New York, NY, September 12, 2012 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today strongly condemned the mob violence in Benghazi that led to the shocking murders of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three of his staff at the U.S. mission to Libya on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Protests outside of the U.S. missions in Benghazi and Cairo, reportedly in response to a film entitled, "Innocence of Muslims," whose Internet trailer portrays the Prophet Muhammad as a child-molester, homosexual and philanderer, quickly turned violent. In Libya, a crowd surged inside the embassy and set the building on fire. In Cairo, protestors breached the walls of the U.S. embassy and destroyed the flying American flag.
"Whether this murderous attack was premeditated or in reaction to a profoundly offensive anti-Islam film, nothing justifies the violence and killings of an innocent U.S. diplomat and embassy personnel," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "We strongly condemn the hateful anti-Islam message of the film. Still, it is not even clear that the attacks were prompted by the film, and we are deeply troubled at reports that the attacks on the embassies in Libya and Cairo may have been premeditated."