Putrajaya, Oct 17: Malaysia's Foreign Minister today denied apologising for Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's controversial attack on Jews at an Islamic summit meeting here. The western media had twisted his remarks, Syed Hamid Albar told reporters amidst a storm of criticism over Mahathir's statement that Jews rule the world. "I said in Malay that I regretted or felt sad that the speech was taken out of context. In English I said I'm sorry that the speech was taken out of context, that the whole thing was taken out of context. "That is not saying I'm sorry for the speech made by the Prime Minister. I did not say that."

Syed Hamid blamed the western media's "fondness for spin" for the reports that he had apologised.

"Their fondness of twisting the truth has become a habit."

Mahathir's provocative declaration that "Jews rule this world" and get others to fight and die for them drew violently contrasting reaction in the western world and at the meeting here of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
Western nations condemned the speech as outrageous and offensive, while Israel's ambassador to Singapore Itzhak Shoham compared the remarks to those made by Adolf Hitler. Bureau Report