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Fri Oct 17, 1:10 PM ET |
By PATRICK McDOWELL, Associated Press Writer
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia - 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.
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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.
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.
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 (news - web sites), 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."
In other action at the Islamic summit, the leaders Friday:
_ Urged a faster transition to full sovereignty for Iraq, but toned down an earlier plan calling for a greater role for the United Nations (news - web sites).
_ Strongly condemned threats by the Israeli government against Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites). 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.
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