Palestinian journalist and commentator Nawwaf Al-Zarou, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Israel in 1968 and released in 1979 as part of a prisoner exchange, resides in Jordan and writes a regular column for the daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm. In his February 16, 2012 column, [1] he blamed Israel for the events of 9/11 and for all other terrorist attacks in the world. He hinted that Israel and the U.S. were responsible for the February 2012 attacks on the Israeli embassies in India and Georgia, which he said served their interests. He added that the October 2011 Iranian assassination plot against the Saudi ambassador to Washington was likewise a fabrication that served the American-Israeli campaign against Iran.
It should be noted that parts of the article that deal with Israel's alleged responsibility for 9/11 are recycled from an earlier and longer article by Al-Zarou, which was published on Aljazeera.net on September 15, 2011 to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11,[2] in which he blamed both Israel and the U.S. for the 9/11 attacks. Other versions of the same article were published on 9/11 anniversaries in 2010,[3] 2008[4] and 2007.[5]
The following are translated excerpts from the Al-Arab Al-Yawm and Aljazeera.net articles.
Al-Arab Al-Yawm Column, February 16, 2012
The Attempted Assassination Of The Saudi Ambassador to Washington – An Israeli-American Fabrication
"After, in early October [2011], Washington exposed an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington, 'Adel Al-Jubeir, the whole world cried out in outrage and rushed to denounce the Iranian conspiracy. Washington did not rule out any type of retaliation [in response to this alleged attack], and [U.S. State Secretary Hillary] Clinton said it represented a "dangerous escalation." The Gulf states [also] denounced the plan harshly, and [former Saudi intelligence chief Prince] Turki Al-Faisal threatened Tehran that it would pay [for the crime]. But eventually, the whole story turned out to be a fabrication aimed at rallying and inciting the world against Iran, as part of the American-Israeli campaign against [this country].
"The same thing happened with the attacks [on the Israeli embassies] in India and Georgia. The Israeli-American responses to these attacks were not long in coming. From the moment [the incident] became known, the Israeli-American media included Iran and Hizbullah among the accused, and placed them on the target board, as though the indictment and conviction had been prepared in advance and were only waiting for the moment [of the attacks to arrive]...!
"Are Iran and Hizbullah truly behind the bombings...?! Or is there perhaps a pre-orchestrated American-Israeli agenda...? Who, in reality, is served by these bombings and their frightful repercussions for the Middle East...?! [These questions bring] us closer and closer to an Israeli agenda: What is Israel's connection to the bombings? Why not [assume] that the fingers of the Mossad were actually behind them... just as Israel plotted the scenario of the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York [and the Pentagon] in Washington, from beginning to end, and just as it was behind the long chain of terrorist bombings in Madrid, Istanbul, Baghdad, Taba, Sharm Al-Sheikh, and Beirut, and just as it was, and still is, behind an open series of assassinations that has continued for over 70 years?...
"A huge number of documents, admissions, and testimonies all point to Israel's strong presence in the Twin Tower bombings. But, just as in the case of the Al-Hariri assassination in Lebanon, [the possibility of involvement by] Israel, and by the Mossad acting on its behalf... was ruled out, and this was planned in advance...
"The famous French author Eric Laurent claimed, in Chapter 7 of his book Bush's Secret World, that 'Israel had a strong presence in the events of September 11, 2011, just as it was behind the war in Iraq'... A large number of intellectuals and strategic researchers, as well as some members of the U.S. Congress and military intelligence and some Israeli media sources, [all] agree on the [overwhelming] conclusion, which is based on documents, that 'Israel's role in the events of September [11, 2001,] and in many other events is readily evident.'"
