Putrajaya, Malaysia ? In a blistering attack on Israel and hectoring criticism of the Islamic world, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told a summit of Muslim leaders Thursday that Jews ruled the world and recruited others “to fight and die for them.”

“The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews rule the world by proxy,” Mahathir, a widely respected statesman in Asia and the developing world, said in a speech as he became chairman of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference.

“They get others to fight and die for them,” he said.

The speech drew immediate criticism from Israel and Jewish organizations, which feared it could fan violence against Jews, but a standing ovation from the kings, presidents, sheiks and emirs — including key U.S. allies — gathered in Malaysia’s sparkling new capital, Putrajaya.

The Malaysian government apologized today.

“I’m sorry that they have misunderstood the whole thing,” Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told The Associated Press. “The intention is not to create controversy. His (Mahathir’s) intention is to show that if you ponder and sit down to think, you can be very powerful.”

Syed said the world’s Muslims were in a “quagmire” and felt marginalized. “There are no feelings against any Jews. Why should we have feelings based on ethnicity?”

In his comments Thursday, Mahathir said the Islamic world had shone in science, arts and military power when Europe was in the Dark Ages, but weakened when religious infighting replaced practical learning.

The West pulled far ahead in the Industrial Revolution, Mahathir said, and Muslims still suffer from weak states, disputes over dogma, and a lack of scientific and technological expertise. They cannot move forward until they unite, get smarter and rethink their strategies, he said.

Asked their reaction, the leaders described his speech as “a good road map” and “an eye-opener.” None specifically addressed his remarks on Jews.

The Islamic summit comes at a time when many Muslims feel under threat after the U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Israeli treatment of the Palestinians in the occupied territories.

Mahathir said Muslims had achieved “nothing” in more than 50 years of fighting Israel.

“They survived 2,000 years of pogroms not by hitting back but by thinking,” Mahathir said.