The US Senate voted unanimously yesterday to tie religious freedom to RM4.56 million (US$1.2 million) in military aid to Malaysia, after that country's prime minister sparked a row by claiming Jews rule the world.

The measure would require the State Department to determine that Malaysia "supports and promote religious freedoms, including tolerance for people of the Jewish faith" before releasing the money.

The amendment to the overall US$18 billion foreign aid budget does provide exceptions for national security concerns.

It still needs to win support from the House of Representatives, which has passed a resolution condemning Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad over his remarks at the summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in mid-October.

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

The notoriously outspoken Asian leader, whose comments drew global condemnation and outrage from Western nations, noted that 1.3 billion Muslims could not be defeated by a few million Jews. - AFP