"Always Search for the Zionist Fingers" behind Terrorism
"For instance, a report by the German intelligence apparatus claims that 'the Israeli Mossad not only had [foreknowledge] of the 9/11 attacks, but even took part in planning them'... Even prior to this report, the American website whatreallyhappened.com exposed that five Israeli Mossad operatives were arrested on the day of [the 9/11 attacks, after they were caught] laughing while watching the buildings collapse. The website notes that an espionage network belonging to the Mossad captured on film the entire [scene] of the planes crashing into the [World] Trade Center towers in New York, and it later turned out that this [espionage] network had prepared special cameras ahead of time, which were pointed at the towers so they could film them effectively. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said, following the events of September [11], that they had served Israeli interests.
"This is why we always stress: Search for the Zionist finger behind terrorist bombings, whether in Iraq, Lebanon, Istanbul, or any other country, as long as these bombings are terrorist and destructive [acts] aimed at inciting fitna [strife], anarchy, and civil wars within the countries of the region, and as long as their result benefits only the Zionist agenda...
"After all, no heritage or record of terrorism and bloodshed compare to those of Israel, its army, and its intelligence apparatuses..."
Aljazeera.net Article, September 15, 2011
The U.S. Has Become the "Greatest Empire of Lies, Deceit, Terrorism, and War Crimes on the Planet"
As noted, on September 15, 2011, Al-Zarou published an extensive article on Al-Jazeera's website marking the 10th anniversary of 9/11, in which he claimed that testimonies and evidence recorded by numerous writers and researchers clearly pointed to Israeli and US involvement in the attacks. The following are translated excerpts from the article:
"The discussion of the 'War on Terror' following September [11,] 2001 was only a misleading metaphor which the conservative American administration used literally to wage destructive and real wars on several fronts in the Middle East – chiefly Iraq, Gaza, Lebanon, and elsewhere. It did this in order to achieve studied and evil strategic goals, including the removal of the strong, Arab Iraq from the balance of power in the region, especially with regard to the conflict with Israel; taking control of Iraq's oil; changing the equations and balances [of power] in the Middle East; and partitioning a number of Arab countries to the benefit of the Zionist state.
"The American-Zionist media collaborated in intense and well planned media campaigns that distorted the truth about 'political Islam in the Arab and Islamic [world],' [presenting] it as 'terror.' Likewise, the Western media played a huge role in distorting the facts, and turned truth into lies, lies into truth, the victim into the criminal, and the criminal into the victim. [These campaigns] exposed a diabolical plot to make Iraq a base for Al-Qaeda and international terrorism, so that the mission of [re]building Iraq would be difficult and long.
"The U.S. slowly turned into the greatest empire of lies, deceit, terrorism, and war crimes on the planet, while the Zionists always remained in the picture, directing the American planning team... American policy is undergoing a process of 'Israelization,' as stated by the [Israeli] daily Haaretz."
The 9/11 Attacks Were Part of a U.S.-Israeli Agenda
"Since the [9/11] bombings, the American administration has enlisted its teams – media institutions and a great army of media members loyal to the administration – in order to turn the White House 'menchanism' and institutions into a 'factory of lies for Israel,' and to renew the discourse on terror and the war against Al-Qaeda at every opportunity and every anniversary of the bombings.
"Today, a few days before the 10th anniversary of the bombings, the American FBI intelligence apparatus renewed the discourse on terror. At the end of last week, it warned of terror operations Al-Qaeda was planning to carry out throughout America with small rented planes loaded with explosives. Based on this and on a few documents and testimonies, it is possible to read the events that are swiftly taking place in our region and the true agenda that was and still is behind these terrorist bombings... The true strategic ramifications of the bombings and of the long string of assassinations in the region serve only the American-Israeli agenda.
"Following the bombings, which shocked the world and heralded destructive American wars against the Arabs and Muslims, many commentators and researchers raised doubts about the American version [of the events], which accused Islam and the Arabs and began globalizing the war against Al-Qaeda and Islam. The doubts raised by American intellectuals and researchers regarding this official American version of the events... were not baseless. They described this version as a 'falsity,' as in the book 9/11 and the American Empire, [which included articles by] 11 authors. The book's editors, David Ray Griffin and Peter Dale Scott, wrote, 'Exposing the falsity of the official account of 9/11 should be high on the agenda.'
