In an address on 5 October 2008, Macnab defended his comments, including against suggestions they were offensive to Jews, citing his study in undergraduate and postgraduate work in Hebrew language and history, including distinctions, and saying "Some of the comments have been knee-jerk reactions, uninformed and heavily overloaded with bad manners."[14] He also stated, "While I have no intention of denigrating the Ten Commandments as a sacred symbol of the Jewish Torah and the Old Covenant, I say they are negative."[14] He gave eight reasons why he believes the Ten Commandments to be negative and outlined his alternative 10 Commandments, which he described as "positive, plausible and powerful".[14]
