Her er en nett-kilde til det jeg refererte fra BBC-radio, men som man leter
forgjeves etter i norske nyheter.
Karsten Johansen
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_868000/868578.stm
Sunday, 6 August, 2000, 16:10 GMT 17:10 UK
Outrage over Holocaust remarks
Nearly six million Jews died in the Holocaust A prominent religious leader
in Israel has caused outrage by referring to the six million victims of the
Holocaust as "reincarnated sinners".
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who heads the country's third biggest political party,
made the remarks at a religious gathering in Jerusalem on Saturday.
He also attacked Prime Minister Ehud Barak's attempts at peace with what he
called Palestinians "snakes".
The remarks have been severely criticised by various political parties and
Jewish leaders inside and outside the country.
The Iraqi-born Rabbi Yosef is one of the most powerful religious figures in
Israel.
His Shas party has 17 members in 120-member parliament, and was a part of
Ehud Barak's coalition until a month ago.
The party is opposed to any concessions to Palestinians and has been leading
a campaign against Mr Barak on the issue.
"Why do you bring them (the Palestinians) close to us?" Rabbi Yosef told
Saturday's gathering. "You bring snakes next to us. How can you make peace
with a snake?"
On the Holocaust, he said the Jews who died were reincarnations of earlier
souls, who, in the Rabbi's words, had sinned time and time again.
"These are incarnations of those who has sinned and made others sin.......
They were reincarnated to make amends".
Unworthy
Prime Minister Barak told a cabinet meeting that the comments were unworthy
of a rabbi of Mr Yosef's status.
Tommy Lapid, the leader of the avowedly secular Shinui party, told Israel
radio the "vile statements will delight the remaining Nazis in the world".
Efraim Zuroff, head of the Jerusalem office of the Nazi-hunting Simon
Weisenthal Centre, said Rabbi Yosef's remarks will undermine the unifying
affect of a national tragedy.
The public reaction has also been strong.
Israel's two main radio stations have been inundated with phone calls and
fax messages, most of them criticising Rabbi Yosef's statement.
Israel is home to 230,000 people who lived in Nazi Germany or countries
conquered by the Nazis.
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