I stand accused of libel of an individual and defamation of an entire race. My accuser is Mariam Sobh, who feels that my column last week depicted all Muslims as anti-Semites and one Muslim, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, as an inciter of religious hatred and violence. For those of you who didn't read my column last week (I know who you are, by the way, and I'm watching you!), Mahathir is the prime minister of Malaysia who gave a speech at a meeting of Muslim leaders distinguished by its statements regarding Jews.

Sobh feels "a lot of crucial information was left out" of my column, that I "lied and embellished parts of Mahathir's speech" and that I "assert the outrageous accusation that the Muslim world believes in the Worldwide Jewish Conspiracy." Granted, I presented a parody of Mahathir's speech instead of excerpts from it. I did this because Mahathir's opinions are more worthy of caricature and ridicule than of calm discourse. But the accuracy of my characterization has been called into question, so it is time to jump down the rabbit hole. Here are actual quotes from the actual speech, which I have actually read:

"The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them."

"They (Jews) invented and successfully promoted Socialism, Communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so they may enjoy equal rights with others. With these they have now gained control of the most powerful countries and they, this tiny community, have become a world power."

So Jews rule the world by somehow getting others to die for them in wars that advance their interests in pursuit of some unspecified overall goal. They single-handedly contrived, through sinister cabalistic machinations, no doubt, this whole thing about human rights and democracy, all to make it "appear" that it is wrong to persecute them. Obviously, I was way out of line in suggesting that Mahathir believes in a Worldwide Jewish Conspiracy.

True, Mahathir did speak out against suicide bombings: "Is there no other way (to resist) than to ask our young people to blow themselves up and kill people? ... 1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews. There must be a way. And we can only find a way if we stop to think, to assess our weaknesses and our strength, to plan, to strategize and then to counter attack." So Mahathir only discourages suicide bombings because they are an ineffective way of combating the treacherous Jew, not because the Jew is undeserving of a fight.

All cultures have their moronic bigots (as demonstrated by our own Gen. Boykin). It is not troubling that they shoot their mouths off from time to time. It is troubling when their racist screeds are met with unanimous and unqualified support from their peers. This is how Mahathir's speech was greeted, as exemplified by the quotes of Hamid Karzai and Pervez Musharraf offered by Sobh. Hence, I do not jump to conclusions or entertain stereotypes about the inhabitants of the Muslim world, but rather I form conclusions about their leaders based on plain evidence.

Mahathir's speech was a call for Muslim unity and more forward-thinking leadership, but only to better combat Jews. Why not to improve the lives of Muslims and to restore prosperity to the Muslim world? There was a time when Jews sought refuge in the tolerant and educated Muslim East from persecution in Christian Europe. There was a time when Egypt was home to the world's greatest library, but now the books of Egypt's own Nobel laureate are banned. Modern Muslim leaders must take off their blinders and stop blaming their problems on Jews and Israel. Of course, they are far too busy rolling in cash to read my column.

Nathan Valentine's columns appear Mondays. He can be reached at opinions@dailyillini.com.