Jerusalem, April 19, 2007…. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Israel Office strongly deplored comments made by Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, the spiritual leader of the National Religious Party and a former Sephardic Chief Rabbi, concerning Reform Judaism. 

In an interview with the radio station "Kol Ha'emet," Rabbi Eliyahu reportedly implied that the Holocaust was a result of Reform Judaism in Germany.

The ADL Israel Office issued the following statement:

In addition to strongly deploring attacks on a denomination that represents a very large portion of the Jewish people, such argumentative use of the Holocaust is a travesty of the memory of its victims.

Rabbi Eliyahu should remember precisely that the victims of the Holocaust came from all Jewish denominations, as well as from the secular community.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.