Poster for Akkad's film on the story of Islam - "The Message"

Poster for Akkad's Halloween film series about a psychopathic killer with a message: On Halloween night, a little boy in a clown costume kills his sister after watching her have sex with her boyfriend Upon being released from a mental hospital he comes back 'to kill young people thinking of having sex'.http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/movies/a0000151.cfm

MIM:There is mounting evidence the Mustapha Akkad, who was killed with his daughter Rina in the Jordan terrorist attacks was an Islamist. The latest proof can be seen in an article which reports that Akkad, a Syrian born Muslim who moved to the United States, who was lauded by Muslims for his Hollywood films on the Life of Muhammed "Messenger of God" and a film honoring the Muslim defeat of the Italians in Libya. The Iranian Minister of Cinema culture also noted that Akkad was planning to make a film about Salahuddin 'which would have been an interpretation of events in Palestine". Akkad was buried in Syria and it was reported that:

"On Saturday morning, Jordanian Prime Minister Adnan Badran, and several of his cabinet ministers, accompanied the hearse that carried Akkad's body back to the Syrian border.

In the wake of the sickening blasts, Syria's President Bashar al-Assad conferred Akkad with the nation's most prestigious civil medal - to award "his Arab nationalist stances...". (see full article below)

MIM: Not to be outdone by the Syrians, the terrorist entity Iran announced an Akkad commemoration and the Iran press reported that :

"...Akkad, a genius who spent his lifetime for a holy cause of presenting the true image and identity of Islam, died a martyr after sustaining injuries in the terrorist bombing..." (see full article below).

MIM:According to Al Jazeera Akkad had been unable to get funding for the project and the story line indicates why Islamists are so fond of Akkad.

"...He (Akkad),had already got the iconic Sean Connery on board to star as the legendary Kurdish hero born in Iraq who would reclaim Jerusalem from the Crusaders in the 12th century.

"..Akkad thought the invasion of Iraq was analogous to the political climate in the 11th century before Jerusalem was sacked. He said the current geopolitical chessboard reminded him of all the Muslim city-states which colluded with the Crusaders and allowed not only the fall of Jerusalem, but also led to Muslim infighting.

He believed he was unable to gain Arab financial backing because the period leading up to the rise of Salahuddin too closely mirrored current events in the Arab world.

The last I heard was that Akkad had found some financing and that Sean Connery was interested in the project".

MIM: Akkad's film about the defeat of the French by Libya also shows that the director had ties to Islamists since it was partially funded by Libya at a time when the country was considered an enemy of the United States for it's support and harboring of terrorists.

"...The story of the legendary Libyan teacher who took up arms against the Italian invaders in the 1920s, Lion of the Desert was in Akkad's words, his finest achievement as a filmmaker.

With a star-studded cast including Oliver Reed as Italian General Graziani, Rod Steiger as Mussolini and Irene Papas (also a star of The Message) as Mabrouka, the film won rave reviews in the Arab world but received little attention in Hollywood.

Akkad told me the film fell prey to the popular politics of the times; Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi had provided some financial backing to the film and allowed it to be filmed in Libya, which was considered an enemy of the US in the late 1970s.

The animosity between US president Ronald Reagan's administration and Libya in the 1980s meant the film got very little play in American theatres or on television networks..."

"...Although a naturalised American citizen, Akkad always kept Syria, and specifically his birth town of Aleppo, sacrosanct. I had asked him what it meant to be so far away and he had replied: "Aleppo is never far away, it is always in the heart".

He shared fond memories of Syria, its people, the way he was brought up as a Muslim and as an Arab, the parables told to him by his father.

He was very passionate in describing his love for his religion and Arab causes and his disdain for terrorism.

Ironically, it would be terrorism that would end his life..."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/EE25F3A5-6268-46D9-948C-BBD031AC1884.htm

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MIM: Akkad's sister Leila, said she was "against terrorist attacks on civilians" which implies that she shares the view of many Lebanese, who approved of suicide bombings by Al Qaeda directed at Westerners.

MIM:Akkad was honored by the ADC (the American Arab anti Discrimination Committee, and other groups pushing a radical Islamist agenda.

He was also praised by his friend Khalid Abou Fadl who was labelled as a "steath Islamist" by Dr. Daniel Pipes. It is worth noting that Abou Fadl's remarks about Akkad show him to be a 'stealth Islamist" because he refers to the assimilated Akkad's death as " a loss to the Muslim world" and tacitly ignores his American citizenship or decades of residence in the country where he became wealthy and famous.

"It's devastating," said UCLA law professor Khaled Abou El Fadl, a longtime friend of Akkad. "Terrorism that claims to be Islamic-motivated has killed so many of the gifted assets of the Muslim world..."

. MIM:Ironically, Akkad had once said in an interview that he resented the fact that in films, Muslims are always associated with terrorism,

"...and complained in 1998: "in Hollywood, Muslims are only terrorists" (Quoted in Laurie Goodstein, "Hollywood Now Plays Cowboys and Arabs," The New York Times http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/235

MIM: Akkad had this to say about "The Lion of the Desert," which told of the Libyan revolt against the occupying Italian army.

"It was the first time American audiences applauded for an Arab," Akkad told The Times in 1991.

MIM:Akkad's death in a suicide bombing is further proof that art imitates life, and the death of a man who protested Muslims being seen as terrorists by one, also sheds light on how Islamists can use Hollywood to make money catering to the lowest common denominator of American popular culture, (which they claim to despise), and wage Jihad through Da'wa at the same time.

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http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=38065&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

Iran's cinema artists commemorate Akkad

LONDON, November 24 (IranMania) - A commemoration ceremony will be held on Thursday for the late Syrian film director Mustafa Akkad, reported Fars news agency.

The ceremony, which will be attended by Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance for cinema affairs Mohammad Reza Jafari, directors and personnel of the ministry?s Cinema Department, managing director of Cinema House, filmmakers and those involved in the film industry, is being held in cooperation with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and a number of other film institutes.

Akkad, 68, an internationally celebrated film director is well known for his box office hits ?Muhammad (PBUH), Messenger of God and Omar Al-Mokhtar, a Libyan revolutionary who rose up against Italian occupation.

Akkad was killed in a terrorist bombing of a hotel in Amman, Jordan along with his daughter Rima, 30.

Akkad, a genius who spent his lifetime for a holy cause of presenting the true image and identity of Islam, died a martyr after sustaining injuries in the terrorist bombing.

Islam is averse to such horrific acts and has never endorsed the killing of innocent people. This is exactly what Akkad had been working on for years on end.

More recently he was working on a new masterpiece Salaheddin Al-Ayoubi, a movie that will give the actual interpretation of the current events in Palestine.

The ceremony to pay tribute to the great man of Islam will be held at Palestine Cinema at 18:30 p.m.