Anti-Islam filmmaker’s lies about Jews, and the Jew who detected danger

So we now know with a high level of certainty that the anti-Islam film wasn’t produced by an Israeli or financed by Jews. Indeed, a law enforcement official has confirmed that a Coptic Christian resident of Southern California was behind it.

The filmmaker’s lies about his identity and financing, as The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg noted, are dangerous to Jews and difficult to remedy now that they’re in circulation. (Sure enough, Iran’s Press TV is still repeating them.)

One Jew, however, was way ahead of the rest of the world in sensing danger. Back in June, a Los Angeles blogger spotted posters (mostly in Arabic) for the film — which was then titled “Innocence of Bin Laden" — at a Hollywood theater where it was being screened. He thought anti-Semites might be behind it and harangued the Los Angeles City Council about the issue.

Talking Points Memo reports:

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On June 29, a man named John Walsh, who blogs at hollywoodhighlands.org, appeared before the Los Angeles City Council and raised concerns about a movie titled “Innocence of Bin Laden,” that was set to be shown that week at a theater in Hollywood.

That movie now appears to be a version of a film blamed for setting off violent protests at U.S. Embassies in the Middle East. It’s unclear whether the film was linked to the deaths of American diplomats in Libya, but it has been cited as the driving force for demonstrations in Egypt, Sudan and Yemen.

“There is an alarming event occurring in Hollywood on Saturday,” Walsh said at the city council meeting. “A group has rented the Vine Street theater to show a video entitled ‘Innocence of Bin Laden.’ We have no idea what this group is.”

Walsh raised the prospect in his comments that the group promoting the movie was anti-Semitic, and even accused a city councilman of being an anti-Semite after he had been interrupted. At the same council meeting, Walsh also offered public comments on several other topics.