Faced with furious criticism from the US and Europe over Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's assertion that Jews rule the world, Malaysia apologized yesterday for any misunderstanding and claimed that no offense was intended.
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar struggled to contain the damage wrought by his blunt-spoken boss, who told a summit of Islamic leaders Thursday that ``Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them.''
The speech drew immediate international criticism and raised fears that it could fan violence against Jews. But it also got a standing ovation from the kings, presidents, sheiks and emirs -- including key US allies -- gathered at Malaysia's sparkling new capital, Putrajaya.
Mahathir used assertions of Jewish dominance to buttress his chief point to the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference -- the world's biggest Muslim organization -- that Muslims needed to embrace modern knowledge and technology and overcome divisions over religious dogma that have left them weakened on the world stage.
But the statements about Jews stood out, and condemnations were swift and unambiguous from the US, the EU, Australia and Germany, which summoned Malaysia's charge d'affaires in Berlin to protest the comments as ``totally unacceptable.''
``I'm sorry that they have misunderstood the whole thing,'' said Syed Hamid. ``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.''
Mahathir declined to speak to reporters who approached him yesterday, telling them to wait until an evening news conference.
Syed Hamid said the world's Muslims were in a ``quagmire'' and feeling ``sidelined or marginalized,'' reflecting a widespread perception in the Islamic world as the war on terrorism evolved into US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and as Israel increased repression of the Palestinians.
``Please forget about anti-Semitism,'' Syed Hamid told reporters. ``The PM's message is to stop violence, which is not the answer for us to succeed in our struggle. People may not be very happy but this is the reality: the Jews are very powerful.''
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