Former Malaysian
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday claimed Muslims were justified in
killing “millions of French people” in the wake of a knife attack that killed
three people in the French city of Nice.

The assailant, identified as a 21-year-old immigrant
from Tunisia, who only recently arrived in
Europe, slit the throat of a woman and killed two others at the Basilica of Notre-Dame
in the southern city in what is the latest in a string of jihadist attack in the
country, AFP reported.

In a series
of Tweets, Mahathir, who was Muslim-majority Malaysia’s fourth and seventh Prime
Minister, censured France and President Emmanuel Macron’s defence of the
caricatures depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

In
reference to the caricatures, which led to the killing of Paris school teacher Samuel
Paty earlier this month, Mahathir said while he did not approve the attack, freedom
of expression cannot include “insulting other people”.

“Irrespective
of the religion professed, angry people kill,” the 95-year-old wrote.

“The French
in the course of their history has killed millions of people. Many were
Muslims. Muslims have a right to be angry and to kill millions of French people
for the massacres of the past,” he wrote.

He said
that Muslims have “by and large” not applied “the eye for an eye law”. “Muslims
haven’t. The French shouldn’t,” he added.

Mahathir,
who served as Malaysia’s leader for a total of 24 years over two terms, said Macron
was being “very primitive” and was “not showing that he is civilised”.

“The French
should teach their people to respect other people’s feelings. 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,” he said.

Also Read: Emmanuel Macron vows to defend ‘values’, condemns ‘Islamist terror attack’ in Nice

He did not
directly mention the Nice attack in any of his 13 tweets.

His
comments drew widespread criticism from users, who labelled them “outrageous”
and “disgraceful”.

While
Twitter initially only flagged his post about killing “millions of French people”
as “glorifying violence”, it later deleted them entirely.

The spade of recent jihadist attacks have prompted Macron to crackdown on Islamic extremism. However, his move has flared tensions with Arab nations, who have condemned his stance and imposed a boycott on French goods.