It was just words that the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, said last Thursday. But they scared the hell out me.
"The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them."
Commenting to the Toronto Star and others while attempting to defend his speech, Mahathir claimed that his remarks were taken out of context; his intent, according to the Malaysian foreign minister and reported by the Toronto Star, was to suggest, "that Muslims should make peace as they could not win the Palestinian conflict through violence."
Then that's all he should have said. Why invest in hatred if your goal is peace?
Unfortunately, Mahathir isn't some crazy loony in the Arab camp. "Mahathir's speech received a standing ovation from the kings, presidents and sheiks gathered," according to the New York Daily News.
The Yemeni foreign minister, Abubakr al-Qirbi, supported Mahathir's words. "I don't think they are anti-Semitic at all. I think he was stating the facts," he told the Toronto Star.
The facts? I suppose it's the Jews' fault that there are no jobs in Afghanistan and that fear rules in Saudi Arabia.
Arab governments like Saudi Arabia and corrupt leaders like Yasir Arafat would be run out of town if their people were actually allowed to ask the question "Am I better off than I was four years ago?"
The facts, unfortunately, are that anti-Semitism still draws an enthusiastic crowd of corrupt and ineffective leaders seeking a diversion for their people.
The response of the developed world has been quite encouraging: protests from Canada, the United States and the European Union have all firmly established just how disgusting they found Mohamed's speech to be.
And while President Bush took his time, he did choose to privately criticize Mahathir on Oct. 20, according to The New York Times.
And for all the support from developed countries, there's too much silence among the rest of the world. Though it's more than fifty years after the Holocaust, Mahathir's words still sent a chill down my spine. Those in my family closer to that horror felt it even more acutely.
Mahathir's "theories" bring to mind too many fear-mongers, anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers; sickest of all are leaders who convince their people that the story of the six million is a collective lie made up for power and money.
A Christian Science Monitor article from Nov. 21, 2002 showed how widespread anti-Semitism is in the Arab world: "A recent editorial in the Saudi Arabian daily Al Riyadh claimed: 'Life stopped in 'Israel' yesterday for two minutes, while the warning siren whistled all over the occupied territories of Palestine, in memory of the 6 million Jews, about whom 'Israel' lies, saying they were killed in Nazi crematoriums.'"
Is it any wonder that people in Israel cannot sleep, wondering if somebody, nurtured by this poison, isn't plotting to blow up the restaurant across the street, or the concert hall down the road? It's not being taught in back hall rooms, either - children learn this hate in the Saudi schools. For them, it's Dick, Jane and the Jews that rob and defile them.
Is it any wonder that Jews are often worried about who will come after them next?
That's why a Jewish state of Israel is so important. It's not just a little haven where Jews can have fun playing king, or a nostalgic attempt to recapture some of our lost heritage. Israel must exist so that if the next Hitler comes there will be a country that we can turn to. Remember, the United States told Jews fleeing Hitler's massacre to go away.
While we've come so far since 1945, we must always be vigilant. We must not trick ourselves into believing that Mahathir, and his ideas, will simply go away.
Raphael Schweber-Koren is a senior Political Science and Computer Science major from Takoma Park, Md.
