Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Israelis – Not Muslims – Cheered in Jersey City on 9/11
25 Nov 2015

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

In debunking Donald Trump’s big lie about Jersey City Muslims celebrating the destruction of the World Trade Center, the corporate media have told an even bigger lie of omission. There was, indeed, shameless cheering on the banks of the Hudson River on 9/11. But it was by young Israelis, as was widely reported at the time. Fourteen years later, corporate media are covering up for Israel – which makes them even bigger liars than Trump.

Israelis – Not Muslims – Cheered in Jersey City on 9/11

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

“By making only a partial correction of Donald Trump’s prevarication, the corporate media were telling their own lie about what happened on 9/11.”

The corporate media don’t like Donald Trump. They used to like him a lot; in fact, Big Business Media are responsible for making this minor multi-millionaire into a household name. But Trump is on their hit list, nowadays, because the Republican presidential candidate insists on telling his own lies, rather than sticking to the list of official lies parroted by corporate media every minute of every day.

Donald Trump told a really “HUGE” – as he would put it – lie when he claimed to have watched thousands of Muslims cheering in Jersey City, New Jersey, as the World Trade Center came down on 9/11. Every corporate news outlet in the country rushed to debunk Trump’s fictitious account. The Washington Post offered psychological theories for why Trump gets away with telling fantastic lies. The New York Times said there was no evidence that Jersey City Muslims cheered the destruction on 9/11. CNN said it never happened. And, they were right.

However, by making only a partial correction of Donald Trump’s prevarication, the corporate media were telling their own lie about what happened on 9/11. There was, in fact, celebration in Jersey City on that fateful morning, and the incident did, briefly, make a major news splash. But the people doing the cheering weren’t Muslims: they were five young Israelis in a white moving van, who were observed in Liberty Park ecstatically taking pictures of themselves framed against the smoking ruins of the Twin Towers. As ABC News reported, the five were later arrested at gunpoint near the New Jersey Giants football stadium. Most U.S. intelligence sources believed the men were Israeli spies, and that their “moving company” was an Israeli intelligence cover. They were detained for a while, and then deported.

“Who is the biggest liar?”

In the year before 9/11 scores of young Israelis posing as “art students” were arrested after penetrating U.S. Defense Department and other classified sites. Both stories made national news. The corporate media could not have avoided running across articles on the “cheering Israelis” when they set about debunking Donald Trump’s “cheering Muslims” account. But, not one of them dare to mention that, yes, some people were seen celebrating 9/11 at Liberty State Park in Jersey City.

I was in a different part of the park on 9/11 morning, alone except for two young Israelis with very expensive cameras, carrying phony New Jersey press credentials, who claimed to be Polish but spoke Hebrew to each other. The two young men were giddy with joy at the destruction that the three of us were observing across the Hudson River.

subscribe to our free weekly email notifying you of new content published at Black Agenda Report

Later that day, I learned from local and national news outlets about the five Israelis who were dancing with delight about a mile upriver from me and the two other Israelis. Articles about Israelis celebrating 9/11 would have come up in any search to correct Donald Trump’s tall tale – but the corporate media kept that part of the story from the public. They censored their own correction of Donald Trump. So, who is the biggest liar? Trump, who lies to advance his own personal interests, or the U.S. corporate media, who lie to the people on behalf of the State of Israel, and Zionism.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at [email protected].

 



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/20151125_gf_CheeringIsraelis_9_11.mp3

More Stories


  • China Balloon is Pretext for US Provocation
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    China Balloon is Pretext for US Provocation
    08 Feb 2023
    An errant balloon from China sent the U.S. into a frenzy of fear and hatred. The president, congress, and corporate media all made sure that a harmless incident was viewed in the worst light possible.
  • ESSAY: Black Studies in the Age of Obama: John H. Bracey, Jr. 2011
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Black Studies in the Age of Obama: John H. Bracey, Jr. 2011
    08 Feb 2023
    The late John H. Bracey, Jr. argued that Black Studies should be wedded to African liberation, not to the corporate-bureaucratic structure of the university.
  • Global Economic Forecast Reveals the Perils of U.S. Addiction to War
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Global Economic Forecast Reveals the Perils of U.S. Addiction to War
    08 Feb 2023
    The U.S. has declared China to be an adversary, but its economic prowess cannot be eclipsed by a nation that is addicted to provocation and war making. 
  • Ruchell Magee Must Be Set Free!
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Ruchell Magee Must Be Set Free!
    08 Feb 2023
                                                                                      Ruchell Magee Must Be Set Free!                                                    
  •  BAR Book Forum: Brian Jones’ Book, “The Tuskegee Student Uprising”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Brian Jones’ Book, “The Tuskegee Student Uprising”
    08 Feb 2023
    This week’s featured author is Brian Jones. Jones is Director of The New York Public Library’s Center for Educators and Schools. His book is The Tuskegee Student Uprising: A History.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us