The Jews and 9/11: No Connection.
For thousands of years, conspiracy theories have been grabbed onto by those seeking answers for tragedies in life. The Jews, particularly, have been the at the center of conspiracy theories for over a thousand years, at least. When people have lost their children in the middle ages, the Jews were sometimes blamed. In the 20th century several theories said that the Jews were trying to take over the world (Foxman). The 9/11 conspiracy is one that has been debated for up to sixteen plus years now. In my past two blog posts, we talked about how the Pentagon and the World Trade Centers were at the center of the furious debate. But how did we get to this point with 9/11 where people are blaming the government, or even blaming the Jews for this issue? In my post about the Jews and 9/11 today, it is my purpose to show how we go to the point of blaming the Jews for 9/11 and how 9/11 conspiracy theories in general began.
On September 8th, 2006, the National director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham H. Foxman wrote an article entitled "9/11 Conspiracy Theories Take Root in Arab/Muslim world." In his piece, much of his article is about anti-semitism, especially about its forms in the 20th century. While much of his point is that anti-Semitism throughout the world needs to be stopped, the most important parts of his article are in relation to the events on 9/11 and the days after. Following the 9/11 attacks, it was Al-Manar, a Hezbollah controlled station, that said that the Jews were behind 9/11, and even that they had warned Jews in America not to go to work that day (Foxman). Snopes, one of the most factual fact checking websites on the internet has the same claim in their piece. In addition, they refute the claim that 4,000 Jews never showed up to work, showing that there were actually four thousand jews in the area, and that a news report showed concern for them. Somehow, the news report was misconstrued by Middle East reporters, and the belief came to be that 4,000 jews never showed up to work on 9/11.
Veteran's Today, a site that visits many conspiracy theories throughout the world, wrote a direct refutation of Snope's piece, claiming that Snopes "obscure[d] Israel's Role in 9/11." Some of the article plays around with semantics, claiming that Snopes purposely replaced the word Israelis with the word Jews. They also use misquote Snopes when they try to show that Snopes is disregarding the truth instead of addressing the topic, which they did eventually do so (VTN). The last example they use is of Larry Silverstein, who had bought a 99 year lease for the World Trade Centers six weeks before the attacks, and also happened to have a dentist appointment that morning. They paint this in such a light that there implies that Silverstein was aware of the attacks and had warned his children of the attacks.
As I mentioned earlier, conspiracy theories have been prominent for thousands of years. Humans are answer seekers. When tragedy hits, they immediately try to find out what happened and find comfort in their answers, especially when it appeals to their likes or dislikes. For example, when the plague occurred, people blamed the Jews for it, saying they poisoned the wells (Foxman). There was also the Nazis and other government or peoples, like Middle Easterners that already hold prejudices against the Jewish race and would do anything to cause hate against them. So the root would be anti-semitism. Snopes, for example, tells us that immediately following the attacks, two Middle Eastern news providers, al-Manar and al-Thawra, misconstrued information about the 4,000 Jews (Snopes). The original article from the Jewish Post said that the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem had gotten the names of "4,000 jews that lived in the area." The fact that al-Manar, a station connected with Hezbollah, and al-Thawra, a "newspaper in Syria" (Snopes) misconstrued the facts and wrote their own narrative. Both Syria and Hezbollah are enemies of Israel, so it can be easily attributed to their hatred of Israel and Jews.
The Veteran's Today piece's strongest argument comes in the form of semantics. They argue that Snope's use of "Jews" instead of "Israelis," (VTN) is highly suspect. Admittedly, it may seem somewhat anti-semetic at first glance. However, throughout the world the term Israeli and the term Jew are generally seen as synonymous. This is just a case of another site grasping at straws because of an answer seeking mentality and general dislike towards Israel.
Overall, thinking that Jews were behind 9/11 generally comes from anti-semetic thinking, whether intentional or unintentional. It's a complicated issue, as all conspiracy theories are, but in general, it seems to boil down to people trying to find answers that are comforting to them, even if they aren't the truth. They seek theories that feed on their hatred or that are easiest to answer, even if they don't have the truth behind them.
Works Cited
Foxman, Abram H. "9/11 Conspiracy Theories Take Root in the Arab/Mulim World." ADL. September 8, 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20110604144105/http://www.adl.org/ADL_Opinions/Anti_Semitism_Arab/911_Conspiracies.htm. Accessed March 3, 2018.
Snopes. "Absent Without Leave: Did 4,000 Israelis Stay Home From Work at the World Trade Center on 9/11?" September 21, 2011. https://www.snopes.com/rumors/israel.asp. Accessed March 3, 2018.
