WATCH: Steven Spielberg Discusses Antisemitism and the War in Gaza

CALIFORNIA (VINnews) — Over five months since the horrific Hamas terror attack, famed Jewish Director Steven Spielberg has made his first direct comments about the war in Gaza, during a speech commemorating the 30th anniversary of the founding of the USC Shoah Foundation. He said that “We can rage against the heinous acts committed by the terrorists of October 7th and also decry the killing of innocent women and children in Gaza.”

In his speech, which also condemned hatred of Jews and Muslims, the iconic director also said: “Those who can not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. I am increasingly alarmed that we may be condemned to repeat history – to once again have to fight for the very right to be Jewish.”

He added: “The echoes of history are unmistakable in our current climate. The rise of extremist views has created a dangerous environment, and radical intolerance leads a society to no longer celebrate differences but instead conspire to demonize those who are different to the point of creating ‘the Other’… This is happening alongside anti-Muslim, Arab, and Sikh discrimination. The creation of ‘the Other’ and the dehumanization of any group based on their differences, is the foundation of fascism.”

Spielberg has largely avoided making overt statements about the war. In December he was quoted in a Shoah Foundation statement about the October 7 massacre by Hamas, saying: “I never imagined I would see such unspeakable barbarity against Jews in my lifetime.”

Spielberg has not signed the open letter criticizing director Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar acceptance speech, which was viciously anti-Jewish.

In November, Spielberg announced that the Shoah Foundation would launch a new project in which it would interview survivors of the October 7th massacre and document the various acts of terror it included, similar to its efforts to gather testimony from Holocaust survivors to document the crime that led to the creation of the word genocide.

“I never imagined that I would see this kind of unspeakable barbarity against Jews in my lifetime,” Spielberg commented at the time.