The American actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson's has issued a second apology to Jews following a confrontation with policemen during which a drunken Gibson allegedly said: "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world", asking a police officer: "Are you a Jew?" Gibson said in a statement: "Please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith. There will be many in that (Jewish) community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable," he added. "But I pray that that door is not forever closed." Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, commented: "The process of repentance in Judaism is three C's: contrition, confession and change. Gibson clearly is contrite, and he has made a public confession. But the third step can only be evaluated after an extended period of time." The actor is known for holding strongly conservative, Catholic views on religion and politics, and last came under fire from Jewish groups in 2004 for his movie "The Passion of Christ."
Gibson's publicist, Alan Nierob, confirmed that his client was in an "ongoing program" for his alcoholism. Gibson also said: "I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display." The sheriff's deputy who temporarily arrested Gibson last week told AP that he hopes Gibson will hesitate before drinking and driving again. "I don't take pride in hurting Mr. Gibson," said James Mee, who is Jewish. The television broadcaster ABC announced on Tuesday that it would cease the development on a new miniseries about the Holocaust. The project was being created with Mel Gibson's production company, Icon. "Given that it has been nearly two years and we have yet to see the first draft of a script, we have decided to no longer pursue this project with Icon," said ABC spokesperson Hope Hartman, according to "Reuters".