An Israeli-American has produced a film insulting Prophet Muhammad, a film being promoted by a Coptic immigrant. As a result, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo was stormed, while U.S. ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens was killed, along with three of his aides. First of all, the U.S. embassy in Cairo has absolutely nothing to do with the film, its producers or its promoters. Secondly, the slain U.S. ambassador was a friend of the Libyan revolution, and a nuanced expert on Arab affairs who spoke our language. He also assisted a British think-tank that I deal with. Thirdly, the embassy, like any embassy in every country, has diplomatic immunity, and so do its staff. The attack on the embassy in Egypt thus relegated the latter to the level of Iran following the 1979 revolution, when Americans were held hostage in their own embassy for 444 days. Fourthly, Egypt has signed diplomatic conventions that protect foreign diplomats on its soil, and the attack on the embassy represents a breach by Egypt of these conventions. Fifthly, no one can truly insult the Prophet or his message. He who is like the sun in stature, nothing can elevate or degrade him. Sixthly, if the goal of the film was to provoke Muslims, then the protesters have ended up serving and promoting the Israeli film. They have probably done the film a favor by attacking the embassy on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, reminding the Americans that there are terrorists around the world who want to harm them, and who have no religious or moral deterrent to stop them. Seven, if the U.S. embassy in Cairo had not been attacked, and the U.S. ambassador in Libya had not been killed over the anti-Islam film, the latter would not have spread beyond a small group of Israelis and other frenzied hardliners. Hence, the protesters gave the film international fame, and millions will watch it before this whole debacle comes to an end. Another Iranian angle to this story involves Salman Rushdie and the Iranian fatwa calling for his death after the publishing of his book Satanic Verses. This led to hundreds of thousands of copies of this book being sold, even though the book is difficult to read, and only a handful of people had read it. Eight, the protesters are the natural allies of the Israeli American Sam Bacile, and Coptic figure Maurice Sadek (the pastor Terry Jones, who burned copies of the Koran, has nothing to do with the film). Indeed, the enemies of this crass film have helped those behind it, like the most despicable enemies of the Muslims could never do. Nine, I dare say that every enemy of Islam and the Muslims is jumping for joy and exchanging congratulations with his ilk, because the protesters in Cairo and Benghazi did exactly what their enemies had expected them to do. If those enemies were to attack the Egyptian embassy in Washington, then they would have a readymade excuse for doing so. I can add many more points. What happened was a crime against innocent people, against Islam and its Prophet, and against millions of Egyptians and Libyans who know better than to be ambushed by the scheming of their enemies. Ignorance can kill, but I don't know why ignorance kills more of us than any other people on the planet, as though we have a monopoly on ignorance, extremism and miscomprehension. There are many means available for one to protest, other than violating a foreign embassy or murdering an ambassador. I have an example of this, which roughly coincided with the suspicious anti-Islam film: The UK's Channel 4 had cancelled a documentary film entitled “Islam: the Untold Story", which was prepared by the historian Tom Holland, after receiving 1200 complaints about the first episode, and threats against its cast. The documentary was withdrawn without anyone being killed or wounded, or properties being destroyed. The Egyptian and Libyan protesters could have achieved the same result against the offensive film, but they chose to promote it instead of seeking for it to be pulled out. We do not need enemies, because we have a thousand enemies from within, and these are the real threat to the nation's future. [email protected]
