QUOTE]To give credit where it’s due, Mahthir’s speech focused more broadly on the failure of Islamic civilization to sucessfully compete with the West.
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I would have to disagree.
In 1948 when Israel declared its statehood, the Arab countries attacked it refusing to allow a Jewish state on Muslim land.
The president of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nassar, called for the destruction of Israel and started to mobilise for war.
Those countries that joined in with the sole goal of destroying Israel were Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, with military and financial backing also coming from Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Algeria.
Israel of course won and they still exists, and this was devastating to the Arabs especially since they lost to another religion. Despite the war only lasted 6 days, the casualties Israel suffered was only 300 while the other countries, Jordan lost 6,000 troops, Syria lost 1000, and Eygpt lost 11,000 troops.
This was a humiliating defeat for the Arabs considering thier size to a small country like Israel. (Notice this recognition in Mahathirs speech at the Islamic Summit) The defeat of Iraq by infidel forces was seen as more humiliation, and was widely expressed in the media just recently.
From Mahathir’s Speech (To begin with, the governments of all the Muslim countries can close
ranks and have a common stand if not on all issues, at least on some
major ones, such as on Palestine. We are all Muslims. We are all
oppressed. We are all being humiliated. But we who have been raised by
Allah above our fellow Muslims to rule our countries have never really
tried to act in concert in order to exhibit at our level the
brotherhood and unity that Islam enjoins us.)
At the end of the 6 day war, Arabs and Palestinians decalred thier intention to keep fighting Israel for years after the war.
The Muslim Brotherhood created in 1928 in Egypt helped create Hamas in Palestine. The Hamas have thier in charter, the main goal is the destruction of Israel.
The education system in Palestine incites hatred toward jews. Instead of seizing the opportunity to educate future generations to live with Israel in peace, the PA has done everything in its power to teach hatred to young minds.
The programs involved with Palestine, are pawns to the Arab countries that want to destroy israel. They have used them in a propaganda pogrom to further damage Israel and gain world sympathy on thier side.
In Mahathi’s speech, he said
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.
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.
The Quran tells us that when the enemy sues for peace we must react
positively. True, the treaty offered is not favourable to us. But we
can negotiate. The Prophet did, at Hudaibiyah. And in the end, he
triumphed.
So this is an admission that the current intifada in israel is not working and a reassesment is neccessary. So what does he propose?
It cannot be that there is no other way. The 1.3 billion Muslims
cannot be defeated by a few million Jews. There must be a way. And we
can only find a way if we stop to think, to assess our weaknesses and
our strengths, to plan, to strategise and then to counter-attack.
We need guns and rockets, bombs and warplanes, tanks and
warships
"The Quran tells us that when the enemy sues for peace we must react positively. True the treaty offered is not favourable to us. But we can negotiate."
What the media is not telling you is the words that followed:
"The Prophet did, at Hudaibiyah. And in the end he triumphed."
The Treaty of Al-Hudaybiyya was an agreement made by the Prophet Muhammad with the Meccan tribe of Quraish—which the prophet broke as soon as his armies were strong enough to attack and conquer the Quraish.
There is absolutely nothing moderate about this speech. In many ways, it is tantamount to a declaration of war with all Arab leaders in agreement.
The Islamic Summit was not an adjoining of some radical members but world leaders in Islamic Countries. The thoughts Mahathir expressed are mainstream Islam. At the end of the speech, he had a standing ovation.
“I don’t think they are anti-Semitic at all. I think he was stating the facts,” Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi told reporters.
Paul Krugman of The New York Times called Mahathir’s anti-Semitic remarks a part of his “domestic balancing act” to please the Malaysian Muslims majority.
To please the majority? Someone explain to me what this means?
Foxman went further, denouncing the speech as a “call for a global holy war against the Jewish people by 1.3 billion Muslims.”
But the European Union, largely because of opposition from France, failed to officially denounce the speech as anti-Semitic, according to Foxman, who blasted French President Jacques Chirac in an Oct. 17 letter.
“We are appalled and outraged at your efforts to block the inclusion of a condemnation,” Foxman declared. “This speech was not about Israel, or about Muslim empowerment, but about the scapegoating of others for the ills afflicting the Muslim world.”
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher called the speech “a very, very wise assessment.”
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the speech was “very correct.” Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri joined the standing ovation.