In the twenty-three years since the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has been monitoring, translating, and documenting content about the attacks in media from the Middle East, South Asia, and beyond. The MEMRI 9/11 Documentation Project, launched to mark the 10th anniversary of the attacks, archives all MEMRI translations, analysis, and clips about the attacks and their aftermath, and has amassed one of the largest and most unique archives in the world on this subject. These archives allow an in-depth examination of the ideological roots and other factors that ultimately led to the attacks.
Visit MEMRI.org for the MEMRI 9/11 Documentation Project and the MEMRI TV 9/11 Documentation Project
Following are examples of reports and clips from the past year that have been added to the project's archives.
MEMRI TV Clips
Jordanian Hizb Ut-Tahrir activist Dr. Mohammad Malkawi, who is also known as "Abu Talha," discussed current events in an August 2, 2024 podcast, with Muhammad Shirazi, the director of Islamic Oasis, during Malkawi's visit to Chicago. Malkawi said that the United States blocked Israeli sea ports with its Navy ships and shut down Israeli airports after October 7, in order to prevent Israelis from escaping. When Shirazi asked whether this means that Israelis are forced to live in Israel, Malkawi replied that the Zionists "invented" the Holocaust in order to evict the Jews out of Europe. He then continued to claim that the United States invented Islamic terrorism, 9/11, and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, in order to "scare the heck out of Europe." The podcast was streamed live on the YouTube channel of Islamic Oasis, a Chicago-based Islamic charity. It is worth noting that Dr. Mohammad Malkawi was a founder of the Chicago Hizb Ut-Tahrir chapter, and he currently lives in Jordan.
Lebanese TV host Dima Sadek said on her June 24, 2024 show on MTV (Lebanon) that there is nothing left from Lebanon except for Hizbullah and its weapons. She said that Israel has threatened to destroy Lebanon's electric infrastructure, but it has no electric infrastructure. Sadek denounced Hizbullah for threatening Cyprus, a European Union country, saying it cannot withstand fighting against the European Union. She continued to say that the Lebanese people are like the passengers of the hijacked airplanes on 9/11 heading for certain death. Sadek said: "We are being held hostage. We have been hijacked."
During his May 11, 2024 lecture at the Islamic Center of Fort Lauderdale, Islamic scholar Husam Kablawi said that everything the United States does is "deception." He said that America staged 9/11, Pearl Harbor, and "even the Holocaust itself." Kablawi qualified: "Not that the Holocaust didn't happen, but... We won't get into that actually." Earlier in his lecture he said that it is the donors of the universities who call the shots, and most of them - like Bill Ackman - are Zionists. Kablawi said that the students in the encampments are asking for help from the "people who are doing this to them."
The lecture was streamed live on the Facebook page of Masjid Al Iman of Fort Lauderdale Florida. One more video was streamed live on this Facebook page on May 13, but no more videos have been posted to this page since then. It is worth noting that several lectures and sermons that took place in this mosque have caused backlash for antisemitic themes. Husam Kablawi was also a regular speaker at Masjid As Sunnah An Nabawiyyah North Miami, which has removed its Facebook page following backlash from imam Dr. Fadi Kablawi's April 26, 2024 sermon, in which he accused Israeli military of organ trafficking and theft and prayed for the annihilation of the "tyrannical Jews, the brother of apes and pigs." Husam Kablawi is a pharmacist and a former member of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) at Florida International University. Following the October 7 attacks, he mocked accusations that Hamas committed sexual attacks against Israeli women in his Boca Raton Friday sermon.
Imran Hosein, an Islamic scholar from Trinidad and Tobago said in an interview with Dagestani activist Ruslan Kurbanov in Moscow that October 7 was "9/11 all over again." He claimed that both were "false flag" operations planned by the Israeli Mossad. Hosein explained that Israel allowed the October 7 Hamas attack to take place in order to remove the Palestinians from Gaza and as a pretext to attack Iran's nuclear installations. Hosein said that the Russians were able to "understand all these things" and are now on the side of the Palestinians.
California Islamic scholar and adjunct professor in the school of education at the University of California Irvine Osman Umarji discussed October 7 in his December 22, 2023 Friday sermon at the Islamic Center of San Gabriel Valley, California. He said that many Muslims ask whether the attack was "worth it" in light of the images coming out of Gaza. However, he said that prior to October 7, Israel's fall seemed impossible, and now it is "imminent." He added that American Muslims should study the raids of the Prophet Muhammad and his conduct in battle, which were largely forsaken in a "post 9/11 world." Umarji's sermon was streamed live on the YouTube channel of Islamic Center of San Gabriel.
