A Greek newspaper likened the Greek Jewish chief executive of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to Nazi war criminal Dr Josef Mengele on its front page earlier this week. 

In an accompanying article, Makeleio claimed to readers that Albert Bourla – a Jew originating from Thessaloniki – would “stick the needle” into them, describing Pzifer’s coronavirus vaccine as “poison”. 

On Thursday, the paper doubled down on the criticism of Mr Bourla. It repeated the accusations, with a headline claiming that the “Greek Jew” had “trousered millions” on behalf of the “Israeli Council.” 

“Terror countdown for the mandatory vaccine,” the paper had written on Tuesday. 

On Monday, the pharmaceutical company announced it had developed a coronavirus vaccine with 90 per cent effectiveness. 

Dr Mengele was an infamous figure of the Nazi regime, who used prisoners at Auschwitz as guinea pigs to conduct inhumane medical experiments. 

In a statement on Thursday, the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS) said: “The identification of the CEO of Pfizer with Mengele, the so-called butcher of Auschwitz, is an appalling and unethical assault against Albert Bourla only because he is a Jew.” 

They described the front page as “nothing but a clear incitement to violence against the Jews”, adding it “overwhelms us with outrage and repulsion, as its content perpetuates hatred and bigotry against the Jews and it becomes — once more — the carrier of the most hideous antisemitic propaganda.” 

The Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs also condemned the paper, describing the sentiments as the “the most vile antisemitism which brings in mind the Medieval period when Jews were accused for every disaster, illness or defeat. At that time the road to Auschwitz begun”. 

Only last week, Makeleio was ordered by a court to pay a fine of around £1,600 after it ruled the paper’s publisher had defamed the Greek Jewish leader Minos Moissis. 

Stefanos Chios is said to have described Mr Moissis as a “crude Jew who runs a loan-shark firm that has bought the debts of poor Greeks.”