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"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."

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.

"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."

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).

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).