California Islamic scholar and adjunct professor of education at UC Irvine Osman Umarji said in a November 10, 2023 Friday sermon at the Islamic Center of Irvine, CA that Israel is a "disgusting and vile entity." He described the souls of the people who died in Gaza enjoying the rewards of Paradise. Umarji referenced a hadith according to which the martyrs wish to return to this world in order to be killed again for the sake of Allah. He said that Israeli PM Netanyahu and U.S. President Biden are laughing and plotting to murder Muslims around the world now, but they will burn in the Hellfire. Umarji said that Zionists have been exposed as "blood-thirsty animals," and that Allah has now given the Muslims the chance to wake up their souls, just like during 9/11 or the Second Intifada. Umarji said: "Inshallah, this will be the tipping point as the worlds begins to lose confidence in Western values and begins to gain confidence in the values of Islam." The sermon was streamed live on the YouTube channel of the Islamic Center in Irvine.
Palestinian-American author Emad U. Deen said on a November 4, 2023 episode of the Mad Mamluks podcast that the Zionists were behind 9/11, that the Jews in Israel are Ashkenazi Jews and therefore not authentic descendants of the Israelites, that the kibbutzim in Israel are in fact military outposts, and that their residents are given food, alcohol, and weapons so that they can "party and have a good old time."
Farhan Siddiqi, the imam of Washington D.C. area mosque Dar Al-Hijrah said in an October 13, 2023 Friday sermon titled "From the River to the Sea," that claims that Hamas raped women and beheaded babies are lies. He added that current reaction to the Muslim community in the U.S. is reminiscent of the period following the 9/11 attacks, when there was a crackdown on the Muslim community, when Muslims were called terrorists, and members of the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center were imprisoned "unjustly" for terrorist charges, and some of them are still serving time for this today. Siddiqi said that this happened: "Because we didn't agree with the narrative, and we said that Muslims were just." He continued to say that when the Muslims are "being pushed and being cornered that means that Allah's victory is near." Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center is linked to former Al-Qaeda leader Anwar Al-Awlaki, to some of the 9/11 terrorists, to Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, and to other known jihadis. For more on Dar Al-Hijra, see MEMRI TV 8283, 7426, 6043, 5989, and Special Dispatch 8725.
MEMRI Reports
Following are excerpts from three articles by Pakistani columnists in Urdu- and English-language dailies, discussing and lamenting the failure of the Islamic world to present a unified military and political stance on the war in Gaza emanating from the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack in Israel. In the first article, titled "Boycott of Israel, But How?" and published by Urdu daily Roznama Jasarat, the columnist Muzaffar Ejaz goes into a lengthy discussion of the history of boycotts of Israel by Islamic nations and companies. He suggests how Muslim companies and Muslim consumers can establish a boycott of Israel without the support of their governments. In an article also published by Roznama Jasarat and titled "The Tragedy of Palestine," Pakistan's noted Islamic religious scholar and columnist Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman discusses the failure of the international community to declare Israel to be guilty of war crimes in Gaza. He laments the absence of statesman-like leaders in the West as well as the failure of the Islamic world to offer a common stance on Gaza. In the third article, titled "Human Tragedy Unfolding In Gaza MBS, The Arab World And Israel" and published by the Express Tribune, columnist Malik Muhammad Ashraf says: "It needs to be mentioned that the Western leaders who were part of the two-state solution never actually made any serious effort to have this agreement implemented".
The U.S.'s plea bargain with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khaled Sheikh Mohammad (KSM) would have prevented the full exposure of Qatar's role and responsibility in the attack. The plea bargain, which has now been rescinded by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, brought to light new and old documents about KSM's role in terrorist attacks against the U.S. and other countries when he was an employee of the state of Qatar and enjoyed the safe haven that it granted him. The documents also reveal that Qatar facilitated KSM's activities and his escape from arrest by the FBI.
