Mahmoud Abbas’s political party, Fatah, posted a disgusting cartoon to mark the anniversary of 9/11, mocking the murder of 2,978 people.
What’s most insulting is that the “Palestinian cause” was the main reason given by Osama bin Laden for the world’s most deadly terror attack.
The Official Fatah Facebook page posted the image which depicted President Donald Trump flying a plane towards a skyscraper that was shaped like Israel but had the Palestinian flag on it and in the depiction of a tower block that was smoking.
The picture was accompanied with the words, “Trump’s decision to liquidate the Palestinian cause” and appears to be in response to Trump’s recent decisions to reduce funding to UNRWA and close the Palestinian mission in Washington.
Whilst Fatah’s cartoon is shocking, it is unfortunately not surprising that the Palestinian Authority is belittling this tragedy in this way.
Below we detail some of the connections between the 9/11 attacks and the Palestinian cause, showing that the same hatred that afflicted America on that fateful day is the same hate that Israel is defending itself from today.
Osama bin Laden justified the attack based on the Israel-Palestinian conflict
In 2007, Al Jazeera released a series of recordings from Osama Bin Laden where he spoke of his reasons for carrying out the attacks on the Twin Towers.
Bin Laden explained: “The events of Manhattan were retaliation against the American-Israeli alliance’s aggression against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, and I am the only one responsible for it.”
Bin Laden’s son keeps talking about how the Palestinian cause is their motive for terror
If the connection between Osama Bin Laden and the 9/11 attackers was ever in doubt, this year it was reported that Hamza bin Laden, the son of Osama, has married the daughter of Mohammed Atta, the lead hijacker in the 9/11 terror attacks.
Hamza bin Laden, like his father, is a leading figure in al-Qaeda and wants to avenge his father who was shot dead during a US military raid in Pakistan seven years ago.
On the 14 August 2015, Hamza released his first audio message. In it he called for followers in Kabul, Baghdad and Gaza to wage jihad (holy war) on Washington, London, Paris and Tel Aviv.
On 11 May 2016 it was reported he had released an audio message focused on the issues of Palestine and the Syrian Civil War. He said the “blessed Syrian revolution” had made the prospect of “liberating” Jerusalem more likely.
In July 2016, media reported that he had issued an audio message threatening the United States in revenge for his father’s death. In the 21-minute speech entitled “We Are All Osama”, he said “We will continue striking you [America] and targeting you in your country and abroad in response to your oppression of the people of Palestine…”.
In May 2017 a video was released in which Hamza calls on his followers to attack Jews, Americans, Westerners and Russians, via lone wolf attacks using any means possible.
In December 2017, Al-Qaida’s central leadership invoked the group’s founder in its first ever statement condemning President Trump, quoting Osama bin Laden as saying once, “I swear by Allah, America and those who live in America shall never even dream of peace until we experience it as a reality in Palestine.”
Fatah official talks about Osama bin Laden and the Palestinians
Senior Fatah official, Jibril Rajoub, who is currently the head of the Palestinian FA (although has been suspended for a year after invoking death threats against Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi) and met with Prince William during his Royal Visit this year has also spoken about Osama bin Laden and 9/11.
In a video posted by MEMRI, Rajoub says he often wondered why no Palestinians were involved in 9/11.
He explains that he spoke with one of Osama bin Laden’s people and asked him why they never used any Palestinians in their terror attack. The response was that this was a deliberate decision as the al-Qaeda leadership did not want to implicate the Palestinians in the attack. They already had enough to deal with.
Whilst no Palestinians took part in the attack, we know that the Palestinian cause was a major factor to al-Qaeda’s leaders and is a major cause for their terrorism today.
Hamas celebrated the attack as an “answer to prayers” in official newspaper
Ten days after the attacks happened, on 17 September, the Hamas official weekly newspaper Al-Risala published an article by Dr. Atallah Abu Al Subh with the headline, “Allah has answered our prayers; The Sword of Vengeance has Reached America and Will Strike Again and Again”.
A similar approach was taken by Al-Risala editor Dr. Ghazi Hamad, who wrote in his weekly column: “I will not discuss the issue from the emotional point of view, but on the basis of the rule that determines that ‘the punishment fits the crime.’”
Palestinians in Jerusalem celebrated the 9/11 terror attacks
Unfortunately, some Palestinians also welcomed and celebrated this deadly terror attack on American civilians.
Below is video footage, released shortly after the attacks, showing Palestinians in East Jerusalem celebrating 9/11.
There were claims that this footage is fake or from a different event. This is not true. Let’s be clear, this footage is real.
The New York Post wrote a piece on this incident in 2015 when they were defending President Trump’s recollection of watching Palestinians celebrating the attack. Again, people were claiming this was false and that there was “no evidence” of this.
However, even Snopes confirms, with detailed evidence, that this footage is, in fact, legitimate.
They explain how someone in the video uses the name “Osama Bin Laden” and have statements from CNN and Reuters along with accounts from reporters who were threatened and had film confiscated because the Palestinian Authority was trying to stop the images from being released.
Here is some of the footage:
