As of late Mel Gibson has been making headlines more for his personal life rather than for his film career -- for instance, his very public split with Oksana Grigorieva and for making outlandish remarks about Jewish people and homosexuals.
But according to many media outlets, Warner Bros. has chosen Gibson to produce a movie about an icon in Jewish history, Judah Maccabee. Maccabee led the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire (167–160 B.C.) and is acclaimed as one of the greatest warriors in Jewish history alongside Joshua, Gideon and David.
Not suprising, Jewish leaders who heard of the news are commenting on the news.
Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti Defamation League, issued this statement to The Hollywood Reporter:
"Judah Maccabee deserves better. He is a hero of the Jewish people and a universal hero in the struggle for religious liberty. It would be a travesty to have his story told by one who has no respect and sensitivity for other people's religious views."
And Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of Los Angeles's Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance, also spoke out against the new film. Hier also sent a statement to the Hollywood Reporter:
"Mel Gibson has shown nothing but antagonism and disrespect to Jews. First of all there were the anti-Semitic remarks he made, his portrayal of Jews in The Passion of Christ. I'm talking about those Jews who did not accept Christ, they were all portrayed as idiots, buffoons or people who were tyrants, with a very unfair portrayal. He's had a long history of antagonism with Jews. Casting him as a director or perhaps as the star of Judah Maccabee is like casting Madoff to be the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or a white supremacist as trying to portray Martin Luther King Jr. It's simply an insult to Jews."