Why October 7 Is An Attack Against The Collective West – October 7 Was Part II Of 9/11
The October 7 massacre was an attack not just against Israel but against the collective West. Israel, the heart of the West's Judeo-Christian roots and values, is the last standing outpost of the collapsing liberal West, as much a state of mind as an actual physical location. To be clear, when talking about the "liberal West", I am referring to the concept of "liberal democracy" as understood by Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan and not the "progressive liberalism" that has nothing to do with classical liberalism and has more to do with a new totalitarian Marxist-inspired ideology. In the wake of the Six Days War of 1967, Italian liberal politician Ugo La Malfa said: "The freedom of the West is defended under the walls of Jerusalem." Indeed, this sentence is even truer today. The battle in Gaza is not just between Israel and Hamas, as what is at stake is not only the existence of Israel but of the whole collective West, of which Israel is part.
MEMRI JTTM Reports
Amid recurring border clashes and the deteriorating bilateral relations with the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, Pakistan's Special Representative for Afghanistan Asif Durrani warned on August 19 of the potential for "a major terrorist attack from Afghanistan, similar to the September 11 attacks" on the United States, according to a media report. "The world seems to have forgotten about Afghanistan... This global neglect could push Afghanistan back to a pre-September 11 state, a situation that could precipitate another major terrorist attack," the media report, dated August 19, quoted Asif Durrani as saying. Asif Durrani also "highlighted the increasing threat posed by ISIS and the global community's diminishing focus on Afghanistan" according to the report and noted that "the world's attention has largely shifted away from Afghanistan, now overshadowed by conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza."
Prominent Al-Qaeda supporter Warith Al-Qassam posted an essay rallying Al-Qaeda supporters to mark the upcoming 23rd anniversary of the terrorist September 11 attacks with "special" publications, under the framework of a new media campaign commemorating the occasion. The posts urged supporters and media outlets to link the anniversary with the ongoing Hamas-Israel conflict in the Gaza Strip, emphasizing the importance of highlighting the "real" reasons that led to the 9/11 attacks.
On August 14, 2024, an Al-Qaeda follower on the Al-Qaeda-operated Rocket chat server posted the 6th issue of "Inspire The Believers," the pro-Al-Qaeda magazine. The publication featured three posters inciting violence and rebellion against Arab and Muslim leadership, encouraging lone wolf attacks against pro-Israel protesters, and celebrating Al-Qaeda operatives imprisoned in Guantanamo.
On July 27, 2024, the pro-Al-Qaeda Al-Nusra Media Foundation resumed circulating a series of Arabic-language posters inciting attacks in the United States in retaliation for its support for Israel and its "overt participation in the killing of Gazans." In addition, the posters encourage would-be attackers to follow the path of past perpetrators of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, suggesting that the likelihood of the replication of large-scale attacks such as the September 11, 2001 operation is "greater than ever before." This campaign follows similar advocacy of terrorism in the English-language magazine, Inspire, produced by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The media foundation's poster series is called "Inspire Tweets," and is attributed to AQAP's media arm, Al-Malahem Foundation. Al-Nusra Media Foundation is a prolific outlet, a member of the recognized pro-Al-Qaeda Islamic Media Cooperation Council (IMCC), an umbrella body uniting several pro-Al-Qaeda media groups. The council launched on September 28, 2023.
On June 5, 2024, Al-Malahem, an official media outlet of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), published issue 18 of its Sada Al-Malahem (Echo of Epics) periodical magazine. Issue 17 was released in September 2023, 12 years after the previous issue. The 24-page magazine contains an article titled: "[Torment] From Allah, or at Our Hands" [a paraphrase of Quran 9:52], written by Khalid Muhammad Salah Al-Din Zaydan, who is referred to as deceased. The three-page article seeks to motivate mujahideen by showing them the effectiveness of jihad, pointing to the harm the 9/11 attacks caused, and continue to cause, to America's economy and stature on the world stage.
On December 30, 2023, Al-Sahab, the official media outlet of Al-Qaeda's central command, published issue 41 of its Al-Nafir bulletin. Titled "Third 9/11," the issue threatens the U.S. for its support of Israel in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. This report reviews the issue. The text opens by pointing out that the motive for the 9/11 attacks was the U.S.' support of Israel and provision of the Jewish state with "all kinds of aid" to guarantee its survival and the continuation of its aggression against Muslims in Palestine. Asserting that the "heroes of the attack" could not bear watching the "abuse" of Muslims in Palestine, the text praises the perpetrators who "sacrificed themselves" to oppose the "largest supporter of the Zionists" in its land, plunging the U.S. into a "spiral of war from which it has not yet emerged."
