AFDI/SIOA EXCLUSIVE: STATEMENT FROM JOSEPH NASSRALLA GIVES INSIDE STORY OF MAKING OF “INNOCENCE OF maahslimes” FILM

Monday, September 17, 2012

Joseph Nassralla of Way TV and Media for Christ has contacted me to issue a statement about his role in producing the film “Innocence of Muslims.” The last time I saw Nassralla, he had come to our Summer Night for Civil Rights in June in California, and before that I saw him at our September 11, 2011 rally. But now he is being hunted like an animal because of the media's relentless campaign to destroy and target innocent civilians whom they believe have been critical of Islam. Nassralla is currently in hiding after multiple death threats from Muslims, because of his purported role in producing this video. Now, for the first time, Nassralla has revealed to me the inside story of the making of “Innocence of Muslims.”

I want to emphasize that “Innocence of Muslims” was not the actual cause of the worldwide Muslim riots and murders of innocent people that have followed in its wake. In reality, the riots were planned for months, and have nothing to do with the video – they’re just an attempt to get the U.S. to destroy free speech. The Coptic Christians who produced the film have suffered escalating persecution from Muslims in the last few years, and have lived for centuries under dhimmitude, harassment and violence. Many in the U.S. have long wanted to tell their story and expose the true face of Islam to the world. Moreover, ex-Muslims such as Ali Sina of Faith Freedom International was planning to make a factual film of Muhammad’s life, to show what he really said and did according to Islamic tradition. “Innocence of Muslims,” however, was not Ali Sina’s film (Sina had no involvement in it whatsoever); nor was it the film that many Coptic activists, including Joseph Nassralla, thought they were making.

And as an aside, why isn't the media destroying the Hollywood company, Blue Canyon, for providing the outdoor facility for this amateurish production?

Here is the statement Joseph Nassralla gave to me:

There has been a campaign of disinformation and smears about the film "Innocence of Muslims" and my involvement in it. I have been forced to leave my home, and I have received numerous death threats. It grieves me that my intent was to call attention to the relentless, bloody persecution of the Copts, but that issue is of no interest to the media at all. But the hounding by the media and the ongoing Muslim violence forces me to issue a statement setting the record straight.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula called me last year. He said to me, “I know you are protesting the persecution of Christians, the forced conversions, and the killing of innocent Christians while they are worshipping, as well as the burning of the churches in Egypt and the kidnapping of Christian girls for forced conversion."

He told me that he was making a film about Christian persecution, and that it would examine the culture of the desert and how it is related to what is going on right now. The name of Nakoula’s film, he told me, was Desert Warrior.

So the movie that I was told about turned out to be a completely different movie from “Innocence of Muslims.”

Nakoula needed a place to film. So I let him use my facility – that is all I did, and is the full extent of my involvement with this project. Nakoula used my facility for ten days. Media for Christ employees were given a vacation during that time, because Nakoula was using the facility and so there was no work for them. There was only one Media for Christ employee who remained, to answer phones for the ministry.

I later discovered that Nakoula, using the name Sam Bacile, had gone to LA Films as producer of Desert Warrior, and used the name of my organization, Media for Christ, to obtain the permit he needed. He did so without my knowledge or permission.

Nakoula filmed his movie not only at my ministry location, but in Nakoula’s own home (which reporters located by getting the address from the actors), and in another facility for outside scenes that was included in the permit, Blue Canyon. I gave him no further assistance with the project.

Nakoula altered the film without anyone’s knowledge, changing its entire focus and dubbing in new dialogue. He edited it. The final product, “Innocence of Muslims,” bore no resemblance to the film I thought he was making, or the film the actors thought they were creating. We were shocked.

The only people who are responsible for the riots and murders that have been blamed on this film are those who are rioting and murdering – not me, and not Pamela Geller or Robert Spencer or Nakoula Nakoula or anyone else. However, I thought it necessary to issue this statement in order to emphasize that Nakoula is the only one known right now to be responsible for the content of this movie.

The work of my ministry and my television station is to expose the brutal ideology of sharia and terrorism. Our work is not against Muslims. I urge you to check out our work, we never insult anyone. Go to ATVSAT.com.

Posted by Pamela Geller on Monday, September 17, 2012 at 03:28 PM

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2012/09/afdisioa-exclusive-statement-from-joseph-nassralla-gives-inside-story-of-making-of-innocence-of-musl.html