By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency - Updated September 12, 2008

Jerusalem, Israel --- September 11, 2008 ..... I can still smell death in the air. I can still hear the sound of jackhammers piercing the silence at Ground Zero. I can still hear police and soldiers weeping. I can still see the many memorial candles lighting up the streets of Manhattan. I can still see thousands of people walking up Second and Third Avenues covered in white dust as they made their way to the bridges to escape a raped New York. I can still see the hundreds of waving posters taped onto trees and light poles crying for people to contact them to find lost relatives and friends who were murdered in the 9/11 terror attacks.

Yes, I was at Ground Zero in New York hours after the 9/11 attack. It was a scene of devastation which defies definition. No one could have any idea how badly New York, Washington or the US was struck that day, unless you were there.

As one who had worked in the World Trade Center for several years, it had even deeper meaning.
The restaurant on the top of World Trade Center tower number one, Windows on the World was a favorite and inspirational place of mine to enjoy breakfast. All those who had served me, smiled and wished me a "good morning" were either burned alive or jumped to their untimely deaths.

I bought the last sweater in a store that had an American flag on it.
We all wore American flags from the night of September 11. We all stared in silence watching news coverage on TV, or as journalists walked into a cloud of gas and smoke at Ground Zero. Police, firemen and national guard troops also stared into space. There was no talk. No laughter. No emotion. Perhaps a very quiet anger. Only silence as rescue teams searched for signs of life in that man made hell.

Yet, today, seven years after those barbaric 9/11 attacks, these direct assaults on democracy, freedom and liberty, there are those who actually believe that Israel and even the United States were behind the 9/11 terror attacks.

"For those who wish to blame Israel for 9/11, I have only a few words of advice. Do not forget to blame the Jews for the death of Jesus Christ, the Roman Wars, the death of Cleopatra, the Fire of London, the American Independence and Civil Wars, Pearl Harbor, the Holocaust, the sinking of the Titanic, the Challenger space shuttle crash, the San Francisco earthquake, the Great Depression, the Vietnam War, AIDS and global warming."

One anti-Israel Web site states: "As long as 60 Israel citizens are being held – under conditions of great secrecy – in connection with the 9/11 investigation, it is no longer tenable to dismiss the possibility of an Israel angle in this story."

This piece of racist, hateful incitement goes on to describe the Israel detainees as having served in special anti-terrorist and intelligence units.

"Something tells me these guys are no ordinary tourists," I averred. While "we just don't know" because of the secrecy surrounding the government's actions, I thought that the whole point of the Ashcroft round-up was not only to sweep up potential suspects but to gather information that could lead them to Al Qaeda's underground network in the US. Therefore, I theorized, It could be that the Israelis, or at least some of them, fall into this category: while not being directly involved, maybe they know something. Nothing else could account for the government's 'special interest."

Hey, I was also detained at Ground Zero. Does that also make me a member of the Mossad?

And let's address the thousands of Arabs who were detained and arrested immediately after the 9/11 terror attacks - they must also be from Israel. And yes, working for the Mossad!

In a survey polling those from London's and Paris Muslim populations to Pakistan and Jordan, The New York Times found that while most acknowledge that those who executed the 9/11 attacks were Arabs, the brains behind the devastating 9/11 terror attack were from Israel or America.

"What happened in Iraq confirms that 9/11 has nothing to do with bin Laden or Al Qaeda," said one Egypt respondent who insisted that the terrorist attacks on the US clearly served Israel interests.

Others said the 9/11 attacks had better served the US agenda of controlling the world's resources, and so must have been masterminded by the White House.

"I think the US organized this so that they had an excuse to invade Iraq for the oil," said a Syrian engineer working in the United Arab Emirates.

More than 50 per cent of people reject the official belief that the attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, were carried out by al-Qaeda, a new survey has revealed.

The findings, released on Wednesday, suggest that the official version of events, that the 9/11 attacks, which murdered more than 2,900 people and sparked the US so-called "war on terror", were carried out by al-Qaeda, is still a long way from being generally accepted.

Only 46 per cent of respondents named al-Qaeda, while 25 per cent said they did not know and 15 per cent said the US government was behind the attacks.

