Controversial director Oliver Stone complained to the London Sunday Times about "Jєωιѕн domination of the media,” and claimed that Hitler did more damage to Russia than he did to the Jєωs.

by Dylan Stableford

TheWrap.com

updated 7/26/2010 5:13:12 PM ET

Oliver Stone is at it again.

Back in January, during a Television Critic Association panel on his 10-hour television Showtime docuмentary “A Secret History of America,” Stone got started with this little ditty: “Hitler was an easy scapegoat.”

This weekend, he amped it up a notch. The controversial director complained to the London Sunday Times about "Jєωιѕн domination of the media,” and claimed that Hitler did more damage to Russia than he did to the Jєωs.

Stone, who is half-Jєωιѕн, told the Times: “There's a major lobby in the United States. They are hard workers. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f---ed up United States foreign policy for years.”

While "Hitler was a Frankenstein [monster],” Stone said, “there was also a Dr. Frankenstein: German industrialists, the Americans and the British. He had a lot of support."

From January: Stone says 'Hitler an easy scapegoat'

Stone continued: "Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jєωιѕн people, 25 or 30 million (killed)."

Israel Diplomacy Minister Yuli Edelstein quickly slammed the director.

"Beyond the ignorance he proves with his comments, his demonization of the Jєωιѕн people could be a sequel to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion," Edelstein told the Jerusalem Post. "When a man of Stone's stature says such things, it could lead to a new wave of anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism, and it may even cause real harm to Jєωιѕн communities and individuals."

The American Jєωιѕн Committee blasted the director, too.

"By invoking this grotesque, toxic stereotype, Oliver Stone has outed himself as an αnтι-ѕємιтє," said AJC executive director David hαɾɾιs said in a statement. "For all of Stone's progressive pretensions, his remark is no different from one of the drunken, Jєω-hating rants of his fellow Hollywood celebrity, Mel Gibson."

"We are deeply offended," Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of h0Ɩ0cαųst Survivor, said in another statement. "These are words of hate and a disgraceful evocation of anti-Semitism. Shame on Oliver Stone."

Defending Iranian president
If that weren't enough, Stone also defended Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom he met recently.

"Iran isn't necessarily the good guy," he said in the Times interview. "But we don't know the full story." Stone said U.S. policy toward Iran was "horrible." (In 2007, Ahmadinejad rejected a proposal by the Oscar-winning director to make a film about him, calling Stone part of the "Great Satan" — America.)

Stone also praised Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez — subject of his "South of the Border" docuмentary — as "a brave, blunt, earthy [man]."

Stone defends 'South of the Border'

A representative for Stone did not immediately return a request for comment from TheWrap.

In the Times article, Stone said "Secret History" would put Hitler and Stalin "in context."

At the TCA press tour last January, he said the docuмentary would offer an alternative crash course to the "grossly inadequate history" taught by American schools and proffered by mass media.

In explaining the rise of Hitler, for example, textbooks and History Channel docuмentaries often don’t note that some American corporations funded the nαzιs, Stone said.

“There’s a ethnocentricity to history in this country — an America-first aspect to it. History, by its very nature, tends to be nationalistic,” he said. “What I’m trying to do as an internationalist is to get beyond the American point of view and view history as an international effort.”

He added: “Obviously, Rush Limbaugh isn’t going to like this.”

He also told U.K. journalists last January: "We can't judge people as only 'bad' or 'good'. [Hitler] is the product of a series of actions. It's cause and effect. People in America don't know the connection between WWI and WWII."

Stone is, of course, no stranger to controversy. At this point, his films — “J.F.K.,” “World Trade Center,” “W.,” “Natural Born Killers” et al — come prepackaged with made-for-cable news controversy. And his comments do, too, whether they are promoting a movie or not.

Last week, Stone told the British press he thinks Gibson — despite the steady leak of his vitriolic, racist rants — will work in Hollywood again.

"Everyone is supposed to have an opinion, but most directors don't work that way," Stone told The Sun when asked if directors will ever want to work with Gibson again. "Projects are developed slowly, and over the course of weeks, months, there will be projects, and I am sure many of them will want to have Mel Gibson in them."