Miqati Meets Connelly, Says U.S. Not Responsible for Work of 'Individual' Citizen
Prime Minister Najib Miqati denounced on Friday that recent attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed the ambassador and three others, saying that the “friendly” U.S. people shouldn't be held responsible for the work of an “individual” citizen.
“We strongly condemn the attack in Libya,” Miqati said during a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly at the Grand Serail.
The premier denounced again the low-budget movie, "Innocence of Muslims" in which actors have strong American accents and which portrays Muslims as immoral and gratuitously violent.
“The anger that was sparked by the movie should remain peaceful and civilized as the tragic reaction offends Islam and serves the aims of those who produced the film,” Miqati said.
For her part, Connelly stressed that the U.S administration has nothing to do with the repellant movie that insults all religions.
She expressed remorse over the death of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three of his staff, who were working with the Libyan people to fortify the values of freedom and democracy.
“Islam respects the fundamental dignity of human beings and it violates that dignity to attack innocents... We reject the denigration of religion,” she stated.
Connelly called on the Lebanese not to allow a small group of people to create an inter-religion conflict.
“We must not allow a tiny minority of people to provoke conflict among religions, countries, and cultures,” she said.
The ambassador urged all leaders must take a firm stand against violence.
The film pokes fun at the Prophet Mohammed and touches on themes of pedophilia and homosexuality, while showing him sleeping with women, talking about killing children and referring to a donkey as "the first Muslim animal."
Mystery has deepened over the film, with conflicting accounts from backers and promoters but no one owning up to having actually directed it.
U.S. media initially cited someone claiming to be an American-Israeli calling himself Sam Bacile as saying he made the film on a $5 million budget with the help of 100 Jews, but no record of such a person has been found.
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