Jonathan Glazer, the director of The Zone of Interest, won the Best International Feature Oscar for his latest movie in this year’s Academy Awards. His movie has been widely praised for its portrayal of a family who basically ran the Auschwitz camp during Nazi Germany. The Nazi Commander and his family were the main focus of the movie, in the backdrop of the events of the Holocaust.
But recently, more than the movie it is Glazer’s Oscar speech that is gaining a lot of attention – for reasons good and bad. While the director got a deafening applause from the audience at the event with his speech, the same could not be said when he became the target of Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation USA (HSF) the very next day.
Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar Speech Is Being Condemned by His Fellow Jews
Jonathan Glazer, who is a Jew himself, made himself the target of the Jewish community with his recent speech at The Academy Awards 2024. After winning the Best International Feature Oscar, Glazer gave an impassioned speech (via Madman Films), linking the events of the Holocaust to what is happening in Gaza currently. He said:
“Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst… Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation, which has led to conflict for so many innocent people — whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza — all the victims of this dehumanization… how do we resist?”
His speech was met with cheers at the time from his fellow industry mates. But with an open letter from the HSF, things took a different turn.
The HSF Condemns Jonathan Glazer
Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation USA (HSF) president David Schaecter, in an open letter that has been posted on HSF’s official website, condemned the Oscar-winning director for his speech. The 94-year-old Holocaust survivor wrote:
“I watched in anguish Sunday night when I heard you use the platform of the Oscars ceremony to equate Hamas’ maniacal brutality against innocent Israelis with Israel’s difficult but necessary self-defense in the face of Hamas’ ongoing barbarity. Your comments were factually inaccurate and morally indefensible.”
He further added,
“You should be ashamed of yourself for using Auschwitz to criticize Israel. You made a Holocaust movie and won an Oscar. And you are Jewish. Good for you. But it is disgraceful for you to presume to speak for the six million Jews, including one and a half million children, who were murdered solely because of their Jewish identity.”
While many who have been asking for a ceasefire in Gaza have praised the director and his speech, pro-Jewish figures have condemned him for his words against the community and Israel.
