Which is precisely why I take claims of "insult" with a grain of salt until I see what, exactly, is considered "insulting".
Gibson's father is an anti-Vatican II Catholic activist and so is Mel. Mel is following the religion of his father. That fact wouldn't necessarily bother me except that the father is an outspoken bigot.
So was Arnold's Nazi father. All I have heard from Mel regarding his 80+ year old father is a statement to Diane Sawyer that "He is my father, Diane. I need to leave it alone." To me, that means the Mel loves his father and does not want to pick a fight he is not going to win with the crazy, old bigot.
The question is, when Mel Gibson makes these accusations against the Jews, where is he coming from?
And that is where I want to know, "Exactly what accusations against the Jews?"
I do not have a very commited religious dog in this fight. Although I would prefer them not to be, my agnostic leanings are rather strong.
What I see, however, are devout American Christians with an Old American ancestral memory and American Jews with an Eastern European ancestral memory looking at the same thing and taking away vastly different interpretations of what a dramatization of the Passion means to them.
I expanded on that subject on this Post 82 on another thread
It seems to me that, when American Protestant Bible Belters see the Passion, they think, "This is what Christ had to suffer because of my sins. I killed Christ."
It seems to me that, when American Jews see the Passion, they think, "Aaaarrrrgghhhh!! Run for the hills! The Russian Christian peasants are watching a Passion Play that blames the Jews for killing Christ so the pogrom can't be far behind!"
American Protestant Bible Belters don't see Caiphas and his rent-a-mob (The Bad Guys) as a representation of "The Jews".
American Jews, however, see Caiphas and his followers as representing "The Jewish People". That is, after all, what Eastern European Passion Plays very deliberately intended Caiphas to represent.
The Old American Protestant Bible Belt perspective gasoline meets the Eastern European perspective match and then all hell breaks lose with charges of anti-Semitic bigotry and anti-Christian bigotry flying back and forth.
So, I ask: When you see Caiphas portrayed as The Bad Guy, do you see Caiphas as the representation of the generic Bad Guy that is necessary in every God Guy vs. Bad Guy drama or do you see Caiphas as the representation of the entire Jewish people?
As long as the two camps have different answers to that question, sparks will continue to fly and well intentioned people will continue to wonder how the other side could be so bigoted.
If the two camps agree on the latter answer, then Abe Foxman is absolutely right and Eastern European style pogroms should be breaking out all across America any time now.
In your dreams.