Mel Gibson is producing a movie about the Maccabees. Okay then. TMZ reports:
Two powerful Jewish organizations are lashing out against the decision to hire Mel Gibson to produce a movie about biblical Jewish hero Judah Maccabee … TMZ has learned. The Anti-Defamation League has released a statement — demanding Warner Bros. pull Gibson off the flick immediately … saying, “As a hero of the Jewish people and a universal hero in the struggle for religious liberty, Judah Maccabee deserves better.” The statement adds, “It would be a travesty to have the story of the Maccabees told by one who has no respect and sensitivity for other people’s religious views.” TMZ also spoke with Rabbi Marvin Hier — founder and Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center — who tells us putting Mel Gibson work on a movie about a Jewish hero is “like having a white supremacist portray Martin Luther King Jr.”
Right. If this isn’t an obvious publicity stunt, the only way this makes any sense is if Mel portrays Judah as a self-hating Jew.
