Steven Spielberg denounces antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate

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Steven Spielberg has denounced the rise of antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate in a brand new speech, warning that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.

The Jaws director spoke throughout an award ceremony celebrating 30 years of the University of Southern California’s Shoah Foundation, which he based in 1994 after making his Holocaust movie Schindler’s List. The Foundation acquired the USC Medallion, its highest honour.

“We can rage against the heinous acts committed by the terrorists of October 7 and also decry the killing of innocent women and children in Gaza,” Spielberg stated, in line with The Wrap.

“This makes us a unique force for good in the world. And here’s why we are here today to celebrate the work of the Shoah Foundation, which is more crucial now than it even was in 1994.”

Spielberg virtually give up making motion pictures after what he referred to as “the trauma of telling the story [of Schindler’s List] and forming the Shoah Foundation”.

In his speech on Monday (25 March), he singled out younger college students experiencing prejudice on school campuses including: “50 per cent of students say they have experienced some discrimination because they are Jewish. This is also happening alongside anti-Muslim, Arab and Sikh discrimination.”

The Jurassic Park filmmaker added: “I’m increasingly alarmed that we may be condemned to repeat history… once again to fight for the very right to be Jewish. Stopping the rise of antisemitism and hate of any kind is critical to the health of our democratic republic and the future of democracy all over the civilised world.”

The Shoah Foundation preserves the tales of Holocaust survivors and witnesses. The Holocaust can be known as Shoah in Hebrew – which means the genocide of the Jewish folks.

The mission focuses on recording the testimonials of Jewish folks in audio-visual interviews, permitting them to be made accessible for analysis, schooling, and outreach for the betterment of humankind in perpetuity.

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The mission has collected over 56,000 testimonies to this point.

Last 12 months, on Stephen Colbert’s US speak present, Spielberg shared his considerations concerning the rise in antisemitism within the US.

“I find it very, very surprising,” he stated. “Antisemitism has always been there, it’s either been just around the corner and slightly out of sight but always lurking, or it has been much more overt like in Germany in the Thirties.”