ADL accepts Oliver Stone apology over Holocaust, U.S. Jews remarks

Ha'aretz - In second attempt at easing the backlash of his comments earlier this week, Stone says he is categorically opposed to anti-Semitism.

The Anti-Defamation League has accepted Wednesday Oliver Stone's second apology over remarks he had made in an interview to the Sunday Times earlier week, in which he spoke out against what he saw as the negative influence of U.S. Jews on Washington's foreign policy as well against conceived notions of the Holocaust.

On Sunday, the famed director told the Times of London that Jewish control of the media was preventing an open discussion of the Holocaust, adding that the U.S. Jewish lobby has been controlling Washington's foreign policy for years.

"I do agree that it was wrong of me to say that Israel or the pro-Israel lobby is to blame for America’s flawed foreign policy," Stone said in a statement released Wednesday, adding that his comment was "not true and I apologize that my inappropriately glib remark has played into that negative stereotype."
Stone also added that he was "categorically opposed to anti-Semitism – and all other racist ideologies."

The ADL responded with satisfaction to the director's second attempt at an apology, with director Abraham H. Foxman saying he believed Stone "now understands the issues and where he was wrong, and this puts an end to the matter.”


Stone's apology came after a first attempt to appease the maelstrom which rose in the wake of his controversial comments to the Times on Monday was considered "insufficient" by Foxman, who had said that "Oliver Stone's apology stops short and is therefore insufficient."

In the first apology statement, Stone added that he did not believe that Jews control the media, or any other industry, and that the fact that the Holocaust was still an important and current topic is actually a great achievement and a credit to those committed to perpetuating the memory of the atrocities committed during that period.

That first statement by Stone, however, was found unsatisfactory by Foxman, who said that "while [Stone] now admits that Jews do not control Hollywood, the media and other industries, he ignores his assertion that Jews are '...the most powerful lobby in Washington' and that 'Israel has f***** up United States foreign policy.' This is another conspiratorial anti-Semitic canard that Mr. Stone needs to repudiate."