New Zealand's Member of Parliament John Tamihere got involved in political chaos at home and overseas with media revelations about his views on the Holocaust, women in power and his party members.

Israeli reaction to John Tamihere's Holocaust comments has been swift, with one newspaper quoting the director of a Nazi hunting organization as saying the MP needed psychological assistance, Monday's Wellington-based media reported.

The Israel director of the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal CenterEfraim Zuroff said Tamihere's comments suggested a lack of understanding of the significance of the Holocaust, which made him unfit for political leadership.

Tamihere's latest comments came from the same interview with Investigate magazine, published last week, in which he criticized the influence of "queers", women and unions in the Labor Party.

Tamihere was to attend a caucus Tuesday but has now been told by his party leader to have an extended leave.

Investigate reported that Tamihere told a reporter that he was "sick and tired of hearing how many Jews got gassed", not because he is not revolted or violated by it, but because he already knows.

"How many times do I have to be told and made to feel guilty?" said Tamihere.

He also talked referring to women as "front-bums", lamenting their being promoted to New Zealand's top positions because of their gender.

Tamihere's Holocaust comment outraged the New Zealand Jewish Council and now the story is making headlines in the Jerusalem Post, said the local media.

"It would appear that MP Tamihere is in urgent need of psychological assistance to increase his ability to deal with the sad history and reality of life on the planet Earth during the past century, an absolutely necessary quality for anyone who desires to serve as a public representative," Efraim Zuroff told the newspaper.

"In that respect, 'Holocaust fatigue' is simply a new form of mental illness, which is a condition which should disqualify him from public service," said Zuroff.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, also the Labor Party leader, was quite uneasy over Tamihere's voice. She was quoted by local media Monday that apology was not enough for the Tamihere and he might should consider finding a new job.

Miss Clark said Sunday in a statement that Tamihere's statements to a journalist are "deeply offensive to New Zealanders. The statements are also offensive and utterly unacceptable to the New Zealand Labor Party."

"With respect to the Holocaust, the Labor Party believes it to have been genocide and as such one of the most repugnant and ferocious events of human history," said Miss Clark.

She noted that the pain caused to the Jewish community and to others who suffered in the Holocaust by these thoughtless comments is acknowledged and deeply regretted by the Labor Party.

Relations between New Zealand and Israel have been frosty since two suspected Israeli agents were convicted and imprisoned in New Zealand for fraudulently trying to obtain a passport in 2004.

New Zealand has demanded a public explanation and apology for what Prime Minister Helen Clark described as "utterly unacceptable" behavior by the two, Uriel Zoshe Kelman and Eli Cara.

They were deported last year after serving half of their six-month prison sentences. Police are still searching for several other people whom they believe were involved.

Source: Xinhua