Roundup
Oliver Stone decries
Jewish lobby's power
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Oscar-winning
director Oliver Stone in an interview
decried what he called the Jewish lobby's
control over Washington's foreign policy
and said that Hitler's actions should be put
"into context!"
Stone in an interview
with the Sunday Times
also said that "Jewish
domination of the
media" has prevented
an honest discussion
about the Holocaust.
Jewish organizational
and Israeli officials
Oliver Stone
condemned the remarks, which were pub-
lished Sunday.
The article by reporter Camilla Long
is not available online without a paid
subscription to the newspaper although
British bloggers and other newspapers
have printed excerpts.
During the interview, Stone said that
Jews were dictating U.S. foreign policy and
that the Jewish lobby "are hard workers!'
"They stay on top of every comment, the
most powerful lobby in Washington': he
said, using a swear word to describe Jewish
impact on U.S. foreign policy.
Stone, the winner of three Academy
Awards, induding as best director for
Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July, has
a Jewish father. He also directed such films
as Wall Street, JFK and Nixon.
On Hitler, Stone said that the German
leader "did far more damage to the
Russians than the Jewish people, 25 or
30 million. Hitler was a Frankenstein,
but there was also a Dr. Frankenstein —
German industrialists, the Americans and
the British. He had a lot of support!'
Elan Steinberg, vice president of
the American Gathering of Holocaust
Survivors and their Descendants, in a brief
statement said, "We are deeply offended.
These are words of hate and a disgrace-
ful evocation of anti-Semitism. Shame on
Oliver Stone"
Israel's public diplomacy minister,
Conversion Bill Freeze
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- An agreement has
been reached to put a six-month freeze on
a controversial Israeli conversion bill up for
a vote in the Knesset.
According to the July 22 deal bro-
kered between Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's Cabinet Secretary Tzvi Hauser
and several Israeli non-Orthodox religious
movements, the bill will be withdrawn
for six months while a coalition of non-
Orthodox Israeli groups led by Natan
Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency
for Israel, submits proposals on how to
redraft the measure, Haaretz reported.
The bill, which was proposed by Knesset
member David Rotem of the Yisrael
Beiteinu Party, passed a committee vote
last week but still needs three Knesset
readings to become law.
It has drawn significant opposition
from diaspora Jewish groups, including
the non-Orthodox American religious
movements and the Jewish Federations of
North America as well as Netanyahu and
the Jewish Agency. They object to the bill's
giving the ultimate authority over conver-
sions to the Orthodox-dominated Chief
Rabbinate of Israel.
"Change in the law on conversions in
Israel must be carried out through broad
agreement to prevent a split within the
Jewish nation": Netanyahu said, according
Yuli Edelstein, also condemned Stone's
remarks.
"They are nauseating, anti-Semitic and
racist:' the Jerusalem Post quoted Edelstein
as saying. "Not only is he showing igno-
rance, he is demonizing Jews for no reason
and returning to the Protocols of the Elders
of Zion.
"When a man of Stone's stature speaks
in this way, it can bring waves of anti-
Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment
— and may even damage Jewish commu-
nities and individuals!"
Stone recently completed a documen-
tary on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
and is working on a documentary series
about American history.
❑
to Haaretz. "Unity is in the foremost inter-
est of the State of Israel and the Jewish
nation, and I intend to defend that prin-
ciple with determination!'
The Jewish Federations of America wel-
comed the delay.
"We truly support this process of a
dialogue table, which allows the par-
ticipants time to discuss this important
Roundup on page 10
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