Mahathir calls Jewish boycott threat blackmail

Mahathir calls Jewish boycott threat blackmail

Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said a call by a U.S.-based
Jewish lobby group for an economic boycott against Malaysia may
hurt economically but the country would not give in to
"blackmail".

The influential Simon Wiesenthal Center last week called on
investors and tourists to avoid Malaysia after Mahathir branded
Jews "arrogant" and accused them of controlling the world by
proxy.

"We may be affected but the question is 'do we allow ourselves
to be blackmailed or do we stand up for what is right?',"
Mahathir was quoted as saying by the New Sunday Times.

"I don't think we should allow ourselves to be blackmailed by
them."

Mahathir appeared to point to the boycott call as validating
his criticism of Jewish power.

"The truth is, the Jews now control the world through proxy.
If you say anything against them, then they are going to accuse
you of being anti-Semitic," he was quoted as saying by The Star
in a report on Sunday.

"And they may try to stop investments from coming into this
country, and this is the kind of pressure that they apply."

On Saturday, Mahathir accused U.S. President George W. Bush of
lying when he claimed to have rebuked him over the remarks about
Jews ruling the world.

"It's the biggest lie. If he had rebuked me I'm quite sure I
would have rebuked him also," Mahathir was quoted as saying by
the official Bernama news agency when he arrived home after a
series of visits to neighboring countries.

Mahathir said it was common for someone who could lie about
the existence of weapons of mass destruction in order to go to
war (in Iraq) to lie about what he had said, the agency reported.

The prime minister told reporters that from what he remembered
Bush had pulled him aside at an Asia-Pacific summit in Bangkok
last week only to explain why he had made such a strong statement
over Mahathir's remarks about Jews.

"I think he wants to support his officer (White House
spokesman Scott McClellan)," Mahathir said.

McClellan said last Monday that Bush had pulled Mahathir aside
at the summit to denounce his "wrong and divisive" comments.

A day later, Mahathir insisted that Bush had not rebuked him.
"All he told me was: I regret having to use strong words against
you," the Malaysian leader said.

"He did not rebuke me at all and after that, we were walking
practically hand-in-hand."

However, Bush insisted on Wednesday that he had in fact
delivered a rebuke.

In a briefing on his Australia-bound airplane after the
summit, Bush said he had pulled Mahathir aside at the Thailand
gathering to tell him personally that he thought the comments
were "reprehensible."

"I said, 'they're divisive and unnecessary.' I didn't yell at
him, I just told him," the U.S. president told reporters.

The comments in question were made by Mahathir at the summit
of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Malaysia
in mid-October.