Omar Salahuddin, Special to Arab News

KUALA LUMPUR, 31 October 2003 — Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday that the Jewish people’s past sufferings in Europe were no excuse for taking Arab land and persecuting Muslims.

The 78-year-old Malaysian statesman, who steps down today after 22 years in power, provoked protests from Western leaders two weeks ago by saying that the Jews had emerged from the Holocaust to “rule this world by proxy.”

Mahathir said yesterday that the Jews were now guilty of persecuting Muslims in the same way that Europeans had persecuted Jews down the ages. “They must never think they are the chosen people who cannot be criticized,” Mahathir said.

“They suffered a great deal in the past. They were killed, they were massacred and finally there was the Holocaust. We sympathize with them.

“We are very sad to see how the Jews were ill-treated by the Europeans. They must remember when they were ill-treated by Europeans they had to run to Muslim countries to seek refuge.

“The Muslims never ill-treated the Jews, but now they are behaving against the Muslims exactly the way the Europeans behaved toward them.”

His Oct. 16 speech to leaders of Islamic states prompted a US Senate vote this week to tie $1.2 million in military aid for Malaysia to a guarantee of religious freedom and tolerance for Jews.

Mahathir said yesterday that Malaysia’s constitution already guaranteed freedom of religion, and took an apparent swipe at the United States.

“Some people say that we here have no freedom of religion,” Mahathir said. “In reality, the people in that country are the ones who were forced to embrace a religion.” People “who were abducted from Africa were brought to that country and made slaves, tortured and forced to change their religion, including Muslim slaves, (they) were forced to convert,” Mahathir said.

Mahathir, who has urged Muslims to reject violence, including Palestinian bombings against Israelis, said the Middle East conflict was in essence a land dispute, not a religious one.

“They have taken land belonging to Muslims,” Mahathir said. “Suppose a part of Britain or a part of America was taken away and given to the Jews as Israel. Do you think the Americans are going to sit quietly and say `Welcome’? They won’t.”