The worldwide controversy over British author Salman Rushdie and his irreverent novel, “The Satanic Verses,” has spread to Israeli religious politics.
On Monday, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Avraham Shapira called the book “inhuman and immoral” and said the work should be banned from distribution in Israel and elsewhere.
Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini has called for Rushdie’s death. He is not alone. On Sunday, Ahmed Jabril, leader of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, vowed to kill the Indian-born novelist himself.
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