Almost
Impossible to Talk About Israel
Prime Minister Mahathir's OIC Speech Incorrectly Labeled
Anti-Semitic
Thomas
R. Daly, Former Editor and Publisher Georgetown Gazette
Throughout
the Western World online news reports are filled with
condemnations of the recent speech given by the Prime
Minister of Malaysia, during the opening of the Tenth Session of
the Islamic Summit Conference of the Organization of Islamic
Conference (OIC) in Putrajaya, Malaysia on October 16, 2003.
Dr.
Mahathir Bin Mohamad's speech contains 58 paragraphs and 4,269
words. His words have been taken completely out of context.
Because he is Muslim and because he has a reputation of speaking
harshly, his speech has been unfairly condemned.
Here
are Mahathir's offending words from paragraph 39: “We are
actually very strong. 1.3 billion people cannot be simply wiped
out. The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million. But
today the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight
and die for them.”
Leading up to his controversial words Mahathir pointed out that
Muslim countries have many problems. Over the last 1400
years the Muslim community has divided, and divided again and
again. So much so that they “... now have a thousand different
religions which are often so much at odds with one another that
they often fight and kill each other" (Paragraph 10). He
urged the governments of all Muslim countries to close ranks and
have a common stand if not on all issues, at least on some major
ones, such as on Palestine (Paragraph 9).
Speaking
of the many sects of Islam, Mahathir declares, "We fail to
notice that our detractors and enemies do not care whether we are
true Muslims or not. To them we are all Muslims, followers of a
religion and a Prophet whom they declare promotes terrorism, and
we are all their sworn enemies. They will attack and kill us,
invade our lands, bring down our Governments whether we are Sunnis
or Syiahs, Alawait or Druze or whatever. And we aid and abet them
by attacking and weakening each other, and sometimes by doing
their bidding, acting as their proxies to attack fellow Muslims.
We try to bring down our Governments through violence, succeeding
to weaken and impoverish our countries” (Paragraph 11).
Mahathir
goes on to discuss some of the problems that have brought Islamic
countries so much despair. He says, “And times have changed.
Whether we like it or not we have to change, not by changing our
religion but by applying its teachings in the context of a world
that is radically different from that of the first century of the
Hijrah. Islam is not wrong but the interpretations by our
scholars, who are not prophets even though they may be very
learned can be wrong. We have a need to go back to the fundamental
teachings of Islam to find out whether we are indeed believing in
and practicing the Islam that the Prophet preached. It cannot be
that we are all practicing the correct and true Islam when our
beliefs are so different from one another" (Paragraph 26).
It
is at this point that Mahathir begins to anger his detractors when
he says, “There is a feeling of hopelessness among the Muslim
countries and their people. They feel that they can do nothing
right. They believe that things can only get worse. The Muslims
will forever be oppressed and dominated by the Europeans and the
Jews. They will forever be poor, backward and weak. Some believe,
as I have said, this is the Will of Allah, that the proper state
of the Muslims is to be poor and oppressed in this world"
(Paragraph 32). He then mentions the failure of the suicide
bombers when he says, “But is it true that we should do and can
do nothing for ourselves? Is it true that 1.3 billion people can
exert no power to save themselves from the humiliation and
oppression inflicted upon them by a much smaller enemy? Can they
only lash back blindly in anger? Is there no other way than to ask
our young people to blow themselves up and kill people and invite
the massacre of more of our own people?” (Paragraph 33)
Rather
than being anti-Semitic, Mahathir makes the point that the Jews
have been able to reach their high position in the world by using
their brains and he urges the Islamic countries that it is time to
think, to use their brains. He says, “If we use the faculty to
think that Allah has given us then we should know that we are
acting irrationally. We fight without any objective, without any
goal other than to hurt the enemy because they hurt us. Naively we
expect them to surrender. We sacrifice lives unnecessarily,
achieving nothing other than to attract more massive retaliation
and humiliation” (Paragraph 37). He continues this train of
thought by saying, “It is surely time that we pause to think.
But will this be wasting time? For well over half a century we
have fought over Palestine. What have we achieved? Nothing. We are
worse off than before. If we had paused to think then we could
have devised a plan, a strategy that can win us final victory.
Pausing and thinking calmly is not a waste of time. We have a need
to make a strategic retreat and to calmly assess our situation”
(Paragraph 38).
He
clarifies what should be the Islamic position by saying, “I have
already mentioned our numbers and our oil wealth. In today's world
we wield a lot of political, economic and financial clout, enough
to make up for our weakness in military terms” (Paragraph 41).
“We
also know that not all non-Muslims are against us. Some are well
disposed towards us. Some even see our enemies as their enemies.
Even among the Jews there are many who do not approve of what the
Israelis are doing” (Paragraph 42).
He
sums up the needs of Islamic peoples by saying, “We must not
antagonize everyone. We must win their hearts and minds. We must
win them to our side not by begging for help from them but by the
honourable way that we struggle to help ourselves. We must not
strengthen the enemy by pushing everyone into their camps through
irresponsible and unIslamic acts. Remember Salah El Din and the
way he fought against the so called Crusaders, King Richard of
England in particular. Remember the considerateness of the Prophet
to the enemies of Islam. We must do the same. It is winning the
struggle that is important, not angry retaliation, not revenge”
(Paragraph 43).
About
Palestine he says, “Over the past 50 years of fighting in
Palestine we have not achieved any result. We have in fact
worsened our situation” (Paragraph 50). And, most importantly,
he clarifies his words from paragraph 39, which have so angered
the media, when he says, “The enemy will probably welcome these
proposals and we will conclude that the promoters are working for
the enemy. But think. We are up against a people who think. They
survived 2000 years of pogroms not by hitting back, but by
thinking. They invented and successfully promoted Socialism,
Communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them
would appear to be wrong, so they may enjoy equal rights with
others. With these they have now gained control of the most
powerful countries and they, this tiny community, have become a
world power. We cannot fight them through brawn alone. We must use
our brains also” (Paragraph 51).
For
whatever reason it has become almost impossible to talk about
Israel without being labeled anti-Semitic. Many people are
currently having great difficulties accepting the maneuvers of the
U.S. Government as they attempt to police the world, but to be
anti-American carries none of the connotations attributed to being
anti-Semitic. Somehow, to be against anything the Israelis are
doing, has taken on religious meanings.
The
reality is that the people of Israel are locked in a religious war
with their Arab neighbors whom they (and the western media) label
terrorists. The Israelis are cast as the good guys in the white
hats. Both sides are wrong. Both sides have made mistakes. Rather
than being anti-Semitic, Mahathir is being realistic. Rather than
casting his entire speech aside for one paragraph, the world and
the media should be sitting up and taking notice. Mahathir
received a standing ovation from the leaders of the 57 Muslim
nations gathered for this important conference. For Israel and the
western world to ignore this important speech is a step in the
wrong direction if the goal is to bring about a lasting peace in
the Middle East.
Below
are links to articles about Dr. Mahathir's speech:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/10/20/rice.mahathir/index.html
This is the link to the complete text of Dr. Mahathir's speech:
http://www.oicsummit2003.org.my/speech_03.php