Oliver Stone: "Jews Dominate the Media"

Diaspora Affairs and Public Diplomacy Minister Yuli Edelstein condemned director Oliver Stone on Monday for remarks he made in an interview with the Sunday Times in which he downplayed the Holocaust, defended Iranian President Ahmadinejad, and complained about the Jewish influence in the U.S.

Edelstein said that the director’s comments “made him sick,” and called them both anti-Semitic and racist.

"Beyond the ignorance he proves with his comments, his demonization of the Jewish people could be a sequel to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion," said Edelstein. "When a man of Stone's stature says such things, it could lead to a new wave of anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism, and it may even cause real harm to Jewish communities and individuals."

In the interview, Stone said that America’s emphasis on the Holocaust is a product of the “Jewish domination of the media.”

Stone is releasing an upcoming documentary series for Showtime called the “Secret History of America.” In the interview he said that his series would help put historical figures like Hitler and Joseph Stalin “in context.”

"Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people, 25 or 30 [million killed]," Stone continued.

When the interviewer inquired as to why the documentary series places so much emphasis on the Holocaust, Stone responded: "The Jewish domination of the media. There's a major lobby in the United States. They are hard workers. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f***ed up United States foreign policy for years."

Incidentally, Stone had recently met with Ahmadinejad, and criticized America’s foreign policy with relation to Iran.

"Iran isn't necessarily the good guy," Stone explained. "But we don't know the full story!"

Stone also elicited controversy when he defended Hitler at a press conference this past January.

"Hitler is an easy scapegoat throughout history and it's been used cheaply," he had said. "He's the product of a series of actions. It's cause and effect."

Rabbi Marvin Hier, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, swiftly responded to the director’s most recent remarks, regarding his impending documentary series: "To talk about 'placing Adolf Hitler in context' is like placing cancer in context, instead of recognizing cancer for what it really is - a horrible disease, just as we must recognize Hitler as the ultimate expression of evil."