When I look at a picture of the Twin Towers today, they feel like ghosts from the past. In preparing this Times of Israel blog to honor 9/11, I visited the 9/11 Memorial in New York and watched documentaries spanning the last two decades. I was grateful for the chance to pay my respects, though deeply saddened by the horror and lingering pain. Twenty-four years later, it remains an open wound for the United States.
As a nation, we were stunned that the same hatred directed daily toward Israel for the past 77 years had reached our shores.
In Israel, October 7th was the latest atrocity to capture global attention—followed by the Gaza-Israeli War, in which Israel took action to defend its citizens. The same hate aimed at Israel has long threatened the West. These extremists promised violence—and tragically, they delivered.
- Who Were the Terrorists?
We memorialize that horrific day in 2001 when our eyes were opened to the chilling reality: the terrorists meant every word of the hatred they had shouted for years. Their mission wasn’t just the annihilation of Jews—it was an attack on America itself.
Nineteen militants affiliated with al-Qaeda, a jihadist organization based in Afghanistan, carried out the attacks. They were divided into four teams, each led by a hijacker trained as a pilot. Their targets: the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and either the U.S. Capitol or the White House. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed in Pennsylvania due to heroic passenger intervention.
Shockingly, several of the hijackers received flight training in U.S. aviation schools.
Hijacker Breakdown:
- Nationality: 15 were Saudi Arabian, 2 from the United Arab Emirates, 1 Lebanese, and 1 Egyptian.
- Al-Qaeda Affiliation: All were trained and directed by Osama bin Laden’s network.
- Pilot Training: Each team included a pilot-trained hijacker.
- Target Assignment: Each group was assigned a specific location to strike.
- Funding: Al-Qaeda financed the operation through wire transfers, cash, and foreign institutions.
Three of the four pilots—Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, and Ziad Jarrah—trained at flight schools in Florida. They were part of an al-Qaeda cell based in Hamburg, Germany. The fourth pilot, Hani Hanjour, also trained in the U.S., though he wasn’t part of the Hamburg group.
The Omar Al Bayoumi Revelation
As hindsight often reveals what we missed, a disturbing 1999 video surfaced in a 60 Minutes episode aired April 27, 2025. Omar Al Bayoumi, a Saudi national living in the U.S. on a student visa, was paid by a Saudi aviation company—but never attended class. He had close ties to two hijackers, helping them settle in San Diego and enroll in flight training.
In the video, Bayoumi is seen filming American landmarks in Washington, including the Capitol and the Washington Monument. He reportedly asked a bystander to take his photo in front of the Capitol—a gesture familiar to any tourist, but chilling in this context. Investigators now believe he was an operative of the Saudi intelligence service.
The video, filmed within 90 days of the attacks, shows Bayoumi narrating in Arabic: “I am transmitting these scenes to you from the heart of the American capital.” He recorded entrances, exits, security posts, and even a model of the Capitol. It’s believed he was communicating with senior al-Qaeda planners as he filmed.
Flight 93’s intended target was the Capitol. Knowing this, Bayoumi’s footage feels less like tourism—and more like reconnaissance.
Intelligence Failures and Unanswered Questions
Video footage unearthed in a 9/11 families’ lawsuit never reached the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Gina Bennett, a retired CIA analyst, said it was so significant it should have gone straight to the president. Bennett was among the first to identify Osama bin Laden as a national security threat.
Such mishandling dishonors the victims and their families. As of September 2025, Omar al-Bayoumi’s exact whereabouts remain undisclosed due to ongoing legal and diplomatic sensitivities. If he was arrested in the UK in 2001, why wasn’t he extradited to the United States? Parliamentary records show the FBI withheld key evidence, blocking British extradition efforts.
Bayoumi remains a central figure in an active civil lawsuit filed by 9/11 victims’ families, accusing the Saudi government of supporting the hijackers. The case is now moving toward trial, with newly unsealed evidence suggesting that Bayoumi may have acted as an al-Qaeda facilitator.
One bright spot: Bayoumi’s plan failed.
The Fifth Plane That Never Took Off
Four planes were hijacked on 9/11. But a fifth—United Airlines Flight 23—was scheduled to depart for Los Angeles at 9:00 a.m. and never left the tarmac. The chilling details were explored in the documentary TMZ Investigates: 9/11: The Fifth Plane. Flight attendants and the pilot raised alarms about suspicious passengers in first class, including one dressed in a burqa who, according to crew members, was clearly not female. One passenger became agitated when the flight was delayed and demanded immediate departure.
Due to the unfolding hijackings, all planes were grounded before Flight 23 could take off. Later, boxcutters were found on a nearby plane with a nearly identical tail number. Was this a logistical error by someone assisting the terrorists—placing the weapons on the wrong aircraft?
Investigators found the hatches, once secured, mysteriously reopened. Disturbingly, the suspicious passengers vanished—never identified, arrested, or named by the FBI. Beyond relief, the crew must’ve felt they dodged a bullet.
