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Jewish Leaders Not Thrilled by Idea of Mel Gibson’s Judah Maccabee Movie

Mel Gibson.

Mel Gibson’s upcoming Judah Maccabbe project has met with some criticism from Jewish leaders. Can you believe it? The head of the Anti Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, said in a statement that “it would be a travesty to have [Judah Maccabee’s] story told by one who has no respect and sensitivity for other people’s religious views.” Rabbi Marvin Heir, the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance, had a similar take: “Casting [Gibson] 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.” Oh, snap! “It’s a complete misfit for the role of Judah Maccabee, one of the greatest Jewish heroes in all of history to be portrayed by someone who has shown nothing but antagonism and anti-Semitism toward Jews,” Heir says. The would-be film is still in development, and so far Gibson is only signed on to produce, though he could also direct or star in the film. Or both. “Haven’t our people suffered enough?” asked Jewish grandparents everywhere. [THR]

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Jewish Leaders Not Thrilled by Idea of Mel Gibson’s Judah Maccabee Movie