Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Harvey Weinstein Urges Jews To Be ‘Organized as Mafia’ Against Anti-Semitism

In a pugnacious speech to a gala dinner given by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein urged Jews to organize and fight back against anti-Semitism.

The famously combative Weinstein, who was being presented with the organization’s Humanitarian Award at its National Tribute Dinner on Tuesday night, announced to the attendees that Jews “better stand up and kick these guys in the ass,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Weinstein, who has produced a litany of hit films such as the Holocaust action movie “Inglorious Basterds” and “Pulp Fiction,” reportedly urged “understanding of our Arab brothers and our Islamic brothers” but also warned: “We can’t allow the bad guys to win. So, as they say in “The Godfather,” ‘back to the mattresses,’ and back to the idea that we will not ever forget what happened to us.

During the evening’s festivities, fellow Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg also reportedly announced that the Wiesenthal Center had raised another $50 million towards the construction of its long-delayed and controversial Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem. The project has been dogged by a litany of problems, including two architects who have resigned as well as long-running protests that museum is being partially built on top of the historic Muslim Mumilla cemetery.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.