Jerusalem – An Orthodox Israeli rabbi and former cabinet minister have condemned as “garbage and slime” a film deemed offensive to Islam that has sparked deadly anti-US protests in Libya and Egypt.
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“Although freedom of expression and the right to use satire are sacred democratic principles, these freedoms should not be used as an excuse to publish garbage and slime,” Michael Melchior, a long-standing advocate of inter-faith dialogue, wrote in a statement on Wednesday.
“The film of Sam Bacile, who identifies himself as a Jew and an Israeli, published under the guise of the ‘war on terror’, is in fact a film that tramples upon the faith and dignity of hundreds of millions of Muslim believers and upon Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, in the most degrading and ugly way,” he added.
The low-budget movie, Innocence of Muslims in which actors have strong American accents, portrays Muslims as immoral and gratuitously violent.
A purported portrayal of the life of the Prophet Mohammed, it touches on themes of pedophilia and homosexuality, and sparked protests in Egypt and violence in Libya that killed US ambassador Chris Stevens and three American officials.
It was produced by Bacile, an Israeli-American, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Israel’s interior ministry said that it does not comment on whether or not any individual holds Israeli citizenship.
“As a Jew and an Israeli rabbi, I am ashamed of the demeaning style and language of this film,” said Melchior, a former minister of social affairs and deputy foreign minister.
“It goes against the substance of the Torah of Israel and desecrates the name of God.”
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said on Wednesday the film “has nothing to do whatsoever with Israel”. Still, he said Israel will “have to be vigilant”.
He would not say whether any extra precautions were taken.
In Cairo Egypt’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday called for nationwide protests on Friday against after the film.
The Brotherhood called “for peaceful protests on Friday outside all the main mosques in all of Egypt’s provinces to denounce offences to religion and to the Prophet,” the Muslim Brotherhood’s Secretary General Mahmud Hussein said in a statement.
He also urged all “national forces to join the protests”.
The Muslim Brotherhood, from which President Mohamed Morsi emerged, is the largest and most organised political force in the country.
We definitely don’t need films to portray Muslims as immoral and gratuitously violent.
[We already have the television news reports for that.]
Thats right, Rabbi! We condemn anything against Islam and the Arabs. No, you won’t hear a word from us about the endless anti semitic rhetoric coming from the Arab world. We have our priorities straight you see.
People cant deal with the truth?? What wrong with all these people rushing to condemn?? They are letting the gangs of Muslims win, every time they dont like what someone says about Islam they go and kill people that had nothing to do with anything. Its people like this “Rabbi” that feed the blood thirsty gangs.
Why is he condemning it? Did his country make it? This is all so ridiculous. Does he really think this will help quell violence? Why is he bringing Jews into this? This is totally irresponsible and will only bring more violence.
So the Rabbi speaks out against the maker of the film and sides with the Muslims and does not even mention or condemn the barbaric Muslims who killed the US ambassador. His remarks seem to justify what the Muslims did. He sounds just like Obama.
Islam is baseless religion with a very weak foundation for anyone who doubts it do some research and you will be amazed how it is possible how it is possible that 1 billion Muslims are so ignorant and stupid, If the world can do more to convince Muslims what a Fraud Their profit Mohamed was maybe there will be peace at the end, The truth hurts! which is why the reaction to any attack on Mohamed or the Koran turns so violent but when the violence quiets down there are chances that slowly some Muslims will see the truth.
so there is an excuse for barbaric behavior, because someone made fun of your religion…? no rabbi — what would you say jews can do for all the fun the world has made of their religion….can we drop a nuclear bomb on the countries of our liking?
The film as seen on Youtube is childish, poorly written and poorly acted. This “Sam Bacile” who no one knows is clearly not a movie producer and may not even be a real person.
There have been movies and plays about the founder of the prevelelent religion in the west and no dealth threats of murders have resulted from them. Islam is different.
The film of Sam Bacile was stupid and and was insulting to hundreds of million Moslems worldwide…
Mr Sam Bacile is producing this movie from the safety and comfort of his home in the USA and is putting in danger millions of Jews in Israel and Europe.
He should apologize for being dumb .
A person should think of the severe consequences and ramifications before expressing his contempt for other people’s opinions or religion.This was a shameful act …
This rabbi is correct. This type of film is a snuff film of closed realism and fraudulent antiIslamit bigotry. I am really ashamed to think that this was to be shown in an embassy and there would be a good move to look into who brought this to our viewing.
Learning about Islam does not mean watching movies either which are not deemed sensible but rather by study and interaction. Looking for the worst in a community will never show you the best.
Judaism’s problem is not with Islam. Judaism has a lot more in common with Islam than it does with Christianity. Islam is not considered Avoida Zara. Like it or not, we are in the same boat as the Muslims – anyone who attacks that religion is just a half-step from attacking ours.
The focus should be on the murderous wackos who use Islam to further their goals.
Well as a Jew we should really support the Moslems a little.There are 7 mitzvos the non jews must keep.One of them is to appoint court systems to keep them.So who else is trying to do this besides the Muslims. Didn’t shimon and levy kill out the whole shechem for not judging shechem Ben Chamorfor the Dina incident.Well Muhammad
Judged those pagans and those people who call Jesus god.I don’t know what they have against Jews though.
No surprise here. Rabbi Melchior is a product of Liberal European pacifism. Check it out.
Do what you’ve been trained to do. Stick to education, deciding halacha, personal guidance etc. Stay out of politics.
I am not saying anything about the film; but everyday Jews have been criticized for their eyes, nose, too rich, too poor, xris killers etc etc and they laugh about it. They don’t go around killing people. Hate to say this by Islam is the religion of killing if you don’t go along with them. They have force xristian out of the West Bank. In Iran they wanted to kill a priest for preach xrisitianity Stop being blood thirsty and these things will not even be look at
Sam Bacile is a bit of an Im-Bacile methinks. There is a difference between satire and defamation, I think that this crosses the line. That said, perhaps Egypt would like to ban the yearly airing of blood libel films on television as a concession?
rabbi if someone make fun of jews that way are u telling your people to go out and kill. it is what it is
The idea to make such a film was stupid to say the least, but the resulting barbarism only proves it’s point…
This to me seems like a great stretch considering that 1/3 of the planet is comprised of Islamic factions and people. If you have no idea what a moslem is by now, you do not need a “snuff” film to expose their nature. You can read the papers and be informed.
sticking up for muslims is like stikcing up for natzis, you think it will make them like you but it dont
shame on this rabbi and others like him, simply stay quiet stop thinking talking nice will help
Rabbi Melchior is part of the knee-jerk apologists that THINK they are helping, and do more damage.
So, now it turns out, there is NO Sam Bacile. No, the man behind this silly movie is a coptic Christian from the middle east, who made up the whole Israel thing to protect his own identity. . I would not be surprised if his family had been tortured by Islamics for their Christian faith.
So, the guy is not even Jewish, Israeli or American, he is middle Eastern, and yet, while the Islamic mobs killed people without knowing the facts, Melchior had to jump in. The US embassy apologized without knowing the facts. Melchior spouts off without knowing the facts.
A man is dead. Hillary, Barack and Michael the rabbi should apologize for profaning the dead with their apologetics. Lets get some real leadership in Washington for once.