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5:38am (UK) Gibson's Christ Film under Fire from Jewish Leaders "PA" Representatives of two Jewish groups who attended screenings of Mel Gibson’s forthcoming film, The Passion of the Christ, said it contained offensive stereotypes about the Jewish role in the crucifixion. The American Jewish Committee, which sent its interfaith experts to church screenings in Florida and Illinois, said yesterday that the movie contained “unnecessary and destructive imagery of Jews” and “represents a disturbing setback” to relations between Jews and Christians. Abraham Foxman, national director of the Jewish rights group Anti-Defamation League, who has accused Gibson of holding anti-Semitic views, saw the film for the first time on Wednesday night in Florida. He said it is an “unambiguous portrayal of Jews as being responsible for the death of Jesus”. Gibson, who directed, funded and co-scripted the film, has repeatedly denied that his movie maligns Jews. Jewish groups have been worried that Gibson’s script would ignore modern teaching by the Roman Catholic Church and many other denominations that Jews were not collectively responsible for Christ’s death. The notion of Jewish guilt fuelled anti-Semitism for centuries. An article about the film in The New Yorker magazine last September indicated that Gibson would keep a biblical verse out that upsets Jews and has been used to justify anti-Semitism: “His blood be on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27:25). That verse was not included in a version of the film reporters saw last month. But Rabbi James Rudin, a long-time interfaith expert for the American Jewish Committee, a New York-based public policy group, Rabbi David Elcott, the organisation’s director of interreligious affairs, and Mr Foxman all said the verse was now in the film. The film is scheduled to be released on Ash Wednesday – February 25. “It’s very disturbing that that was added,” Mr Rudin said. “It’s not just another verse from the Gospels. It’s a chilling verse because I know, and everyone knows, that that verse is the basis of blood libel.” Mr Elcott said the movie was not anti-Semitic, but called it “inflammatory” instead. “The movie undermines the sense of community that has existed between Jews and Christians for decades,” he said. “This film makes it more important than ever for like-minded Christians and Jews to reassert their dedication to promoting interfaith harmony.” Also yesterday, the Vatican pronounced what it hoped was the last word on whether the Pope ever offered an endorsement of the controversial biblical epic. It declared that John Paul II “does not make public judgements on artistic works”. It was the Vatican’s first official statement on the issue after weeks of silence and came just days after the pontiff’s long-time secretary sought to put the controversy to rest, denying widely published reports that the Pope ever gave the thumbs-up to the film by saying: “It is as it was.” John Paul was said to have given his approval after a screening in his apartment in early December, according to reports attributed to the filmmakers. The Pope’s official spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, confirmed that the pontiff had seen the film but added: “It is the Holy Father’s custom not to express public judgments on artistic works, judgments which are always open to diverse evaluations of aesthetic nature.” It was a further sign of uneasiness that the Vatican had been depicted as endorsing a film, on the last hours of Jesus’s life, that some say will fuel anti-Semitism.

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