The Foreign Ministry has rejected a recent claim by Archbishop Attallah Hanna of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem to Jordanian television that Israel tried to poison him by sprinkling a toxic material near his church.
A ministry statement said, "The words of Archbishop Hanna Attallah about an attempt to poison him are devoid of any foundation and constitute a continuation of a vile propaganda campaign against Israel. The accusations raised by his remarks are reminiscent of blood libel." The ministry added, "We expect a cleric to stick to the truth and clerics around the world to denounce outrageous falsehoods such as these and not to help spread the libel."
Attallah said, "A church team is collecting the evidence and it will be presented to the world as soon as possible."