Jonathan S. Tobin: The Real Lesson of 9/11 Isn’t a Story About Islamophobia
Though Greenblatt claims FBI statistics back up his claims about an anti-Muslim backlash, a look at the last 20 years of such data proves the opposite. The number of attacks on Muslims has remained small even when temporary hikes occurred. Throughout this period, the numbers show that the overwhelming majority of religion-based attacks have been aimed at Jews, not at Muslims.
While Greenblatt is riding the left’s favorite racism hobby horse, elsewhere the anniversary is being used for different purposes.
In Afghanistan and other places where Islamists rule, Sept. 11 won’t be a day of mourning or an occasion for talking about Islamophobia. It’s not a coincidence that the Taliban — the Islamist group that hosted the Al-Qaeda terrorist atrocities — have chosen to inaugurate their new government on the date. They believe they have proved that with enough patience, sooner or later those who attack the United States can wait out a democracy that lacks the will to oppose them in a long, drawn-out struggle.
As Hudson Institute strategic analyst and former combat veteran Michael Pregent told me in an interview that will air on a JNS “Top Story” podcast, Afghanistan will now be open for business again as a base for Islamic radicals. While four administrations from both political parties contributed to this catastrophe, the feckless decision of the Biden administration to pull the plug on its Afghan allies and then effectively concede the country to this enemy will help to recruit others for various Islamist radical terror groups. It will also encourage Iran, a rogue regime that President Joe Biden is also still bent on appeasing, to stick with its goal of acquiring nuclear weapons.
That will make American allies like Israel less secure and increase the chances of regional war. It will also — contrary to the belief of many Americans on both the right as well as the left, who think the conflicts in the Middle East can be ignored as long as Americans are no longer stationed there — make it entirely possible that future terror attacks will be closer to home, rather than in Kabul.
These cruel facts should be uppermost in our minds on this somber anniversary. Instead, Greenblatt and others on the left are trying to change the subject to Islamophobia. In retrospect, the Ground Zero mosque controversy was all about the way radical groups like CAIR were, with the help of liberal media, trying to change the narrative about 9/11 in order to distract Americans from a potent threat while miring them in a self-destructive and dishonest conversation about prejudice. Still, who would have believed 10 years ago that the ADL, the group tasked with defending Jews against the ideas and the people behind 9/11, would be lending its considerable influence to this disgraceful effort?
So moving, so powerful! U.S. Marines in Jerusalem, as "The Star-Spangled Banner" is played at the @JNFUSA #September11 commemoration. ???? ????@usembassyjlm @USAmbIsrael @IsraelinUSA @giladerdan1 @IsraelMFA @StateDept @JNFRobinson pic.twitter.com/SxCEYTKLg6
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) September 12, 2021
In 9/11 Anniversary Message, Al-Qaeda Chief Warns ‘Jerusalem Will Not Be Judaized’
In a video marking 20 years since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri attacked Arab countries for “collaborating” with the United States, calling them “Zionist Arabs.” Al-Zawahiri also vowed that “Jerusalem will not be Judaized.”Osama bin Laden's son ashamed of father's crimes, wants to visit Israel
The video was posted to the website of a US NGO, SITE Intelligence Group.
Al-Zawahiri named Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as the chief “collaborators.”
The UAE, along with Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan, made history in 2020 when they signed the Abraham Accords, normalizing ties with Israel under the auspices of the United States.
Al-Zawahiri took command of Al-Qaeda following the assassination of its longtime leader Osama bin Laden in 2011. Rumors of al-Zawahiri’s death have circulated for years, and the assessment in the West is that this video is not proof he is still alive, as he makes no mention in it of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The son of Osama bin Laden, the slain leader of the al-Qaida terrorist group said he hopes to visit Israel in an interview with the Israeli media.'Osama Bin Laden was the face of evil', says the Navy Seal that killed him
Omar bin Laden, 40, the youngest of Osama's sons, was expected to be his father's heir and take on the leadership of al-Qaida but turned down the offer. He said he felt "shame and horror" toward his father for the crimes he committed during his life.
He said after the devastation of the Sept. 11 attacks orchestrated by his father on the World Trade Center towers in New York City, the Pentagon outside Washington, and in an open field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania that "it was hard for me to believe that he had the ability to organize such a thing. That day changed our lives forever, and it was very hard to continue to live afterwards. During these years of loss and pain, I was forced to come to terms with the truth about my father."
An artist, Omar bin Laden lives in Normandy, France. He longs to visit the United States and Israel, noting that his wife, whose maternal side of the family is Jewish and originally from Israel, received an offer to give lectures on peace at Israeli universities.
"I know that it's a beautiful country, and many people in it want peace with the Palestinians," he said. "I know that since 1948, the Palestinians have been living alongside the Jewish nation. We believe that the world needs to live as one and that neighbors from every religion can live alongside each other in peace."