A BAPTIST pastor has admitted telling Jewish leaders that Jews were "going to hell" and faced a fate "worse than the Holocaust" because they had not accepted Jesus as their saviour.

But Pastor Kevin Harris of the Illawarra Community Baptist Church in Wollongong says his comments were "misunderstood and misquoted" in a mass email circulated yesterday by the chief of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, Vic Alhadeff.

Mr Harris, a US-trained minister from Virginia, said his comments applied to all people who rejected Jesus, not only Jews, and were based in scripture. "The Bible says that all have sinned and all are worthy of hell," he told the Herald. "That includes everyone, until we receive Jesus as our saviour.

"Jesus and the Apostles were Jewish. They explained that the Old Testament Jewish faith looked forward to the messiah and the New Testament reveals Jesus as the messiah."

But despite Mr Harris's attempt to clarify his remarks, Mr Alhadeff said he was shocked to hear the leader of a Christian congregation speak so bluntly.