The Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation USA has criticized the director of ‘The Zone of Interest’, Jonathan Glazer for his comments in his Oscars acceptance speech. On March 10th, Glazer won the Academy Awards for Best Sound and Best International Feature. The movie that he directed is based on the Nazi commandant, Rudolf Höss, and his family living next to Auschwitz concentration camp. During his Best International Feature speech, Glazer mentioned the current conflict in the Middle East, and referenced the October 7th attack on the Supernova music festival by Hamas. He expressed concern for innocent people caught in the crossfire.
David Schaecter, the 94-year-old president of The Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation USA, spoke out against Glazer’s comments. In an open letter, he referred to Glazer’s claims about the “occupation” relating to the Holocaust as simply factually inaccurate, and morally indefensible. Schaecter expressed concern over the use of Auschwitz to criticize Israel, as the creation, existence, and survival of Israel as a Jewish state cannot be equated to “occupation”. However, Schaecter did recognize Glazer’s success with his film’s win and acknowledged his Jewish heritage.
While the Oscars speech by Jonathan Glazer caused controversy, Cillian Murphy received accolades for his Best Actor award for his role in the film Oppenheimer. He dedicated his award to “peacemakers everywhere”, drawing attention to an ongoing global need to unite for peace and stability
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