Fury at Italian PM's jew joke

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi provoked outrage after an ill-judged joke about Jews and the Holocaust, drawing criticism from the Vatican.

Berlusconi (74), who is known for his slapstick sense of humour told the blasphemous joke while speaking to emergency workers dealing with the aftermath of last year's earthquake in central Italy.

He made the joke hours after winning last week's crucial vote of confidence.

The Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano described the jokes as "deplorable" adding they "offended the sentiment of believers and the sacred memory of six million Holocaust victims".

Berlusconi had told supporters outside his home, "A Jew hides a fellow Jew in his basement at the time of the concentration camps and charges him 3,000 euro (Rs 1.85 lakh) a day".

He went on, "The Jew paid up because he had the money but do you think he should tell him that Hitler has died and the war is over?"

The poor taste joke was filmed and posted on the website of Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

Last year, Berlusconi was embroiled in a series of sleazy scandals with a teenage underwear model and
various escorts.

Berlusconi was unrepentant and said the jokes were "just a laugh that were made in private, not offensive and not a sin."