Mel Gibson and me

Most people who know me would never believe there would be an occasion for a sentence including the words Mel Gibson and me. Before several months ago, I also would not have believed it.

I am a frustrated Pvt. Benjamin. I moved to Israel several years ago, and I would like to serve my country. I am too old to serve in the regular army, but that doesn't mean I can't serve in the armchair army.

What does an armchair general do? I don't patrol Israel's borders or protect its citizens. I cannot fight Hezbollah or Hamas with guns, missiles or tanks. But with pen, computer and phone I can defend Jewish interests and Israel with written and spoken word.

While reading the newspaper one morning, I nearly choked on my coffee and vowed to get new glasses immediately.

The headlines screamed: "Mel Gibson is going to produce a Holocaust miniseries for ABC television." I handed the paper to my breakfast companion.

"Please read this," I commanded my friend. "I must be going blind from sitting at the computer so long."

"Relax," he said. "You read it right."

"How could that be? Mel Gibson's father is a Holocaust denier!" I said. "I'm not going to rest until I do something about it."

Believing knowledge is power, I found a copy of the book that is the basis for the miniseries. It was written by Holocaust survivor Flory Van Beek, and titled "Flory: Survival in the Valley of Death."

I began reading and was enthralled with this love story. Flory and her Jewish boyfriend were protected by their Dutch Christian neighbors. By the end of the book, I could not stop crying.

Like many Holocaust survivors, my parents refuse to discuss with me what happened during the war. So the only opportunity for me to understand their suffering is through the stories of others.

The only way for the Holocaust to stay in our collective memory is for the stories to be captured on film or in writing. Soon, no survivors will be alive to give us firsthand accounts.

Since I still had concerns even after reading the book. I left a message for Quinn Taylor, vice president of television movies and miniseries for ABC. "I am the child of survivors," I said. "I would like to talk to you about Mel Gibson's participation in a Holocaust series."

I was busy trying to figure out what I could do next when the phone rang. Much to my surprise, it was the very important Quinn Taylor.

"You are calling me back!" I said, surprised.

"Yes — you are one of the few that left your phone number and were not afraid to identify yourself," he replied.

I could not imagine what kind of messages the others had left. Although I sometimes forget it, I learned long ago that you catch more flies with honey.

"I have to do this for my mother and father who suffered so much during the war, and in memory of my paternal grandfather and four maternal uncles that were shot dead in cold blood by the Nazis," I told Taylor.

"Don't worry," Taylor reassured me. "I am gay, so I am a member of a minority group that would have been persecuted by the Nazis. So I would never make a movie sympathetic to the Nazis." He also reminded me that he had produced an Emmy-award-winning miniseries on Anne Frank.

"That is all well and good, but it is not enough for me," I told him.

So Taylor told me there were also two Jewish producers attached to the project, and gave me their contact information. Even I could not ask for more.

I called the first producer and received my second surprise of the day. Mr. Big Producer returned my call right away.

"My family fled Russia in 1892," he told me. "I descend from a long line of rabbis. The other producer's father is a survivor."

And, he said, "this movie would not be made without Mel Gibson's star power."

I have never been known to be shy, so I asked for script approval. Mr. Big Producer had a ready comeback. "The script is not even written. But you can see the script before filming begins. We will listen to your suggestions. I cannot promise that we will take them all."

I was not finished with my list of demands. "What about having a Holocaust historian attached to the project?" I asked.

Mr. Big Producer returned my volley with finesse. "What better historian than Flory herself? She will be involved in the filming."

Once I received the script, I was going to have a Dutch Holocaust historian review it for accuracy. As far as I was concerned, the producers, including Mel Gibson, were more than fair to me by letting me see the script before filming.

All the Holocaust organizations that I had represented in my initial call could not believe that I had succeeded where Abe Foxman of the ADL had failed. (Mr. Foxman did not get a script of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" before it was filmed, and had to sneak into the previews.)

Letting my inner author speak, I suggested the ending of the film be a ceremony at the Holocaust museum Yad Vashem, where the Dutch Christians who saved Flory would be awarded the high honor of Righteous Gentile. The producers took my suggestion.

Now, because Mel Gibson went on a drunken anti-Semitic rampage, the opportunity to tell another Holocaust story is going to be lost unless we do something.

Cindy Saunders wrote the screenplay, not Mel Gibson. Holocaust survivor Flory Van Beek wrote the book that the movie is based on, not Mel Gibson. As Flory herself said, "This gives Mel and the others like him another victory."

Do not silence Flory's story just to punish Mel Gibson. He will not be punished for long. He will bounce back from this. The currency of Hollywood is, well, currency; the box office rules. But if we do not do something now, the chance to tell an important Holocaust story will be lost forever. Flory is her 80s and does not have much longer to tell her story.




Laura Goldman worked on Wall Street for many years. She currently lives in Tel Aviv.

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