04 August 2006
The American actor and film director Mel Gibson has been invited to visit New York's Museum of Jewish Heritage, a site dedicated to remembering the Holocaust, in a bid to smooth relations between him and the Jewish community. The invitation follows Gibson's anti-Semitic rant on the weekend. The star, who launched a tirade at a Jewish Los Angeles police officer after being stopped for drink driving, has since apologized for his strong words. And his contrite behavior has impressed staff at the museum. In a letter to Gibson, museum official David Marwell wrote, "I have followed with great interest the events of the past several days and take your recent public apology very seriously. In that spirit, I would like to invite you to visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust." Gibson has also been invited by a prominent Beverly Hills rabbi and an association of Holocaust survivors in the United States. The actor, who won best film and best director Oscars for "Braveheart," had checked into a detoxification program on Monday and apologized to the Jewish community on Tuesday. "I am not just asking for forgiveness," he said. "I would like to take it one step further, and meet with the leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one-on-one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing." Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" stirred a heated debate for its alleged anti-Semitism and excessive violence.
