Journalist alleges Mel Gibson is now friendly toward Judaism

Allison Weiner claims Gibson is making amends to the Judaic communityEditor's Note: In fairness to Mel Gibson, we should keep in mind that the establishment media is almost always seeking to smear him and therefore, we should entertain the possibility that the following is only partly true, or perhaps even a complete fantasy. Let us also recall that money isn’t everything and that Mr. Gibson is probably under enormous personal and professional strain and pressure — a talented actor and director who has had little or nothing to do on the scale that he once experienced for decades, and a family life that may still be in shambles. Not everyone can think clearly under such trying circumstances.

Nonetheless, in fairness to the public's right to decide for themselves, we observe that Mr. Gibson is a wealthy man and has the resources to correct factual errors made by Allison Hope Weiner,  the author  of the following essay, if he so chooses. On the other hand, and this is where it gets complicated, it could be that he would not do so because such a correction would only add fuel to the media's "Hate Gibson” fest. Consequently, we should not conclude that if he does not seek to publicly correct or counter Weiner’s supposed recollections, it necessarily signifies that hers is a true account of his statements and activities.

So with those caveats in mind, and wanting to give Gibson the benefit of the doubt, it would not be unethical or unfair to say that if this report by Weiner is accurate in all of its essential details, then it is disappointing that Mr. Gibson would seem to be pandering toward Judaism and donating money to Judaism's “charitable causes," in the manner in which Miss Weiner alleges.

Keep in mind that we are publishing excerpts from her article. Readers may wish to consult her entire essay, which is available at the URL provided below. — Michael Hoffman

(Hoffman served as a volunteer researcher for Gibson in 2003, compiling at his request a dossier on theological matters related to The Passion of The Christ, prior to its debut in theatres).

A Journalist’s Plea on 10th Anniversary of ‘The Passion Of The Christ’ —  Hollywood, Take Mel Gibson Off Your BlacklistSpecial to Deadline | March 11, 2014 http://www.deadline.com/2014/03/mel-gibson-career-hollywood-deserves-chance/
...I’m telling you, my friend Mel Gibson has pulled himself together. He is sober seven years, hitting the gym for a role in an independent film, and thinking positively about the future. It has been a decade since Mel Gibson made The Passion of The Christ and watched it become the biggest-grossing independent film with $612 million in worldwide ticket sales. In the years that followed, Gibson made several comments that went public, made him seem anti-Semitic and racist. They made him persona non grata at major studios and agencies, the same ones that work with others who’ve committed felonies and done things far more serious than Gibson, who essentially used his tongue as a lethal weapon.

...As a journalist who vilified Gibson in The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly until my coverage allowed me to get to know him, I want to make the case here that it is time for those Hollywood agencies and studios to end their quiet blacklisting of Mel Gibson.

Once Hollywood’s biggest movie star whose film Braveheart won five Oscars and whose collective box office totals $3.6 billion...(i)t has been 11 years since he was paid by a major studio to star in a film, and he hasn’t directed a studio film since Braveheart won five Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director.

I came to rethink my harsh assessment after I got to know the man...This crystallized when we met each other’s families. It was hard to blame his family for being skeptical of a journalist, but the issues with my own family were more challenging. Gibson asked to meet them at my son’s bar mitzvah celebration. Imagine the scene: a room filled with Jews. In walks the person who, in their minds, might be the most notorious anti-Semite in America. Gibson attended alone and I can only imagine what was going through his head when he walked into the party...Before the evening was over, he was chatting with many of my relatives, who saw a funny, kind, charming guy and not the demon they’d read about. Gutsier still, he attended our Yom Kippur break fast dinner. Anyone who has attended such a gathering knows there is nothing more imposing than making friends in a room full of Jews who haven’t eaten in 24 hours.

...In his second apology on the anti-Semitic statements, Gibson promised to reach out to Jewish leaders. Gibson followed up by meeting with a wide variety of them. He gave me their names when I asked, but Gibson asked me not to publish them because he didn’t want them dragged into public controversy or worse, think he was using them. The meetings were not some photo op to him, he told me, but rather his desire to understand Judaism and personally apologize for the unkind things he said.

He has learned much about the Jewish religion, befriending a number of Rabbis and attending his share of Shabbat dinners, Passover Seders and Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur dinners. I believe that effort, along with our conversations, helped him understand why Jewish people reacted as they did to The Passion of The Christ and why there was Jewish support for the Second Vatican Council.

Gibson has quietly donated millions to charitable Jewish causes, in keeping with one of the highest forms of Tzedakah in the Jewish faith, giving when the recipient doesn’t know your identity.

...I've discussed the Holocaust with Gibson and whether his views differed from those of his father (Hutton Gibson). Just as he refused to condemn his father in that TV interview with Diane Sawyer, Gibson refused to discuss his dad with me. Similar to what he told Sawyer, Gibson told me that he believed that 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust...

Read more: http://www.deadline.com/2014/03/mel-gibson-career-hollywood-deserves-chance/