Israel's Chief rabbi comments on Passion film

Описание: (26 Feb 2004)

1. Israeli Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger talking on the phone
2. SOUNDBITE (English ) Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger
"I am worried very much that this film will bring a lot of anti-semitism all over the world. As I know when I met the Pope two or three weeks ago we spoke about the ideas and the relationships between the Jewish nation and the Christian nations and between the two religions and we know that the Vatican and the Christians changed their mind, and they decided that the Jewish nation and the Jewish people didn''''''''t kill Jesus."
3. Close up of face of Rabbi
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger
"I call the Pope and the Vatican to say it now, immediately, that they believe in the new idea that the Jewish people didn''''''''t kill Jesus and it will bring a lot of good influence against this bad influence from this film."
5. Cutaway of photo of the Chief Rabbi with the Pope
6. SOUNDBITE (English ) Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger
" The problem is that the gentiles (non-Jews) all over the world, if they will see this film and they don''''''''t know exactly what are our ideas against blood, against killers, against to fight, against everything that is bad behaving between human beings, to them we must, I think, stop this film because it brings to all over the world, bad influence."
7. Rabbi at his desk with AP reporter

STORYLINE:

One of Israel''''''''s two chief rabbis on Thursday urged the pope to reiterate in public that Jews are not to blame for the death of Jesus, saying he fears Mel Gibson''''''''s film "The Passion of the Christ" could
revive such beliefs.

Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger said he is sending a letter to Pope John Paul II with the request.

Metzger said he wants the pope to reiterate a key church decision from the 1960s that reversed the centuries-old doctrine that Jews were behind the crucifixion.

Gibson''''''''s film, a bloody depiction of Christ''''''''s final 12 hours and his death, opened in American movie theaters on Wednesday.

Jewish leaders have criticised the movie, saying it will fuel anti-Semitism through an unfair portrayal of Jews as being the main force behind Jesus'''''''' death.

Gibson, who directed, funded and co-scripted the film, has denied those charges.

Earlier this month, the Anti-Defamation League also asked the Vatican to restate its view on the crucifixion, but a Vatican official at the time said no such statement was planned.

In a landmark 1965 document called "Nostra Aetate," Latin for "In Our Time," the Vatican deplored anti-Semitism in every form and repudiated the "deicide" charge that blamed Jews as a people for Christ''''''''s death.

The idea of Jewish guilt had fueled anti-Semitism for centuries.

The document was issued during the Second Vatican Council and has been credited with helping improve relations between Christians and Jews.

Gibson is a member of a movement known as traditionalist Catholicism, which rejects the modernizing reforms made at the council, a series of meetings held from 1962-65 that dramatically changed the Catholic
Church.

An Israeli lawmaker on Wednesday called for Gibson''''''''s movie to be banned from Israeli cinemas. But it''''''''s unlikely the Israeli film board, which has rarely banned movies in the past, would bar "The Passion."

Rabbi Metzger, who first met the pope at the Vatican in January, said he fears the movie could be a setback for efforts to build stronger ties between the two faiths.

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