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‘A good example of a bad apology:’ Jewish Twitter skeptical about Roald Dahl family’s mea culpa

30 years after the death of beloved children’s author Roald Dahl, the Dahl family and the Roald Dahl Story Company, which manages his copyrights and trademarks, issued a quiet, brief apology for the author’s not-so-beloved antisemitism.

The author of such classics as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Matilda” and “James and the Giant Peach” had accused Jews of controlling American financial institutions and British publishing, given nods to Hitler and publicly declared himself an antisemite while criticizing Israel’s 1982 Lebanon war.

The Roald Dahl Story Company’s Site, RoaldDahl.com, posted the apology on Sunday; it didn’t send the notice to any Jewish organizations or announce it to the media. The company also restricted readership to adults. The website prompts users to identify themselves as kid, teacher or grown up. Those that identify as kids are transferred to a page that says “Nothing to see here!”

Some on Twitter said the quiet apology was too late and not enough.

Others questioned the validity or the point of apologizing for someone who died three decades ago.

Some did express relief that his antisemitism had finally been acknowledged by the family, but questioned the timing.

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