Steven Kull, the director of WorldPublicOpinion.org, which carried out the survey, told an Arab newspaper: "Broadly what this says is that there is a lack of confidence with the United States and so people mistrust the narrative the US puts forward."

Officially, Arab hijackers took control of four passenger aircraft in the September 11 attacks. Two of the airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. The majestic "Twin Towers" collapsed in a cloud of smoke and fire shortly afterwards, bringing down two other buildings nearby. The third aircraft hit the Pentagon while the fourth is said to have crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.

Kull's organization asked more than 16,000 people world wide: "Who do you think was behind the 9/11 attacks?"

The poll states that while a substantial number of those polled believed the US government was in some way behind the attacks, seven per cent point blame Israel.

Of the countries surveyed, Egypt and Jordan had the highest percentages of people who believed Israel was behind the attack, polling 43 and 31 per cent respectively. Nineteen per cent of those polled in the Palestinian territories claimed Israel was in some way responsible.

"In Muslim countries - where we've carried out a number of focus groups - it's clear there is a feeling that the US had some kind of motivation, such as invading Iraq," Kull said.

What do these polls really say? It illustrates that Arab propaganda to create a divide and conquer effect between Israel and the US has really been effective. It says that Washington and Jerusalem have not done enough to counter such perverted opinions.

What do these polls really say?
It states that Arab propaganda to create a divide and conquer effect between Israel and the US has really been effective. It states that Washington and Jerusalem have not done enough to counter such perverted opinions.
But then again, who in Jerusalem, Israel would want to dignify these rumors, who would want to comment on these accusations, adding even more attention to them?

For one, I do.
Accusations do not disappear by simply ignoring them.

I will cite just four very basic examples.

The first is an Israel company called Zim Shipping.
Zim, which is the merchant marine fleet of the State of Israel, had offices in the World Trade Center.

They moved offices a few months prior to the 9/11 terror attacks, a cost reducing plan which was decided years before they moved to another state. But Zim left behind a small office. That office contained computer equipment which tracked each and every Zim ship around the world.

Why would the State of Israel want to destroy its own tracking system and leave these ships vulnerable for hours as a result of attacking the World Trade Center?

Second, Israel receives billions of dollars in aid from the US for serving as the only democratic state in the Middle East. Why would Israel care to jeopardize this critical humanitarian and military aid?

Third, rumors persist in the Arab world that Jews did not go to work on 9/11. That somehow they were warned. It is fact that over 400 Jews died in the 9/11 terror attacks.

How many Jews actually died in the World Trade Center attacks is not known with precision.
The official New York City 'Missing Persons List' does not categorize victims by their religion or nationality.
But ask families with names like Adler, Aron, Berger, Bernstein, Cohen, Eichler, Eisenberg, Feinberg, Friedlander, Goldstein, Greenstein, Horwitz, Jablonski, Kestenbaum, Kirchbaum, Kleinberg, Levi, Levine, Mayer, Rosenberg, Rosenblum, Rosenthal, Sachs, Safronoff, Schwartz, Shulman, Shwartzstein, Silverstein, Solomon, Steinman, Temple, Weil, Weinberg, Weingard, Weinstein, Weiss, Zukelman what they wouldn't give to see their loved ones again.

Why didn't they get a conspiratorial cell-phone message warning them to stay home? By all appearances, the 9-11 hijackers were equal-opportunity murderers."

Lastly, al-Qaeda terrorists have fully accepted responsibility both in documented print and video declarations.
If anyone should truly be upset that Israel is said to have attacked the US, it must be al-Qaeda.

The US and Israel are the very best of friends. They share common democratic values, freedoms and goals. These two great nations would never allow a transparent and hateful game of divide and conquer to take place.

The ADL, even points out on their Web site that "coinciding with the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a group of U.S. law enforcement professionals is in Israel, where they are learning advanced counterterrorism strategies from their Israeli counterparts."

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

The ADL states that a delegation of more than a dozen chiefs of police from major cities across the United States is presently visiting Israel as part of weeklong mission organized by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

"The program brings the U.S. law enforcement officers into contact with Israeli law enforcement and security officers and terrorism experts to learn about Israel's strategies to prevent terror attacks. They see firsthand how Israeli emergency officials and responders prepare for terrorist attacks in a nation that can never let down its guard," says the ADL.

