Last week, Malaysia’s ninety-four-year-old prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad—a candid and committed anti-Semite—spoke at Columbia University’s “Global Leaders Forum,” where he drew a large crowd. Clifford May comments:
No one challenged Mr. Mohamad’s right to voice his hatred of Jews. Nevertheless, he felt compelled to defend that right. “When you say ‘you cannot be anti-Semitic,’ there is no free speech,” he instructed his audience. . . . “Why can’t I say something about the Jews, when people say nasty things about me and about Malaysia?” . . . Among Mohamad’s oft-stated beliefs: “Jews rule the world by proxy.”
[T]he moderator, Professor Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, never asked a tough question or challenged the speaker’s assertions and expressions of prejudice and animus. I’m sure Columbia faculty and students extend similar courtesy to speakers who [are] Republicans, conservatives, and especially officials of the Trump administration. . . . “We have a lot of wisdom that we can draw on from you,” Nguyen [told] the senescent politician. At the conclusion of the program, he exclaimed: “That was amazing.”
I want to give Mr. Mohamad credit on one score: he’s honest about his hatred of Jews. He doesn’t pretend he’s only attempting to champion Palestinian rights. He doesn’t pretend to be supporting boycotts just to encourage Israelis to withdraw from “occupied territories.” He doesn’t claim that he’s not anti-Semitic but merely anti-Zionist.
More about: Anti-Semitism, Malaysia, University