The Filmmaker Who Wasn't
Many media accounts have named "Sam Bacile" as the "filmmaker" behind an anti-Islamic video that has sparked outrage in the Mideast. But the name appears to be phony, and Laura Rozen reveals details about people who were involved with the video.
The man claiming to be the writer, director and producer of the anti-Islam film that reportedly spurred deadly anti-American protests in Libya and Cairo Tuesday appeared on Wednesday not to exist — at least, not under the name, nationality, origins, religion or profession he claims.
“Sam Bacile” told The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press in interviews Tuesday that he was an Israeli-born Southern California-based real estate developer, who received $5 million from “100 Jewish donors” to finance his anti-Islam film, Innocence of Muslims, “Islam is a cancer,” he told the Journal and AP.
But several elements of “Bacile’s” story appeared on further examination Wednesday to be phony. There are, for instance, no California real estate license records for anyone with the last name Bacile. And the fact that Bacile said precisely “100 Jewish” donors financed the project also seemed dubious. Israeli officials, contacted by Al-Monitor, declined to say if Bacile was an Israeli citizen, demurring in part because of uncertainty over whether that was a real name.
Then there were other clues that his identity was fake. Steven A. Klein, a Hemet, Calif.-based “consultant” to the film and self-styled terror expert, told the AP Wednesday that Bacile had family members in Egypt. With reports suggesting there have been fewer than 100 Jews living in Egypt since 2004, it did not seem that Bacile's Egyptian Jewish family members would be hard to locate — or easy to protect.
