Former Malaysian PM Reportedly Calls for Terror Attacks Against Israelis

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad reportedly called for terror attacks in a recent interview on a Lebanese television network.

According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Mohamad said in a June 29 interview on Al-Mayadeen TV, a station that reportedly is allied with Hezbollah, that Israel loves to see Islamic countries fighting one another because then Israel doesn’t have kill to Muslims.

“The whole of Israel was created through taking Palestinian land. That is very wrong,” Mohamad said. “So for that reason, we have always been against the creation of the State of Israel. Unfortunately, the big powers back Israel, because they were the ones who created the State of Israel to solve their Jewish problem. They were having a problem in Europe with the Jews, so they wanted to create a homeland for the Jews and they took Palestinian land.”

He cautioned against terror attacks in Western countries because that would undermine the Palestinian cause.

“The enemy is Israel,” Mohamed said. “[If] you want to do anything, do it to the Israelis, like some of the Palestinians in Jerusalem, who individually attack Israeli soldiers. That is the enemy. But if you go and attack the Europeans, Americans and all that — you only create more enemies.”

Mohamed proceeded to accuse Jews of controlling the media in the United States.

“If they [the American people] think we are wrong, we have to tell them that we are doing something that is right,” he said. “It is propaganda campaign on the part of the Jews. They are very good. They own all the newspapers in America. They own the TV stations. So they have tremendous influence.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center condemned Mohamad’s reported remarks in a tweet.

“Lifelong Jew hater Mahatir never held accountable for his anti-Semitism,” the Jewish group wrote, adding that Mohamed has previously been invited to speak “by #Oxford, @Cambridge_Uni Union, @Columbia University. Why won’t Western Ivory Tower academics denounce his bigotry?”

Lifelong Jew hater Mahatir never held accountable for his anti-Semitism urging the murder, contrary invited by #Oxford, @Cambridge_Uni Union, @Columbia University. Why won’t Western Ivory Tower academics denounce his bigotry? https://t.co/gYCZeg85Wq

— SimonWiesenthalCntr (@simonwiesenthal) June 30, 2020

Mohamad previously spoke at Columbia University in September, where he defended his past remarks questioning if 6 million Jews had died during the Holocaust.

“I am exercising my right to free speech,” he said at the time. “Why is it that I can’t say something against the Jews when a lot of people say nasty things about me and about Malaysia and I didn’t protest?”

Columbia University President Lee Bollinger condemned Mohamad’s past comments before his speaking engagement at the university.

“I find the anti-Semitic statements of Prime Minister Mahathir to be abhorrently contrary to what we stand for, and deserving condemnation,” Bollinger told the New York Post at the time. “This form of open engagement can sometimes be difficult, even painful. But to abandon this activity would be to limit severely our capacity to understand and confront the world as it is, which is a central and utterly serious mission for any academic institution.”

Mohamad resigned from his position as prime minister in February and was ousted from his political party in May after accusations that he violated the party’s constitution. Mohamad has said that the ousting was illegitimate. He currently is involved in efforts to take down Malaysia’s current government.