Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has been hospitalized for the third time in just over a month but his condition is stable, his daughter said Saturday, according to The Associated Press.
The 96-year-old Mahathir, once the world’s oldest leader, was admitted to the National Heart Institute on Thursday and was responding well to treatment, Marina Mahathir said in a statement.
“His condition is now stable,” she said, urging Malaysians to pray for his swift recovery.
Mahathir underwent an elective medical procedure at the same hospital on January 7 and was discharged six days later. Last month, he was admitted for a full medical checkup and observation.
Mahathir is notorious for his controversial statements against Israel and the Jewish people.
In 2012, he wrote on his personal blog that “Jews rule this world by proxy.”
In August of 2018, Mahathir defended his right to be anti-Semitic, arguing that anti-Semitism is an artificial construct created to silence critics of the Jews.
In October that year, he said that Jews are "hook-nosed" and accused them of creating problems in the Middle East.
In June of 2019, he unleashed a stream of anti-Semitic statements during an appearance at Cambridge University.
“I have some Jewish friends, very good friends. They are not like the other Jews, that’s why they are my friends,” Mohamad said in response to a question about previous anti-Jewish statements. The response was met with laughter from some in the audience.
In September of 2019, Mahathir spoke at Columbia University as part of its annual world leaders forum, where he defended his past anti-Semitic statements and questioned the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust.