January 31, 2006
Steven Spielberg has criticized members of the Jewish community who had objected to his film 'Munich'. The magazine 'Newsweek' quotes Spielberg as saying that criticism leveled at him and screenwriter Tony Kushner over the depiction of Israel’s hunt for the Palestinian masterminds of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre was unfair. Some American Jews, he said, “have grown very angry at me for allowing the Palestinians simply to have dialogue and for allowing Tony Kushner to be the author of that dialogue. ‘Munich’ never once attacks Israel, and barely criticizes Israel’s policy of counter violence against violence,” he said. “It’s the most questioning story I’ve ever had the honor to tell. For that, we were accused of the sin of moral equivocation. Which, of course, we did not intend – and we are not guilty of.” The controversy, Spielberg added, “made me feel a little more aware of the dogma, and the Luddite position people take any time the Middle East is up for discussion.”
