Jul 20, 2009 / 20:15 pm
Israeli officials have halted the distribution of a booklet published by an American Orthodox Jewish Group and given to Israeli Defense Forces soldiers. The move follows reports of the booklet’s claims that the Pope identified with Hezbollah and that the Vatican took Hezbollah officials on a tour of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
The booklet claims the Pope and some cardinals from the Vatican helped organize the tours to teach the Lebanon-based Islamic group how to wipe out Jews, Haaretz reports.
Titled “On Either Side of the Border,” the booklet purports to be the testimony of a Hezbollah officer who spied for Israel. It was published by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America in cooperation with Rabbi Shmuel Eliahu, Chief Rabbi of Safed.
The booklet’s narrator is a man named Avi, who says he changed his name from Ibrahim after he left Hezbollah and converted to Judaism. Avi claims to have been close to Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and he alleges Hezbollah had close relationships with the Vatican and European leaders.