"The spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-orthodox Shas party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, has provoked outrage with a sermon calling for the annihilation of Arabs. "It is forbidden to be merciful to them. You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable," he was quoted as saying in a sermon delivered on Monday to mark the Jewish festival of Passover... "The Lord shall return the Arabs' deeds on their own heads, waste their seed and exterminate them, devastate them and vanish them from this world."

"Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah... If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. How is the faithful city become an harlot! It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers." (Isaiah 1:10, 19-21)

"For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD... The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves." (Isaiah 3:8-9)

"For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed... for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly." (Isaiah 9:16-17)

"Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;" (Isaiah 10:1)

"Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men'..." (Mark 7:6-7)

See: BBC News article (2007-02)