"There is a lot to learn from Israel's approach to countering terrorism, and we believe that it is a wonderful opportunity for police chiefs from the United States to understand how Israel stands up to the threat everyday," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "The lesson of 9/11 is that we can never let down our guard, and that police and others in the law enforcement community must have the tools of the trade and the knowledge of what strategies are available out there to help deter the threat of terrorism."

Why would the US be cooperating with Israel in anti-terrorism activities if Israel was even remotely involved in the 9/11 terror attacks?

Were there members of Israel's elite intelligence organizations in the United States at the time of the 9/11 attacks. I truly hope so. As members of the Mossad and other Israel security agencies are working in almost every nation throughout the world. That does not mean "spying" on those nations. It simply states that the Mossad works with and for other nations in fighting Islamic terrorism and Islamic apartheid.

For me, I shall never forget 9/11.

It was the most traumatic experience of my short life. What I saw, smell and felt could never be fully articulated. Even my brief detention by the NYPD and the FBI at Ground Zero has left many scars.

I was there to report for the Israel News Agency, the Jerusalem Post and Israel TV and Israel Radio English news. And even though I had NYPD press credentials, orders from Washington remained in effect to detain anyone from a Mid East country found to be in the area of Ground Zero.

I was quite upset by both NYPD and the FBI for this detention and the very illegal searches which took place. They went through my wallet, my day pack and even took my film without my consent. But I did not complain to the ACLU.

I had nothing to hide. In fact, I cooperated with both the FBI and NYPD fully and they released me after 6 hours. The following morning I spoke with senior governmental Israelis who at that time were working at the Israel Consulate in New York and the Embassy in Washington. They told me that I was not alone in being detained. That many Israelis were actually arrested. They had even suggested that I go to the AP and Reuters and illustrate the harassment. My response was simple.

"These are our friends," I said. "They have been hurt and hurt bad. Let it go. Just let it go."

In fact, in retrospect, I am pleased that both NYPD and the FBI detained me and many others.
They were doing their job in protecting the US.
In my book, those who went through my wallet and daypack were heroes, not law enforcement officials who where abusing their powers.

Perhaps the Facebook Web 2.0 group entitled: Never Forgive, Never Forget September 11, 2001 says it best.

"Children, teenagers, adults, the elderly. Lives crushed by Islamofascists who would love to see another one of these atrocious acts carried out. It's fascinating how we have come from being completely united on 9/11 as a country to complete disunity.

We have disturbingly gone from unity against Islamic terrorists to people claiming through moral relativity that terrorists do not even exist and that our own government executed this atrocity.

We have disturbingly gone from praising the average soldier in the military to persecuting them and letting the mainstream media accuse them of torture.

We have disturbingly let air headed celebrities accuse our brave soldiers of being terrorists while more videos continue to appear of our enemies slowing beheading civilians.

We have disturbingly gone from focusing on the heroism of our soldiers to the total victimization of them, causing the public to pity rather than respect them for their sacrifices and the work they do.

We have disturbingly let power grabs and political partisanship get in the way of realizing the larger goal, which is stop individuals from mass murdering civilians in orchestrated terror attacks."

Rather than blame Israel or the US for 9/11, it would be a far better thing to visit a 9/11 Website which lists those who were murdered seven years ago by Islamic terrorists.

Read each and every name.
Pray for their families and those children who had their mothers and fathers taken away from them.

Pray for the brave police and firemen who ran down to Ground Zero to find survivors. Those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks and those who worked day and night inhaling toxic smoke as they searched for signs of life in a day that none of us will ever forget.

For those who wish to blame Israel for 9/11, I have only a few words of advice.
Do not forget to blame the Jews for the death of Jesus Christ, the Roman Wars, the death of Cleopatra, the Fire of London, the American Independence and Civil Wars, Pearl Harbor, the Holocaust, the sinking of the Titanic, the Challenger space shuttle crash, the San Francisco earthquake, the Great Depression, the Vietnam War, AIDS and global warming.

It would be truly an injustice to omit those crimes as well.

 

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