Posted on 02/20/2004 7:04:44 PM PST by westerfield
When Mel Gibson's 85-year-old father, Hutton, told a New York radio interviewer Wednesday that the Holocaust had been exaggerated and that Jews were trying to rule the world, he had no idea he was speaking on the record, let alone being recorded for broadcast, Gibson family sources tell NewsMax.
When WSNR's Steve Feuerstein called Gibson's father in Texas, the family believes he misrepresented himself as a fan of Gibson's, saying he wanted to "congratulate Mel's father" on his son's work. Hutton Gibson says the caller claimed his mother maintained a Web site devoted to "The Passion of the Christ."
Feuerstein allegedly said nothing to Mr. Gibson about a radio interview.
With no idea that his comments were being taped, Gibson's father made no attempt to disguise his views. He told Feuerstein that the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust had been fabricated.
"It's all - maybe not all fiction - but most of it is," he told the radio interviewer.
According to the account obtained by NewsMax, the elderly Gibson talked to Feuerstein for almost an hour before asking for further identification. The talk host promised to call back with more details, but never did.
Feuerstein did not return calls for comment.
So far, Hutton Gibson has not publicly apologized for the explosive remarks. But in previous interviews, first with the Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan, Mel Gibson noted he didn't share his father's revisionist views on the Holocaust. The actor-director said he had friends who had survived the death camps.
"Do I believe that there were concentration camps where defenseless and innocent Jews died cruelly under the Nazi regime? Of course I do, absolutely," Gibson told ABC's Diane sawyer. "It was an atrocity of monumental proportion."
Asked about an earlier interview where Gibson senior offered similarly offensive views, the Hollywood star complained: "Their whole agenda here, my detractors, is to drive a wedge between me and my father. And it's not going to happen. I love him. He's my father."
Gibson's father's comments were the topic Thursday night of Alan Colmes' national radio show.
James Hirsen, a NewsMax columnist, was interviewed and said that Hutton Gibson's "statement is indefensible, but it is also irrelevant. Mel's dad didn't make the movie; Mel Gibson did."
Rabbi James Rudin of American Jewish Committee, who also was on the show, agreed with Hirsen's point.
Why is it OK to go after Mel Gibson for his father's views, even to the point of hoodwinking an 85-year-old private man......but it isn't fair even to discuss whether Jews were involved in the death of Christ, two thousand years ago?
In one case, there is guilt by association with an ancestor; in the other, it is not even allowed to discuss the actions of ancestors.
How does that work?
Dan
(FOR THE RECORD: (1) If I need to say this, I don't think the actions or views of ancestors justify mistreating the descendants in either case; and (2) I think tricking an old man is low, low, low.)
Amen. It's disgraceful and low.
I still haven't figured out why Abe Foxman is making such a fuss over this movie.
1. Foxman and Co. make their money by scaring Jews into believing that everyone on the right is anti-Semitic.
2. Historical results of Passion Plays throughout European history.
3. Foxman and Co. are in the employ of Mr. Gibson to generate publicity for the movie. Granted, a bit far-fetched, but given the rather predictable results of Foxman's whining, some consideration should be given to this theory.
The reasons he has provided so far seem ludicrous to me.
Explain what seems ludicrous. Maybe I can help you understand something you don't.
He's either using this controversy as a fund raising vehicle for the ADL, or perhaps he is just simply an anti-Christian bigot.
Foxman is first and foremost a liberal with their innate distast for Judeo-Christian values and traditions. His personal history (he survived the Holocaust being hidden by a Christian family and then had to be "rescued" from that family by his father who "deprogrammed" him) might have something to do with his views.
My understanding: you can tape it provided one of the two parties involved knows that they are being taped.
However, broadcasting or even disseminating the contents of such a conversation usually is illegal.
I don't see the connection.
More to the point, Jewish (and by extension, Christian) theology teaches that G-D will visit the sins of the father upon the off-spring...I'm not exactly sure of the quotation but I believe it is to the "third generation". The meaning of the verse, of course, is not to punish children for the sins of the father, but to portray how a father's evil influence will affect his children and grandchildren.
Please note that I am (so far) speaking generally, not specifically about the elder Gibson or his son.
It is even more ironic that they are up in the air about Mel's father denying the Holocaust when they are trying to deny that some, not all, Jews played a part in the Crucifixion.
I didn't see that denial. What I saw was that they were saying the movie "blames the Jews" for the crucifixion (sp?).
Be that as it may, are you under the mistaken impression that Jews believe in any part of the so-called, "New Testament"?
Never heard that part of the story - it would explain alot about him though.
Books of history are re-written, unpleasant facts suppressed. why can't we all get along, all people everywhere are the same, etc, etc, Kumbaya, we are the world! That's what it's all about and not about some silly movie and the silly father of a silly actor...
There is a federal law that forbids broacasting any telephone call where both parties are not aware of the recording or broadcasting. Some states allow recording of phone conversations with only one person's knowledge, but the FCC says you can't broadcast it without the knowledge of all parties.
This is not to defend the comments of Mr. Gibson. Now if Mel's dad were a Satlinist, Mel would be given an Oscar before the movie was released.
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