"Similarly, the French book '[9/11]: The Big Lie' by Thierry Meyssan exposed the American lie regarding the events of 9/11. Add to this book the dozens of others that have refuted the Neocon and White House lies regarding the events of 9/11, Afghanistan, and Iraq – books such as: Weapons of Mass Deception, The Lies of George Bush, Big Lies, etc... The book The Big Lie almost rattled the thrones of the Neocons.
"Moreover, a credible U.S. human rights organization revealed an official document dating from the administration of then-president George [W.] Bush proving that 'people of influence in the White House (Cheney and Rumsfeld, for example) encouraged the committee of senior U.S. officials appointed to investigate the events of 9/11 not to delve too deeply into these events.'
"[British writer] Robert Fisk compiled all these testimonies regarding the American lies in his most recent commentary in the daily Independent, under the title 'Lies We Still Tell Ourselves about 9/11,' [published] September 3, 2011. He writes: 'In the year after the 9/11 attacks, many books were written that claimed the wreckage outside the Pentagon was dropped by a C-130 [plane], that the planes that hit the World Trade Center were remotely controlled, that United Flight 93 was shot down by a U.S. missile, etc.'[6]
"Today, 10 years after these terrorist bombings, we once again raise questions, as we have become accustomed to doing each year, regarding their agenda and ghastly goals: Was Al-Qaeda really behind the bombings? Or was a well planned American-Zionist agenda targeting the Middle East and the Arab states behind [the bombings]? Who, in fact, was served by these bombings and their gruesome repercussions that still [affect us]?
"[These questions bring] us closer and closer to an Israeli agenda: What is Israel's connection to the bombings...?! Were the fingers of the Israeli Mossad actually behind them? [Wasn't] it Israel that plotted the scenario of the destruction of the [Pentagon] in Washington and the [Twin] Towers in New York, from beginning to end? [Wasn't] Israel behind the long chain of terrorist bombings in Madrid, Istanbul, Baghdad, Taba, Sharm Al-Sheikh, and Beirut, just as it has been and still is behind an open series of assassinations that has continued for over 70 years?..."
Israel Was Clearly Involved in the 9/11 "Bombings"
"All these questions and many others are based on documents, admissions, and testimonies that all point to Israel's strong presence in the bombings. But, just like in the Al-Hariri assassination in Lebanon, [the possibility of the involvement of] Israel, and of the Mossad on its behalf, in the Twin Towers bombings was ruled out, and this was planned in advance...
"The famous French author Eric Laurent claimed, in Chapter 7 of his book Bush's Secret World, that 'Israel had a strong presence in the events of September 11, 2011, just as it was behind the war in Iraq'... A large number of intellectuals and strategic researchers, some members of the U.S. Congress and military intelligence, and some Israeli media sources agree on the [overwhelming] conclusion, which is based on documents, that 'Israel's role in the events of September [11, 2001,] and in many other events is readily evident.'
"British author Ed Toner has likewise emphasized that 'there is conclusive evidence indicating that the Israeli Mossad knew about the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon building [ahead of time].' American author David Duke, a former US presidential candidate, said when asked about Israel's role in the attacks that 'experts at the U.S. Army Institute of Research say that the Mossad had the capacity to attack U.S. forces and interests and to implicate Palestinians or Arabs in [such an attack]'... Additionally, a report by the German intelligence apparatus claims, for instance, that 'the Israeli Mossad not only had [foreknowledge] of the 9/11 attacks, but even took part in planning them'...
"To all this we can add innumerable pieces [of evidence] that we have no space [to mention] here. Everyone has elucidated to us, relying on documents, that Israel had a presence in the bombings of the Twin Towers, just as it is always present in various places and terror operations: in wars, bombings, and assassinations."
