Dr Mahathir Mohamad today stood by his strong criticism of Israel during his recent speech at the United Nations General Assembly, saying he was giving a “truthful” assessment of the Middle East problem.

“If you are going to be truthful, the problem in the Middle East began with the creation of the state of Israel, that is the whole truth,” the prime minister, who is on a working visit to Britain, told BBC’s Hardtalk programme today.

He also brushed aside comments by the Israeli media calling him an anti-Semite, saying the term was frequently used against critics of Israeli policies.

“There are many races in this world, I have said nasty things about them but they never accused me of being anti- this or anti- that.