Update: PM Mahamad spoke as planned at Columbia University, stated he had a right to “free speech”; more here.

On September 25, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is scheduled to speak at Columbia University in New York City. A petition by the Columbia Global Leadership Forum has been created to prevent the self-described proud anti-Semite and Israel-hater from addressing students.

In 2012, the prime minister declared, “I am glad to be labeled anti-Semitic.” The 94-year-old Mohamad is known for his public denial that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust as well as spreading anti-Semitic stereotypes and anti-American sentiments

The petition, entitled “No to antisemitism at Columbia! No to Dr. Mahathir Mohamad,” denounces the speaker for his “distasteful anti-Semitic views” and bigoted statements.

It notes that Mohamad “has a right to his opinions and to express them, no matter how repugnant they are,” but should not be allowed to present them on a university campus. “It is granting the credibility of one of America’s most prestigious universities to a vile anti-Semite and shakes even further the already fragile sense of safety and belonging of Columbia’s Jewish students.”

The petition states that speaking at a university “is a privilege, not a right. This is not a matter of free speech, or of scholarly freedom. It is a matter of basic academic decency.”

It ends with a call to Columbia University President Dr. Lee Bollinger to ensure the “safety and well being of Columbia’s Jewish students.” As recently as June, Mohamad said during a talk at Cambridge Union in the United Kingdom, “I have some Jewish friends, very good friends, they are not like the other Jews, that’s why they are my friends.”