PARIS - French President Jacques Chirac wrote to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday to tell him that recent remarks about Jewish influence could only be condemned by those who remembered the Nazi persecution of the Jewish people.

But before his office released excerpts of the letter Chirac came under a barrage of criticism from Israel, where he was accused of having blocked an EU condemnation of Mahathir's comments.

At the summit last week of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, Mahathir said : "The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them."

He added that 1.3 billion Muslims could not be defeated by a few million Jews.

Worldwide condemnation

In his letter to Mahathir Chirac said: "Although you and your government have taken care to rebut any accusation of anti-Semitism, these remarks can only be condemned by those who remember the Holocaust (the murder of six million Jews by Nazi Germany)."

Mahathir's remarks drew worldwide condemnation and on Oct 17 European Union leaders, meeting for a summit in Brussels, attacked them. But the denunciation was made in a statement from the Italian presidency of the EU and not in the conclusions of the summit.

The Israeli daily Maariv alleged Sunday that Chirac had blocked an EU resolution being issued by the summit leaders. Its editor-in-chief Amnon Dankner described Chirac as the representative of a France that is "miserable and dangerous, contemptible and a collaborator with the most vile of ideas" in a front-page editorial which came attached with an unflattering portrait of the French leader.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom joined the assault, describing Chirac's reaction as "a shame".

Shalom "expressed his disappointment regarding President Chirac's refusal to condemn the Malaysian prime minister's anti-Semitic remarks" at an Israeli cabinet meeting, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

"It's a shame that France, a leading country, has even the slightest understanding or acceptance of such anti-Semitic remarks," the spokesman quoted Shalom as saying.

French clarification

But French presidential spokeswoman Catherine Colonna said Sunday that Chirac "joined in the condemnation of the anti-Semitic remarks issued Friday by the Italian presidency (of the EU) in the name of all the countries of the European Union.

"France itself condemns such remarks which it considers totally unacceptable," Colonna added.

Brussels also denied the Maariv allegation, with a spokeswoman for EU foreign affairs coordinator Javier Solana describing the allegation as without foundation.

"All the heads of state and government were agreed at the summit in condemning Mahathir Mohamad's remarks," Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for Solana, told AFP .

"It was simply decided that the Italian presidency would make a separate statement in the name of the EU because the conclusions of an (EU) European Council do not lend themselves to this kind of reaction in its declarations."

In his letter to the Mahathir, Chirac referred to the declaration of the EU presidency on Oct 17. - AFP