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.