A leading Israeli rabbi blamed local outbreaks of avian flu on sexual permissiveness. “The Bible says that God punishes depravity first through blights on animals, and then on humans,” David Basri, a top kabbalist, was quoted as writing this week in an edict. Basri linked the first discovery of avian flu in Israeli poultry farms over the weekend to election campaign ads by left-wing Israeli parties calling for the legalization of gay marriage. Basri is no stranger to controversy, and faces a criminal investigation for denigrating Arabs in a recent speech.
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