PUTRAJAYA, Oct 17: The United States, Israel, the European Union and Australia all accused Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of blatant anti-Semitism on Friday, prompting him to fire back a charge of double standards.
The veteran leader, who retires on Oct 31 after 22 years in power, provoked an outcry with comments to a gathering of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference on Thursday.
He told delegates to sue for peace after decades of conflict with Israel, but laced a typically blunt speech with jibes about the influence of Jews over Western powers.
“The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews rule this world by proxy,” he said.
Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Mahathir’s reference to the Holocaust was a “desecration of the memory of six million innocent victims of anti-Semitism”.
“It is a shame that in the course of a speech ostensibly dedicated to solving problems in the Muslim world... Dr Mahathir Mohamad could not restrain himself from resurrecting vile invectives, innuendoes and outright lies taken straight from classic anti-Semitic propaganda,” the ministry said.
US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli condemned Mahathir’s comments. “Let’s be clear, the remarks were offensive. They are inflammatory and we view them with the contempt and derision they deserve.”
“It’s not the first time we’ve seen comments like this from that official... We will certainly make our views known,” Ereli told reporters.
MAHATHIR UNAPOLOGETIC: Mahathir was unapologetic when asked about the furore his comments had caused among Western critics.
“The fact is that they are biased, most of them are biased. They think while it is proper to criticize Muslims and Arabs, it is not proper to criticize Europeans and Jews,” he told a news conference after closing the summit.
“If the Muslims can be accused of being terrorists, of course others can accuse the Jews of being terrorists also.”
Australia’s Prime Minister John Howard described Mahathir Mohamad’s comments as “offensive” and “dangerous”.
Italy, which holds the rotating European Union presidency, said it would ask the EU summit to condemn Mahathir’s remarks formally.
“Europe profoundly deplores statements by the Malaysian prime minister in his opening speech to the Islamic conference in Malaysia,” Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told a news conference at the EU summit on Thursday.
In his opening speech, Mahathir, 78, told OIC delegates the Jewish people’s global influence far outweighed their numbers.
“This tiny community have become a world power. We cannot fight them through brawn alone. We must use our brains as well.”
“READ THE WHOLE SPEECH”: Arab leaders said Mahathir was simply telling it like it is.
“I don’t think they are anti-Semitic at all. I think he was stating the facts,” Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr al Qirbi said.
“There are people wanting to create trouble, invent problems that do not exist,” said Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher.
“I would advise them to read the whole speech.”
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid said most foreign media missed Mahathir’s main point, that Muslims should make peace as they could not win the Palestinian conflict through violence.
“We do not agree with suicide bombing, and he has said this,” the Malaysian minister said. “I’m sorry he has created this adverse interpretation.”—Reuters