- JERUSALEM -- Greek composer
Mikis Theodorakis, who outraged Jews in November by calling them "the
root of evil," is at it again, this time saying Jews control the world's
banks and the mass media.
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- Theodorakis, best known for the score of the 1964 film
"Zorba the Greek," called himself a "true friend of the
Jewish people" in an interview published Friday by the Israeli newspaper
Haaretz.
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- Theodorakis said he granted the interview to try to soothe
the feelings he hurt in November.
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- "And I was very much hurt by the Jewish reaction
to what I said. It was not a civilized reaction," he told the paper.
He said he had received hundreds of "poisonous e-mails from Jews all
over the world. I couldn't understand this hatred toward me."
-
- But Theodorakis went on to reiterate his earlier comments
and used common anti-Semitic invectives.
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- He said he doesn't hate Jews, but rather Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon's policies regarding the Palestinians, which he described
as Nazi-like. Sharon - and other Jews in influential positions - persuaded
U.S. President George W. Bush to go to war against Iraq, he added.
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- Theodorakis' comments in November led Israel to complain
to the Greek government, which distanced itself from the composer's remarks.
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- In March, the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center,
a Jewish advocacy group, urged Jews not to visit Greece, saying: "There
is no country in Europe that matches the intensity of anti-Semitic invective."
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- The composer - who wrote the Palestinian national anthem
- also said there is no anti-Semitism in Europe, despite a recent wave
of anti-Jewish attacks.
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- He called Jewish claims of anti-Semitism a "masochistic
reaction" by a people who like to be "the victim."
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- Theodorakis claimed Jews control banks, the mass media
and the United States.
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- "They hold world finance in their hands, so it's
only natural that they would see themselves as very strong," Theodorakis
said. "In America the Jewish community is very strong. It controls
much of the economy, certainly the mass media," he said.
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- Theodorakis said Jewish control of orchestras has prevented
him from holding concerts.
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- "The Jewish people now appear to control the big
banks. And often the governments. So whatever bad or evil comes from the
governments, it's natural for ordinary people to associate that with the
Jewish people," he said.
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- After describing how his religious grandmother believed
Jews drank the blood of Christian boys during Easter, the composer said
the problem was that Jews didn't accept Jesus.
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- http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_
story.asp?category=1107&slug=Israel%20Greece
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