For days now I’ve been bothered by the sickening anti-Semitism of the now notorious speech of outgoing Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. (When I met my parents a few days ago, it was much on their minds. They see him as a Hitler; not a fair comparison, but probably inevitable considering what he said.)

How tragic; he made some good points about what Muslims must do to improve their image and their destinies, and then he poisoned it with good old-fashioned Jew-hating.

A shrewd politician and one of the more effective Asian strongmen, Mahathir knew exactly what he was doing when he lashed out at “the Jews.” It was strategic and calculated, and it may even have achieved his short-term objectives (although that doesn’t make it any less vile).

For a most interesting read on this most unusual exit speech, see Conrad’s lengthy post, which I’m sure is by now all over the Net. It’s closing words are difficult to forget:

Mahathir’s paranoia, his insistence on identifying plots and conspiracies and enemies, his excusing of Muslim aggression as defense, is a manifestation of the disease that consigns Islamic society to the world’s sickbed. In nearly every instance, Muslims could peaceable co-exist with their neighbors were they to resolve to live peaceably. Sadly, live-and-let-live, is not an tenet of Islam. That Mahathir, the leader of one of the world’s few relatively benign and successful Islamic countries, is not able to understand this, does not bode well for the future.

No, it doesn’t.

Whatever you do, don’t miss the comments to this post. Some very smart people (and one or two not so smart) sound off, and it’s an eye-opening and, at times, entertaining read.