Israel remembers 9/11

"I can say with absolute certainty the United States would not be safe without Israel as a partner.”

The U.S. Embassy, the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) and the Jewish National Fund USA hosted a 9/11 ceremony at the KKL-JNF 9/11 Living Memorial in Jerusalem. Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis and Chief Intelligence Officer David J. Glawe attended the ceremony. 

The Under Secretary stated:

“We best honor the memory of those we commemorate today by recommitting ourselves to the same selfless sacrifice of the first responders, the brave passengers who struggled against the terrorists, and the countless men and women who have given their lives to keep us safe.  A visit to Israel provides the opportunity to affirm our commitment to never forget and to have the United States stand with Israel and our global partners against the current manifestation of terrorism. I can say with absolute certainty the United States would not be safe without Israel as a partner.”

A wreath was laid on the memorial, emblazoned with the words “for all who endeavor to keep us safe.”   A “Tribute in Light”, similar to the one at Ground Zero in New York City featured the  illumination of beams of light that shined 1000 feet over Jerusalem.

Read  the full story here

On 9/11. Remembering Daniel Lewin. The First victim

 This one is for the nutbars, anti-Semites and conspiracy theorists who continue to claim that no Jews were killed on 9/11.

Remembering Daniel Lewin, z'l.

His remarkable life, cut short by terror, was the subject of a biography published last year, "No Better Time: The Brief, Remarkable Life of Danny Lewin, the Genius Who Transformed the Internet."

In 1984 , Daniel Lewin moved with his family to Israel.  He served in the Israel Defense Forces as an officer in the elite Sayeret Matkal for 4 years.  After graduating from the Technion, he received a scholarship for graduate studies at MIT.  While at MIT, he worked on the theoretical side of computer science, developing innovative algorithms to enable web sites to handle heavy traffic.  He co-founded Akamai Techonologies which handles 30% of the worlds internet traffic and posted an annual revenue of $1.37 billion in 2012.

Daniel Lewin was one of the 81 passengers, nine crew members, and two pilots on American Airlines Flight 11  when it took off from Boston’s Logan Airport.early on Sept. 11, 2001.  Daniel was sitting in business class seat 9b.

From an article in Psychology today

Flight 11 took off on schedule and headed due west, holding course for 16 minutes until it passed Worcester, Massachusetts. Then, instead of taking a southerly turn, it swung north and failed to climb to its assigned cruising altitude. At this point,  it’s possible Lewin suspected—perhaps before anyone else on the flight—that something terrible was about to happen. Having trained in the IDF’s most elite counterterrorism unit,  he had learned to identify signs of attacks well before they were carried out. He also knew conversational Arabic,  enough to have picked up on verbal cues if the five Middle Eastern passengers gave any. 

About 8:15 the bloody hijacking began. The terrorists—wielding box cutters and knives—rose from their seats in business class and began to threaten passengers and crew.  Most of what we know comes from reports by two flight attendants,  Betty Ong and Madeline Amy Sweeney, who calmly relayed the details as they unfolded. At 8:19, Ong told flight control: “The cockpit is not answering,  somebody’s stabbed in business class... I think there’s Mace... we can’t breathe... I think we’re getting hijacked.” In a separate call, Sweeney reported the plane had been hijacked and two flight attendants had been stabbed.  Sweeney also confirmed that a passenger in business class had been stabbed to death; his throat slashed by one of the terrorists. The passenger, she said, was sitting in 9B.

The 9/11 Commission concluded that in those first 20 minutes of the flight,  Mohamed Atta—the only terrorist on board trained to fly a jet—probably moved to the cockpit from his business-class seat (located near Lewin’s seat),  possibly accompanied by Abdulaziz al-Omari. As this was happening,  Lewin,  who was seated in the row just behind Atta and Omari, was stabbed in the neck by one of the hijackers—probably Satam al-Suqami, who was seated directly behind Lewin,  out of his view. 

Those who knew Daniel best believe he was killed after attempting to thwart the hijacking.

Remembering today and always, the brief life of Daniel Lewin, and all those who perished 13 years ago on September 11, 2001.
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Democratic candidate for Missouri Secretary of State: 9/11 truther and anti- Semite

Don't you just know that the headlines of the conspiracy theorist blogs will just scream out 'Rabbi: "No Jews killed in 9/11 attacks"'

MD Rabbi (Yep- that’s his name) Alam born November 20, 1974 in Khulna, Bangladesh is a 2012 candidate for Missouri Secretary of State. He's a bizarre individual.
From the Washington Free Beacon

A Democratic Party caucus chairman vying to become Missouri’s next secretary of state is a 9/11 Truther who has associated with a radical Muslim cleric and trafficked in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
MD Rabbi Alam is an Obama campaign ally and Missouri-based Democratic activist who chairs the National Democratic Party Asian American Caucus (NDPAAC), a Democratic National Committee-sponsored organization that liaises with Asian minorities.
Alam, who was born in Bangladesh, served as a “satellite campaign manager” for then-candidate Barack Obama and the Democratic Party during the 2008 elections, and has since been invited to the White House.
Alam has speculated about Jewish involvement in the September 11th terrorist attacks and participated in an event with a Muslim cleric who has accused Israel of terrorism and alleged that the U.S. invented the HIV disease.
“Why [was] 9/11 was a official holidy [sic] for all jewish [sic] people worked in the the [sic] WTC?” Alam asked in an Internet discussion titled, “Was 9/11 a conspiracy?” Alam went on to tout the 9/11 Truther film Loose Change 9/11, and challenged readers to “tell me how many of the Jewish people died on the 9/11 tragedy?”

In actuality, between 200 and 400 Jews died on 9/11, including over 100 Israeli nationals.

From The US state department:

A total of 2,071 occupants of the World Trade Center died on September 11, among the 2,749 victims of the WTC attacks. According to an article in the October 11, 2001, Wall Street Journal, roughly 1,700 people had listed the religion of a person missing in the WTC attacks; approximately 10% were Jewish. A later article, in the September 5, 2002, Jewish Week, states, "based on the list of names, biographical information compiled by The New York Times, and information from records at the Medical Examiner's Office, there were at least 400 victims either confirmed or strongly believed to be Jewish." This would be approximately 15% of the total victims of the WTC attacks. A partial list of 390 Cantor Fitzgerald employees who died (out of 658 in the company) lists 49 Jewish memorial services, which is between 12% and 13%.

This 10-15% estimate of Jewish fatalities tracks closely with the percentage of Jews living in the New York area. According to the 2002 American Jewish Year Book, 9% of the population of New York State, where 64% of the WTC victims lived, is Jewish. A 2002 study estimated that New York City's population was 12% Jewish. Forty-three percent of the WTC victims lived in New York City. Thus, the number of Jewish victims correlates very closely with the number of Jewish residents in New York. If 4,000 Jews had not reported for work on September 11, the number of Jewish victims would have been much lower than 10-15%.

UPDATE

Following the Free Beacon’s report on MD Rabbi Alam, a Democratic official and Obama campaign alumnus vying to become Missouri’s next Secretary of State, the candidate offered his apologies when confronted by a Jewish website.

According to a report by the Yiddish-named Voz Iz Neias (What is News) website:

After being emailed and seeing evidence that, in fact, Jews were killed in this national tragedy, Mr. Alam offered his apologies and explained that he had been convinced by the material he had read on the internet regarding the issue.

Alam was then put in touch with other people who personally knew other Jewish 9-11 victims.

Alam then expressed some outrage that such misinformation could appear and promised that he would confront those sources. He requested that VINNEWS convey his sincere apologies to those who have been hurt by his initial claims.