MALAYSIA: The US, Israel, the EU and Australia all accused Malaysian Prime Minister Mr Mahathir Mohamad of anti-Semitism yesterday, prompting him to retort with a charge of double standards.
He provoked an outcry when he told a gathering of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference to sue for peace after decades of conflict with Israel but made 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 Mr Mahathir's remarks were a "desecration of the memory of six million innocent victims".
Mr Mahathir was unapologetic when asked about the furore his comments had caused. "The fact is that they are biased, most of them are biased. They think while it is proper to criticise Muslims and Arabs, it is not proper to criticise Europeans and Jews," he said.
Arab leaders said Mr 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.