Muslims urged to unite against Jews

The biggest summit of Islamic leaders in three years opened today with calls for the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims to unite against “a few million Jews” who allegedly rule the world and get others to fight and die for them.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Muslims for years believed mistakenly that Islam rejected new technology and progress.

He urged Muslims worldwide to ignore teachings by religious fundamentalists that scientific studies were somehow un-Islamic.

“We need guns and rockets, bombs and warplanes, tanks and warships for our defence,” Mahathir told leaders from 57 nations gathered for a summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in Malaysia’s new capital, Putrajaya.

“Because we are discouraged from learning of science and mathematics ... today we have no capacity to produce our weapons for our defence,” said Mahathir, chairman of the two-day summit.

Malaysia, a mostly Muslim nation, has long been a critic of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and of US policy in the Middle East, including the war in Iraq and its strong backing of the Jewish state.

Mahathir launched a blistering attack on what he described as Jewish domination of the world and Muslim nations’ inability to adequately respond to it.

“The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews rule the world by proxy,” Mahathir said. “They get others to fight and die for them.”

“They have now gained control of the most powerful countries and they, this tiny community, have become a world power.”

Leaders attending the summit include Jordan’s King Abullah, Syrian President Bashar Assad, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo are attending as special observers because of their large Muslim minorities.