An Analysis of the Similarities Between 9/11 and the Gaza Carnage

An Analysis of the Similarities Between 9/11 and the Gaza Carnage

Lieba Nesis

September 11, 2001 is a day that will be etched in our memory for centuries to come. 19 terrorists from Al Qaeda hijacked four commercial planes and deliberately crashed two into the upper floors of the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center reducing the buildings to rubble. While the official death toll reached 2,977 with 9,000 injured the economic ramifications lasted for years as the airplane industry nearly came to a halt along with downtown New York. Fifteen of the 19 terrorists came from Saudi Arabia with two from the UAE, one from Lebanon and one from Egypt. Backed by the Saudi government in 9/11 as Iran funded Hamas on Saturday these attacks were committed with precise expertise and significant funding.

Saturday October 7th 2023 the last day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot will go down in Israeli history as one of the gravest and most unimaginable tragedies. The greatest similarity with 9/11 being the perpetrators are Islamic extremists-a group believing that terrorist violence is necessary against “nonbelievers” in order to attain the desired “theocracy.” Their rallying cry of “Allahu Akbar” which technically means “Allah is greater” allows them to commit atrocities such as beheadings, suicide bombings, and infanticide in the name of religion. The complete dehumanization of victims is one of the signature attributes of these thugs-akin to the Nazi’s in the 1940’s. In terms of sheer numbers Saturday’s attack in Israel was far more devastating than 9/11: with over 1,000 Jews killed out of 9.2 million approximately .01195% of the Israeli population, whereas 9/11 saw 3,000 dead out of 285 million approximately .00105% of the US population.

The unexpectedness of both carnages is the most baffling piece of the puzzle as the US and Israel contain the most sophisticated intelligence resources in the world. The US intelligence community, an $81.5 billion enterprise, is comprised of 17 different intelligence agencies and subordinate organizations. To completely bypass this behemoth, as the 9/11 hijackers did, is unfathomable. At the time claims were made that the US was lacking people in the field. Unlike Israel, which is renowned for its heavy emphasis on feet on the ground along with technical expertise including eavesdropping and satellites allowing its four major agencies to avert an attack like this since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Orchestrating this invasion on the last day of the holiday ensured Israeli’s were sleeping at the wheel especially when last week Israeli senior military officials assessed that Hamas wanted to avoid a full blown conflict with Israel. Hamas even constructed a mock Israeli settlement in Gaza where they practiced a military landing and trained to storm it-videoing the maneuvers. Israel foolishly believed Hamas was more interested in economic stability for the 2.3 million Gazans who were permitted to work in Israel than starting an all out conflagration. Many Hamas leaders, including the 1,000 trained fighters, were unaware of the exact nature of the attack which involved air, land and sea along with 3,000 rockets. Iran gave the go ahead at a Monday October 2nd meeting in Beirut after Hamas and Hezbollah were goaded by the imminent normalization of ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel-this was a warning to any Muslim country negotiating with Israel. Moreover, it being one day away from the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur it was a perfect way to flout Israel’s victory. Both Israel and the US have been brought to their knees as in 2001 the image of President Bush being rushed to a secured bunker in Nebraska 40 feet underground that could withstand a nuclear blast remains embedded in history.

The 9/11 and Gaza attacks occurred after major political upheavals preoccupied the government with external matters. The United States in 2001 had just finalized the 2000 election between George Bush and Al Gore which left the government in a state of flux as Bush was robbed of the mandate he needed to effectively govern-less than 8 months later the US got pummeled on 9/11. Netanyahu has similarly faced epic opposition over his desire to reform the judicial system by removing the power of the Supreme Court to cancel decisions deemed “extremely unreasonable.” With weekly protests calling for his resignation and hundreds of military reservists threatening to refuse to report for service the entire infrastructure of Israel has been weakened to its core. 9/11 was a far more sophisticated attack three years in the making. The sheer awesomeness of the destruction the hijackers were able to inflict defies belief. For 19 non-pilots to successfully fly planes that hit the exact floors of the World Trade Center to cause them to come tumbling down is miraculous. The flight schools, rehearsals, fake passports, ability to evade detection along with the massive amount of planning and funds made this a once in a lifetime occurrence that even if depicted in a Hollywood movie would be hard to believe. The ease with which Hamas was able to carry out this wide scale and horrifying attack is alarming . The possibility that it relied on old school tactics such as passing notes and quiet conversations has forced Israel to completely revaluate its operations. Early morning surprises: 6:30 AM in the case of Israel and 8 AM during 9/11 ensure the maximum amount of people will be surprised and decimated without any delays or hitches. Thankfully, the leaders during these harrowing times, Bush and Netanyahu, have shown the resolve necessary to eradicate this pervasive evil.