevent a recurrence.

Message to the west: Keep your powder dry.

In his news conference, Mahathir accused "most" European leaders - by which he also generally means Americans and Australians - of being biased.

Whether “he also generally means” is accurate or not, its quite an odd little statement for a reporter to decide, on his own, to interject into somebody else’s statement.

I guess he wanted to make sure nobody was left out.

Actually, Falwell's remarks were pretty widely condemned, at least in line with the level of attention the remarks themselves got. Falwell is not a President or Prime Minister, and he was not speaking to other such national leaders. Does Mahathir really think that Bush could speak publicly at a NATO summit, call the prophet Muhammed a "terrorist," and not be villified at least as widely as Mahathir is now? If Mahathir thinks so, he's a fool; if not, he's disingenuous. Either way he should just shut up before he does real harm to the reputation of his country and religion, not just himself.

Actually, what he said was that Muslims should stop using violence against each other in doctrinal disputes. He made no mention of suicide or bombings (except the word "bomb" quoted below). And his support even of science and mathematics is based on his desire for modern weapons:

We are enjoined by our religion to prepare for the defence of the ummah. Unfortunately we stress not defence but the weapons of the time of the Prophet. Those weapons and horses cannot help to defend us any more. We need guns and rockets, bombs and warplanes, tanks and warships for our defence. But because we discouraged the learning of science and mathematics etc as giving no merit for the akhirat, today we have no capacity to produce our own weapons for our defence. We have to buy our weapons from our detractors and enemies.

Mahathir then goes on to retell the story of Muhammad's strategic retreat, where a peace treaty was signed merely to gain time to gain strength, followed by a renewed attack on the non-Muslim enemy (a story Arafat likes to recount to explain Oslo and other "peace" treaties with Israel).

Falwell is not a President or Prime Minister, and he was not speaking to other such national leaders.

Exactly. There's a big difference in something being said by a preacher versus by a head of state. I'm amazed that this Malaysian fellow would use such a silly comparison as an argument.

On Friday, Mahathir said Westerners such as the Rev. Jerry Falwell receive little fallout for labeling the Prophet Muhammed a "terrorist," while statements about Israel's actions against Palestinians draw immediate charges of anti-Semitism.

I didn't realize Falwell was in goverment or in a position to make decisions that impact the policy of America....shows how diluted the thinking of these people really is!

In the speech, [Mahathir] said that "Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them."

Yeah, right! Israeli Jews fight and die because of islamist savagery and mass murder. Serbian, Macedonian, Lebanese, Armenian and Indonesian Christians fight and die because of islamist savagery and mass murder as well!

Note that despite the main thrust of Mahathir's statment against Jews, there is a very blatant anti-Christian message in it as well. It's about par for the course.

Mahathir is right that muslims have gained nothing from their decades of fighting against Israel. Have they ever considered just stopping, and finding ways to live with Israel instead? The same goes for learning to live with Christians, even Serbs, Lebanese, and Armenians. This may well be a more productive approach for most of the world's muslims (but NOT for their islamist would-be rulers).

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