VTN. "Myth-Debunking Snopes Obscures Israel’s Role in 9/11." July 10, 2010.
https://www.veteranstodayarchives.com/2010/07/21/maidhc-o-cathail-myth-debunking-snopes-obscures-israel%E2%80%99s-role-in-911/. Accessed March 3, 2018.
On September 8th, 2006, the National director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham H. Foxman wrote an article entitled "9/11 Conspiracy Theories Take Root in Arab/Muslim world." In his piece, much of his article is about anti-semitism, especially about its forms in the 20th century. While much of his point is that anti-Semitism throughout the world needs to be stopped, the most important parts of his article are in relation to the events on 9/11 and the days after. Following the 9/11 attacks, it was Al-Manar, a Hezbollah controlled station, that said that the Jews were behind 9/11, and even that they had warned Jews in America not to go to work that day (Foxman). Snopes, one of the most factual fact checking websites on the internet has the same claim in their piece. In addition, they refute the claim that 4,000 Jews never showed up to work, showing that there were actually four thousand jews in the area, and that a news report showed concern for them. Somehow, the news report was misconstrued by Middle East reporters, and the belief came to be that 4,000 jews never showed up to work on 9/11.
Veteran's Today, a site that visits many conspiracy theories throughout the world, wrote a direct refutation of Snope's piece, claiming that Snopes "obscure[d] Israel's Role in 9/11." Some of the article plays around with semantics, claiming that Snopes purposely replaced the word Israelis with the word Jews. They also use misquote Snopes when they try to show that Snopes is disregarding the truth instead of addressing the topic, which they did eventually do so (VTN). The last example they use is of Larry Silverstein, who had bought a 99 year lease for the World Trade Centers six weeks before the attacks, and also happened to have a dentist appointment that morning. They paint this in such a light that there implies that Silverstein was aware of the attacks and had warned his children of the attacks.
As I mentioned earlier, conspiracy theories have been prominent for thousands of years. Humans are answer seekers. When tragedy hits, they immediately try to find out what happened and find comfort in their answers, especially when it appeals to their likes or dislikes. For example, when the plague occurred, people blamed the Jews for it, saying they poisoned the wells (Foxman). There was also the Nazis and other government or peoples, like Middle Easterners that already hold prejudices against the Jewish race and would do anything to cause hate against them. So the root would be anti-semitism. Snopes, for example, tells us that immediately following the attacks, two Middle Eastern news providers, al-Manar and al-Thawra, misconstrued information about the 4,000 Jews (Snopes). The original article from the Jewish Post said that the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem had gotten the names of "4,000 jews that lived in the area." The fact that al-Manar, a station connected with Hezbollah, and al-Thawra, a "newspaper in Syria" (Snopes) misconstrued the facts and wrote their own narrative. Both Syria and Hezbollah are enemies of Israel, so it can be easily attributed to their hatred of Israel and Jews.
The Veteran's Today piece's strongest argument comes in the form of semantics. They argue that Snope's use of "Jews" instead of "Israelis," (VTN) is highly suspect. Admittedly, it may seem somewhat anti-semetic at first glance. However, throughout the world the term Israeli and the term Jew are generally seen as synonymous. This is just a case of another site grasping at straws because of an answer seeking mentality and general dislike towards Israel.
Overall, thinking that Jews were behind 9/11 generally comes from anti-semetic thinking, whether intentional or unintentional. It's a complicated issue, as all conspiracy theories are, but in general, it seems to boil down to people trying to find answers that are comforting to them, even if they aren't the truth. They seek theories that feed on their hatred or that are easiest to answer, even if they don't have the truth behind them.
Works Cited
Foxman, Abram H. "9/11 Conspiracy Theories Take Root in the Arab/Mulim World." ADL. September 8, 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20110604144105/http://www.adl.org/ADL_Opinions/Anti_Semitism_Arab/911_Conspiracies.htm. Accessed March 3, 2018.
Snopes. "Absent Without Leave: Did 4,000 Israelis Stay Home From Work at the World Trade Center on 9/11?" September 21, 2011. https://www.snopes.com/rumors/israel.asp. Accessed March 3, 2018.
VTN. "Myth-Debunking Snopes Obscures Israel’s Role in 9/11." July 10, 2010.
https://www.veteranstodayarchives.com/2010/07/21/maidhc-o-cathail-myth-debunking-snopes-obscures-israel%E2%80%99s-role-in-911/. Accessed March 3, 2018.
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