Billy Graham's second apology for anti-Semitic comments he made 30 years ago drew a sympathetic response Saturday from two Charlotte rabbis.
In a prepared statement released Saturday by his ministry, the Charlotte-born evangelist repudiated the comments he made to President Nixon in 1972, in which he claimed that a Jewish "stranglehold" of the media was ruining the country.
Graham, 83, apologized for the comments when they first came to light two weeks ago with the release of White House tapes by the National Archives, though he said he didn't remember saying it. His second apology was more pronounced.
"I was wrong for not disagreeing with the president," he said in the prepared statement, "and I sincerely apologize to anyone I have offended."
Graham asked the Jewish community "to reflect on my actions on behalf of Jews over the years that contradict my words in the Oval Office that day."
Rabbi James Bennett of Temple Beth El said he welcomes the second, stronger apology.
"Billy Graham's first apology, to me, reeked of saying the least he could possibly say and get away with an apology."
Saturday's statement, Bennett said, "sounds like a genuine effort at repentance, that `I don't agree with those words that I uttered.' "
Rabbi Murray Ezring of Temple Israel said he was struck that Graham felt the need to apologize again.
"Oftentimes, the greatest punishment is the guilt we hold within ourselves," Ezring said. "He sees the wrong. He understands the wrong."
In the taped conversation, Graham agreed with Nixon's earlier comments, saying, "This stranglehold has got to be broken, or this country's going down the drain."
Later in the taped conversation, when Nixon raised the subject of Jewish influence in Hollywood and the media, Graham said, "A lot of Jews are great friends of mine."
"... They swarm around me and are friendly to me, because they know that I am friendly to Israel and so forth. But they don't know how I really feel about what they're doing to this country, and I have no power and no way to handle them," Graham says on the tape.
Ezring said he believes Graham has done more good in his life than bad. But it's not up to man to decide whether a person's good deeds outweigh the bad, Ezring said. In the Jewish faith, that judgment is left up to God.
Bennett said it's not enough for Graham to repudiate with words what he said long ago.
"Someone could issue an apology all they want," said Bennett, "but if they don't act as if they mean it...."