SOCIAL media platform Twitter has marked Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s tweet on Muslims have a “right to be angry” as glorifying violence.

“This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible,” said a notice on the tweet.

On Twitter’s guidelines and policies page, it said it recognises that sometimes it may be in the public interest to allow people to view tweets that would otherwise be taken down.

“We consider content to be in the public interest if it directly contributes to understanding or discussion of a matter of public concern,” said Twitter.

Earlier today, the former prime minister defended calls for Muslims to boycott French products, in response to remarks on Islam made by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Dr Mahathir said Macron was wrong to blame Islam and Muslims over the beheading of a teacher recently, maintaining that the killing was not in line with Islamic teachings.

“Muslims have a right to be angry and to kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past. But by and large the Muslims have not applied the “eye for an eye” law. Muslims don’t. The French shouldn’t.

“Instead, the French should teach their people to respect other people’s feelings,” he said in a blog post.

Today a knife-wielding man killed three people at a church in Nice today, in a suspected terrorist act.

The attack comes just days after thousands rallied across France in solidarity with Samuel Paty, a history teacher beheaded by an 18-year-old Chechen man, Abdullakh Anzorov, for showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

His murder prompted President Macron to promise a crackdown in Islamic extremism, including shutting down mosques and organisations accused of fomenting radicalism and violence.

“Since you have blamed all Muslims and the Muslims’ religion for what was done by one angry person, the Muslims have a right to punish the French. The boycott cannot compensate for the wrongs committed by the French all these years,” Dr Mahathir said. – October 29, 2020.