PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, 18 October 2003 — Muslim leaders closed ranks around Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad yesterday after his attack on Jews caused a firestorm of protest and overshadowed their bid for unity on Iraq at a summit meeting here.
Mahathir’s declaration that “Jews rule this world” and get others to fight and die for them drew violently contrasting reaction in the Western world and at the meeting here of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
Western nations condemned the speech as outrageous and offensive. But Muslim officials gathered for the OIC meeting said Mahathir’s comments had been taken out of context and were aimed at rallying the Muslim world.
Yemen’s Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qurbi said he supported Mahathir “100 percent”.
“The prime minister outlined a very important issue that the Israelis and the Jews control most of the economy and the media in the world,” he said.
“Therefore we face that challenge of how we can as a Muslim Ummah (community) act to counter such Zionist abilities by building our capabilities, both economically and in the media form.” Mahathir had called on Muslims to emulate the Jewish response to oppression, saying the Jews had “survived 2,000 years of pogroms not by hitting back, but by thinking”.
“We cannot fight them through brawn alone, we must use our brains also,” he said. He defended his statement yesterday and accused critics of bias and double standards.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said he did not think much attention should be paid to the “clamor and accusations” from Western countries. “Those who are commenting on the speech have not read it in its entirety,” Maher said. “Nobody felt it was inflammatory. We thought it was a very, very wise assessment. It was addressed to the Muslims, it was an appeal for them to wake up.”
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai said Mahathir was just “talking about issues confronting the Muslim world and what Muslims should do. Muslims must educate themselves, must begin to be progressive to develop themselves.
“His historical analysis of what happened in Islam is very correct.”
