Malaysia’s anti-Semitic Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad resigns

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad gives a speech in Vladivostok, Russia, September 5, 2019. Image by VLADIMIR SMIRNOV/AFP/Getty Images
(JTA) — Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has described Jews as “hook-nosed” and blamed Israel for the unrest in the Middle East, has resigned.
Mohamad, the world’s oldest leader at 94, submitted his resignation to the country’s king Monday, AFP reported. He had agreed to step down and hand power to his former rival, Anwar Ibrahim, after they joined their parties to form a coalition government following national elections in 2018.
Mohamad was in his second stint as prime minister after serving previously from 1981 to 2003.
He has said that he is proud to be called an anti-Semite. Mohamad wrote on his personal blog in 2012 that “Jews rule this world by proxy,” and has asserted that “America is very much under Jewish influence.”
In his 1970 book “The Malay Dilemma,” Mohamad wrote that “the Jews are not merely hook-nosed, but understand money instinctively.” He also has questioned the fact that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, saying the figure was 4 million.
The post Malaysia’s anti-Semitic prime minister Mahathir Mohamad resigns appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