The Lingering Trauma and the Heroes Who Responded
Our nation is still suffering from the trauma of that day. Survivors continue to die from exposure to the toxic cloud that blanketed Manhattan as the towers collapsed. The dust contained asbestos, silica, lead, mercury, glass, and dioxins. Who could forget the soot-covered faces of those fleeing in shock, their legs buckling beneath them as they tried to outrun the poisonous wave of destruction?
Fires burned for months, releasing carcinogenic by-products, and the Environmental Protection Agency later acknowledged that the air was “wildly toxic.” These contaminants have caused respiratory illnesses, cancers, and other chronic conditions among all who were exposed to the collapsing buildings.
Yet amid the horror, stories of extraordinary heroism emerged.
On United Airlines Flight 93, passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers, preventing the plane from reaching its intended target—believed to be either the Capitol or the White House. Their courage redirected the aircraft, which crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all 40 onboard.
In the North Tower, Michael Benfante and John Cerqueira found Tina Hansen, a stranger stranded in a wheelchair on the 68th floor. After locating a lighter evacuation chair, they strapped her in and carried her down 68 floors through smoke and chaos.
Rick Rescorla, head of security for Morgan Stanley, had long anticipated an attack and conducted regular evacuation drills. When the North Tower was hit, he ignored official instructions to stay put and led nearly all 2,700 Morgan Stanley employees to safety, singing to calm their fears as they descended the stairwell. Only six employees died that day. Tragically, Rescorla was one of them—last seen returning to rescue stragglers. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, presented to his wife in honor of his sacrifice.
The Toll of 9/11 and Its Lingering Impact
On 9/11, there were a total of 2,977 victims, not including the nineteen hijackers. At the World Trade Center in New York, we lost 2,753 lives. At the Pentagon, 184 were killed. And on Flight 93, which heroically crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, 40 souls were lost.
You might be surprised to learn that more than double that number have died in the years since 9/11 from related illnesses. According to a September 2025 report from the World Trade Center Health Program, 8,215 enrollees have died, including 3,767 from cancer—a toll that now exceeds the number of lives lost on the day of the attacks. Other sources indicate thousands more deaths from respiratory and systemic illnesses caused by toxic exposure.
The number of people affected continues to grow, and the full health impact of the 9/11 attacks may not be known for many years. Tens of thousands are living with chronic conditions:
- Respiratory diseases: asthma, COPD, rhinosinusitis
- Cancers: prostate, skin, thyroid, and rare blood cancers
- Mental health: PTSD, depression, anxiety
The Chief Medical Examiner of New York City, Dr. Charles S. Hirsch, made a solemn promise to identify all the bodies. Though he passed away in 2016, Dr. Jason Graham inherited that pledge. As reported by 60 Minutes, anthropologists have sifted through 2 million tons of debris, searching by hand, and have recovered 21,905 pieces of human remains. Families were asked to provide DNA samples—sometimes strands of hair from a brush—to aid identification.
Despite these efforts, 40% of victims remain unidentified, and 1,100 individuals have no known remnant to test. Some remains have been tested over 100 times, and as new technologies emerge, even fragments as small as a tic tac are re-examined. In recent months, more victims have been identified. May they rest in peace, and may their memories be a blessing.
The original World Trade Center spanned sixteen acres across seven buildings. Its footprint was extraordinary, and its skyline was recognizable worldwide. For New Yorkers and visitors alike, the absence of the towers creates a festering wound.
The twisted and mangled pieces of steel from what’s left of the buildings juxtaposed to what had been structures of splendor, hurt to look at them. The destroyed stairs next to those we used to come down to one of the display floors looked like a sarcophagus.
Tributes to first responders who ran toward the flames remind us that courage still lives.
Memorial pools etched with victims’ names quietly cascade into the voids of a wounded nation. I hoped the spirits found Peace in the waters. Our guide said so many were killed, there’s always someone’s birthday. Her husband acknowledges each birthday with a flower.
A wounded Callery pear tree was found among the ruins—barely alive, yet standing. After years of care, it now thrives as the 9/11 Survivor Tree, Smooth limbs contrast with gnarled stumps—a visible line between past and present.
The children’s art at the 9/11 Memorial brought tears and chills. What kind of world asks a child to process planes crashing into buildings? Their drawings are part of the “Drawing Meaning” exhibit, where young artists tried to make sense of the unimaginable.
Today, the buildings are being rebuilt. Like the Survivor Tree, the city is thriving.
The World Trade Center site now stands as a living memorial, a cultural hub, and a testament to New York’s resilience. From One World Trade Center to the Perelman Performing Arts Center, each structure tells a story of remembrance, renewal, and resolve.
The terrorists may have wounded New York, the United States, and the civilized world—but they did not destroy our spirit. The city was down, but never out. Today, its streets teem with life, echoing the heartbeat of a people who refused to be broken.
As we mark 9/11/2025, may New York continue to thrive. May its people heal. May compassion rise above despair.
Bring all of the hostages back NOW. Stop the killing. Bring hope, not hate.
DON’T HATE. Hate corrodes from within. As it’s been said: “Hate is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”
To life. L’Chaim.
May You Live in Peace — שלום and سلا