In the September 2023 issue of its Urdu-language journal Nawa-i-Ghazwa-e-Hindi ("The Voice of the Battle of India"), Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) had several articles marking the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad and also the 22nd anniversary of 9/11. This edition of the magazine – Issue Six, Volume 16 – is dated Rabi-ul-Awwal 1445, in the Hijri calendar, which corresponds with the lunar month beginning September 16, 2023. A PDF copy of the magazine was released before the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel on AQIS's website. In the Islamic calendar, the 12th of Rabi-ul-Awwal is celebrated as the birthday of Prophet Muhammad and also marks his death anniversary. The magazine also features several articles about Prophet both Muhammad's birthday and the 9/11 attacks.
On November 11, 2023, the Al-Andalus Foundation, which is the official media outlet of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), published a 39-minute-long video titled "Al-Aqsa Flood Is More Powerful Than the Jews," which contains an audio message from senior AQIM operative Abu Yasir Al-Jaza'iri. In the video, Al-Jaza'iri compares Hamas's October 7, 2023 invasion of southern Israel to the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda attack against the World Trade Center. He described it as part of the battle between truth and falsehood, saying that it represents "the first tidings of victory" and shows "the coming revival of Islam and the Muslims." He calls on Muslims in the Islamic Maghreb to target Jews and American and French interests, and on Muslims in the West Bank and the entire world to choose "an honorable death" over a life of slavery by attacking the Zionists and the tyrannical rulers in the Arab and Islamic countries. He elaborates that in light of recent events in Palestine, jihad has become a personal obligation of every Muslim, and he calls on the mujahideen to assist the oppressed people of the Islamic nation in Palestine and elsewhere in the world by uniting in the face of "the infidel enemy." The video features a large amount of footage primarily from Hamas's October 7 invasion of Israel, as well as from Hamas's training and preparations for the attack.
On October 29, 2023, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) published a one-hour Arabic-language video titled: "Questions and Answers Regarding Operation Al-Aqsa Flood." The video featured the group's leader, Sheikh Khalid Omar Batarfi, discussing Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel. In the video, Batarfi approved of the attack, incited Muslims and jihadis in particular to kill citizens of the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom, and France, and called for action such as the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as the best example to deter the U.S. and other Western countries for their support of Israel.
On October 13, 2023, Al-Sahab, the official media outlet of Al-Qaeda General Command, released a three-page statement celebrating the Hamas October 7 attack as a "blessed battle" that has changed the course of jihad and the "rules of combat." Israel's "encroachment" on Al-Aqsa, it said, makes it certain that "the coming flood of Islamic heroes will make the Zionists and the Crusaders forget the horrors" of 9/11. It incited attacks in countries that have normalized relations with Israel and called on jihadis to target U.S. bases, airports, and embassies in the Islamic world. It added that "the heroes of Islam" must "shake the ground beneath the American bases, airports, and embassies in our Islamic region" and "target the Crusader battleships" in Muslim seas that are bringing support for Israel."
In a Pashtu-language article, a pro-Afghan Taliban website promotes conspiracy theories, namely, that the 9/11 attacks were an inside job. The article further asserts that the United States is no longer a feared and respected superpower in the world after 2001. The article is titled: "September 11th Is The Biggest Conspiracy In History," and is written by Rahmatullah Faizan, a resident of Ghazni province who joined the Afghan Taliban in 1995, a year before the jihadi group seized power in Afghanistan.
On September 10, 2023, the Al-Sahab Media Foundation, the official outlet of Al-Qaeda's Central Command, released issue 11 of its Arabic-language Ummah Wahidah (One Ummah) magazine. The issue, which is dedicated to the 22nd anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks perpetrated against the U.S. by Al-Qaeda, includes a wide-ranging, analytical article by 'Issam Al-Maghribi titled, "Future of the New World Order after 9/11."
On September 14, 2023, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released issue 17 of its periodical magazine "Sada Al-Malahem" (the Echo of Epics). Among the articles featured in the issue are an editorial by AQAP leader Khalid Batarfi, celebrating the return of the magazine after a 12-year absence, as well as articles celebrating AQAP attacks on UAE-backed forces in Yemen.