Netanyahu Is Inciting against the Arabs and Islam
"[Understanding] the Israeli admissions, testimonies, and commentaries are important to understanding the agenda of the 9/11 bombings, especially when they come straight from the mouth of Israel's current prime minister, [Binyamin] Netanyahu, who, in a speech at Bar Ilan University, acknowledged that... 'we are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq, which swung American public opinion in our favor.' Netanyahu paved [the way] for this Zionist gain in a series of ideological books he wrote, including the book Uprooting Terrorism [sic, apparently in reference to Netanyahu's book Fighting Terrorism]... This series of books... exposes his true manner of thinking, which is armed with Torah-based and Zionist-racist ideas hostile to the Arabs and Islam. The most important and most grave thing in his books is that he believes that 'the bastion of terrorism is the Islamic and Arab countries, and its victims are the Jews!'
"Since the early 1990s, Netanyahu has been busy developing his theories on 'global Islamic terrorism,' frightening the world over it, and [attempting to] convince [the world], by any means possible, to declare war against it. Netanyahu says explicitly that he aspires to enlist public opinion in the West, and particularly in the U.S., [to fight] alongside Israel in a shared campaign against global Islamic terrorism. [In addition] to these books that incite against the Arabs and Muslims, Netanyahu again incited against Islam in his meeting with a group of U.S. Republican congressmen...
"Netanyahu has presented us with a general Zionist formula, from 1996 to the 10th anniversary of the [9/11] bombings, which directly accuses the Arabs and Islam of terrorism targeting Israel and the West, and which instigates afresh conflict and wars of civilization against it."
"No Heritage or Record of Terrorism and Bloodshed Compare to Those of Israel"
"In conclusion, Israel profited first, most, and best from the 'War on Terror' and from the 'War in Iraq.' It also profited first, most, and best from the systematic, planned, and consecutive terrorist bombings – from the destruction of the Twin Towers to the many criminal bombings of civilian targets and headquarters of international and humanitarian bodies in Baghdad and elsewhere; the bombings of synagogues in Istanbul; the bombings in Beirut, Taba, and Sharm Al-Sheikh; and other bombings. That being the case, why wouldn't the finger of the Mossad be behind the September [11] bombings and behind all the questionable bombings whose repercussions have served only the Zionist state?
"This is why we always stress: Search for the Zionist finger behind the assassinations and terrorist bombings, whether in Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, the Sinai, Istanbul, or any other country... as long as these bombings are terrorist and destructive [acts] aimed at inciting fitna [strife], anarchy, and civil wars within the countries of the region, and as long as their result benefits only the Zionist agenda.
"After all, no heritage or record of terrorism and bloodshed compare to those of Israel, its army, and the trio of its intelligence apparatuses: the Shin Bet, the Mossad, and Aman (military intelligence)."
[1] Al-Arab Al-Yawm (Jordan), February 16, 2012.
[2] Aljazeera.net, September 15, 2011.
[3] Wahatalabab.net, September 17, 2010.
[4] Palestinefuture.net, September 11, 2008.
[5] Al-Bayan (UAE), September 10, 2007.
[6] In actuality, Fisk does not present these claims as plausible. The relevant passage in the original article reads as follows: "In the years since [9/11], of course, we've been deluged with a rich literature of post-9/11 trauma from the eloquent The Looming Tower [by] Lawrence Wright to the Scholars for 9/11 Truth, whose supporters have told us that the plane wreckage outside the Pentagon was dropped by a C-130, that the jets that hit the World Trade Centre were remotely guided, that United 93 was shot down by a U.S. missile, etc. Given the secretive, obtuse and sometimes dishonest account presented by the White House – not to mention the initial hoodwinking of the official 9/11 commission staff – I am not surprised that millions of Americans believe some of this." The Independent (U.K.), September 3, 2011.
