How 9/11 helped Israel sell its war on Palestinians to America

For me, the New York City skyline was adjacent to home. Quite literally. I grew up conscionable crossed the Hudson River, with the famed skyline of America’s biggest metropolis disposable from my chamber window. Being a Palestinian American surviving conscionable extracurricular of the world’s astir celebrated metropolis meant that I spent portion of my summers arsenic a circuit usher for household visiting america from the Middle East, who, similar truthful galore radical astir the world, wanted to spot the Big Apple that the movies and unrecorded broadcasts from Times Square connected New Year’s Eve had made truthful famous.

I took visitors to the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Central Park and the World Trade Center. My past circuit was successful the last days of August 2001. We went to the reflection platform of the World Trade Center known arsenic “Top of the World”. Little did I cognize that 2 weeks aboriginal that deck, wherever we had stood looking retired astatine the astonishing metropolis below, would travel crashing down on with the full World Trade Center, sidesplitting thousands and instantly changing the satellite arsenic we had known it.

By the clip of the September 11 attacks, I was backmost successful my dormitory astatine assemblage successful New England and huddled astir a 10-inch tv surface with floormates watching ABC’s Peter Jennings screen the horrific quality arsenic it was unfolding that Tuesday morning. Among the aboriginal reactions was 1 from Benjamin Netanyahu, past a erstwhile premier curate of Israel. Asked by The New York Times what the onslaught meant for relations betwixt the United States and Israel, Netanyahu replied, “It’s precise good.” Then helium edited himself: “Well, not precise good, but it volition make contiguous sympathy,” adding that the onslaught would “strengthen the enslaved betwixt our 2 peoples”. This was his effect portion crushed zero was inactive smouldering aft an onslaught that had killed astir 3,000 people.

It instantly deed maine that not lone was the satellite astir to change, but my beingness successful the US arsenic a Palestinian American was astir to go far, acold much complicated. The US was astir to embark connected subject engagement successful the Middle East, and Netanyahu was excited by the accidental this presented Israel.

To amended recognize the interaction this infinitesimal had connected US-Israel relations, it is important to see the preceding context. I person argued elsewhere that the play betwixt the extremity of the Cold War and 9/11 was a analyzable 1 for US-Israel relations. For astir of the past of the US-Israel relationship, the Cold War was the defining paradigm successful planetary relations. For Israel, this was an casual paradigm to navigate. It billed itself to Americans arsenic a like-minded, US-aligned ideology confronting Soviet-backed outer states successful the Arab world.

But arsenic the Cold War ended, the governmental scenery shifted. The Berlin Wall fell, democratisation swept Eastern Europe, and apartheid ended successful South Africa, portion Israel was brutally repressing the archetypal Palestinian Intifada. Suddenly, Israel did not acceptable truthful comfortably successful this caller satellite order. It was during this play that the US made its top investments successful Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, nevertheless flawed, and utilized immoderate leverage to property the Israeli authorities connected colony building.

September 11 and the ensuing planetary “war connected terror” changed each of this. With the 2nd Palestinian Intifada nether way, the September 11 attacks connected the US provided an accidental to erstwhile again enactment Israel and the US connected the aforesaid broadside of a caller defining planetary divide. Instead of communism, the caller planetary atrocious feline was extremist Islam.

Netanyahu and his allies understood this precise well, conscionable arsenic helium made wide to The New York Times 25 years agone this week. A wounded America was primed for Islamophobic narratives, and pro-Israel voices were often blessed to supply them, arsenic they understood that an America obsessed with “counterterrorism” would person to enactment adjacent to Israel.

There are galore areas wherever we spot the interaction of this implicit time: enhanced US-Israel quality collaboration, increasing US fiscal enactment for Israel and legislative initiatives supported by Israel’s backers successful the US that utilized broadened anti-terror authorities to ace down connected Palestinians, to sanction a few.

The narratives that helped enactment these outcomes besides went beyond simply linking Israel and the US done a communal “terrorist threat”. Palestinians were besides much easy turned into a “security problem” to American audiences. Instead of asking wherefore Palestinians were resisting oppression, American audiences were pushed to spot Israeli repression arsenic self-defence akin to US behaviour. Muslims were often formed arsenic 1 of 2 types successful American discourse: mean oregon extremist, and those criticising Israel were routinely placed successful the second category, which led to stigma and a chilling effect.

Israeli subject practices could beryllium formed arsenic utile for America arsenic well. Surveillance, counterinsurgency, targeted killings and different tactics Israel had utilized successful the West Bank and Gaza, which had occasionally been criticised by Washington, were utilized by American forces successful Iraq and Afghanistan and frankincense progressively legitimised earlier American audiences.

Some of the top purveyors of the Islamophobic narratives that characterised overmuch of the post-9/11 play successful the United States included David Horowitz, who consistently sought to link Palestinians with coercion and called for profiling to marque Palestinian individuality itself a information concern; Daniel Pipes, who often characterised Muslim organisations arsenic perchance oregon secretly militant, casting suspicion connected Muslim advocacy; Steven Emerson, who sought to popularise infiltration narratives to effort to crook mainstream Muslim organisations into information subjects; Brigitte Gabriel, who regularly framed Islamism arsenic a civilisational threat, frankincense casting Israel arsenic a front-line defender of the West; and David Yerushalmi, who sought to grow the menace communicative to Sharia instrumentality and Muslim governmental influence, frankincense casting Muslim governmental information arsenic perchance subversive.

The wide logic of these narratives was that coercion was efficaciously synonymous with each things Palestinian/Arab/Muslim and frankincense Israel’s information exemplary should beryllium seen arsenic legitimate, if not ideal, by Americans.

It is important 25 years aboriginal to bespeak connected the unsafe governmental opportunism that spewed hatred into American sermon to formed Israel and Israeli argumentation successful a favourable light. A quarter-century later, the US is erstwhile again embroiled successful a seemingly intractable quagmire, this clip successful Iran, a losing effort that has already outgo Americans much than $100bn done higher petrol and diesel prices. Given each of this, Americans contiguous should beryllium speedy to question Islamophobic narratives, the unsafe paths they pb down and the existent motives of those who dispersed them.

The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the author’s ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.