London, Sunday, August 6, 2000

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Rabbi says Holocaust victims were reincarnations of sinners

By Jack Katzenell

Controversy raged in Israel today after an eminent rabbi who is also the leader of Israel's biggest ultra-Orthodox political party, said the six million Jews who perished in the Nazi Holocaust died because they were reincarnations of sinners in previous generations.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who heads the Shas party, also declared that Prime Minister Ehud Barak has "no sense" because he is trying to make peace with the Palestinians who are "snakes."[...].

WE regret that by letter dated Tuesday, December 12, 2000 a Ms. Louise Hayman, the head of legal services at The Independent newspaper, requested that this article be removed from this website. We have adjusted the masthead accordingly.