Jews want Mel Gibson prosecuted for hate crime

by
Ernesto Cienfuegos
La Voz de Aztlan

Los Angeles, Alta California - March 16, 2004 - (ACN) A Jewish group led by Ephraim ben Laibl says that Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ" violates "Hate Crime Laws" and wants US Attorney General John Ashcroft to prosecute the Actor-Director. Ephraim ben Laibl is the founder and director of the Messiah Truth Project and is often featured in The Jewish Press, The Jerusalem Post and at USAJewish.Com. He also serves as CTO for Pirchei Shoshanims' "Schulchan Aruch Learning Project" and is a producer of Israel National Radio.

Ephraim ben Laibl and his Jewish supporters are presently distributing a petition in the Jewish communities of Los Angeles, New York City and other major cities throughout the USA. When enough signatures are collected, the petition will be forwarded to the US Department of Justice for action. The petition effort is getting significant publicity in the Zionist media including on radio here in Los Angeles.

The petition reads:

Gibson's "The Passion" in Violation of Hate Crime Statutes

Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” through purposeful rewriting of the Christian Gospel mythos has, itself, become an anti-Semitic diatribe which, since it’s February 25, 2004 release resulted in hate crimes against Jews, Synagogues and Jewish Cemeteries in cities throughout the US. Mel Gibson’s unbiblical and a-historical account of the “crucifixion” story has taken Hutton Gibson’s claims that the Holocaust is “fiction,” even one step further.

Just as Adolf Hitler described the 300th anniversary performance of the Oberammergau Passion Play as "a convincing portrayal of the menace of Jewry" in 1934, Gibson and Writer/producer Tom Fontana’s 2004 use of extreme graphic and excessive violence set up and perpetrated at the urging of “the Jews” in their portrayal displays a clear prejudicial bent against the Jewish faith.

United State law defines "bias related" or “hate crime” to mean a "designated act that demonstrates an accused's prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, family responsibility, physical handicap, matriculation, or political affiliation of a victim of the subject designated act." Depending on the state, criminal and / or civil laws may apply, as well as recently enacted Federal statutes.

We implore US Attorney General John Ashcroft and the US Department of Justice to evaluate the anti-Semitism clearly presented in Gibson and Fontana’s portrayal, and ask that civil, criminal, and Federal hate-crime laws, as appropriate, be utilized not only against the perpetrators involved in each and every act which it has encouraged, but against the directors, producers, and screen writers responsible for the work itself."

The petition is also being circulated on the Internet. It is located at "Prosecute Mel Gibson" (Please Note: The petition was taken down after we published and disseminated this article - Bless Jesus!) and presently has 385 signatures.

There is no evidence that Mel Gibson' film has generated any antisemitc acts and in this regard it appears that Ephraim ben Laibl is simply lying. On the positive side, "The Passion of the Christ" will soon become the highest grossing film of all time! There is also an unsubstantiated rumor of a growing movement to draft Mel Gibson for US President.