The European Union expressed deep condemnation yesterday of comments by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's that "Jews rule this world" and that Muslims must use brains and not brawn to fight them.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that his country, which currently holds the EU presidency, was proposing to include the condemnation in the conclusions of a two-day EU summit which ends today.

"His statement used expressions which were gravely offensive. Some of what he said was very strongly anti-Semitic. He also said other things which run strongly counter to the principles of tolerance and dialogue between the West and the Islamic world," he said.

"We will express disappointment, and deplore comments made by the prime minister of Malaysia earlier today," he told reporters, unveiling the draft conclusions of the summit.

Remarks offensive

No stranger to controversy, Mahathir made the remarks as he opened the biggest gathering of Muslim leaders since the Sept 11 attacks.

"The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews rule this world by proxy," Mahathir said .

"They get others to fight and die for them," he said, adding, "1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews."

Earlier US State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli condemned the remarks, noting "it's not the first time we've seen comments like this from that official.

"Let's be clear, the remarks are offensive, they are inflammatory, and we view them with the contempt and derision they deserve," he said. - AFP