The Haaretz newspaper reported on Sunday that, for the past two months, the Palestinian Authority has been circulating reports among its ambassadors and foreign diplomats which outline what is termed “Israeli incitement against the Palestinian population.” Among those accused of incitement are Shas’ spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman, a leader of the Lithuanian branch of hareidi Judaism.

The PA’s report quotes Rabbi Ovadia Yosef as saying that “the Torah prohibits desecration of the Sabbath for a gentile, and it is prohibited to treat a gentile who comes to the hospital during the Sabbath.” It also includes a quote attributed to Rabbi Steinman, who said that gentiles are “murderers, thieves, villains and are brainless.”

The quotes are the PA’s response to recent accusations by Israel that PA’s mufti was inciting by quoting a passage from the Koran which instructs to kill Jews, and are presumably based on reports recently published in the Israeli media.