25 years of 9/11 — Faultline

The burning Twin Towers after the terrorist attacks in New York City, September 11, 2001.

The attacks on September 11th were the largest terrorist attacks in history 25 years ago: almost 3,000 people fell victim to the 19 jihadist hijackers of al-Qaeda. Two planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, which later collapsed. One plane flew into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US Department of Defense in Washington, D.C., and another crashed near Pittsburgh after the passengers fought back against the hijackers. Some of the jihadists helped plan the attacks in Hamburg and carried them out later.

Their actions were reminiscent of the fascist battle cry “Viva la muerte,” which was dear to the Francoists. This was confirmed almost three years later. A video in which an alleged military spokesman for al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the devastating attacks on trains in Madrid that left 200 dead ended with the words: "You love life and we love death."

US President Donald Trump does not want to take part in the commemorations in New York City; only the names of the victims are read out there.

According to Islamic researcher Gilles Kepel, this death-loving terror of 9/11 was characterized by a pyramidal organization of the Leninist type that combined spectacular terror with the propagandistic use of satellite television. Over the years, Al-Qaeda was joined by the “Islamic State” with a different form of organization: a kind of network jihadism, which has gained many followers since 2005. The “caliphate” that IS established in Syria and Iraq between 2017 and 2019 has been largely eliminated. Both organizations still play an important role today, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

In Europe, al-Qaeda first carried out terrorist attacks on trains in Spain in 2004, then attacks on subways and a bus in Great Britain in 2005; A total of 52 people were killed. Afterwards, France became the center of jihadist terror in Europe, especially in 2015 with the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket as well as the terrorist attack on the "Bataclan", which were completed by the suicide attacks in Brussels. In the meantime, the recruits of al-Qaeda and IS in Europe have been replaced by predominantly perpetrators without a significant organizational structure in the background who indulge in “atmospheric jihadism,” as Kepel calls the phenomenon. A well-known victim of this terror in 2020 was the French teacher Samuel Paty; the attack on the CSD in Berlin also falls under this category.

Jihadism in Europe has therefore by no means come to its well-deserved end, but rather has undergone a change in form. It is similar in the USA, between 2020 and the beginning of 2025 there were eight jihadist attacks, most recently a shooting spree with 15 deaths in New Orleans on New Year's Day 2025; The perpetrator, who was born in the USA, had an IS flag with him.

This change in form plays little role in this year's commemoration in the USA. In the foreground are two rather peripheral stories. US President Donald Trump does not want to take part in the commemorations in New York City; Only the names of the victims are read out there, but according to media reports, he himself had originally intended to give a speech - probably in order to play himself to the fore in his well-known modest manner and presumably to blame Joe Biden for 9/11. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing growing criticism over one of his posts on X from 2023 because he did not name the crime and the perpetrator. »Nearly 3,000 New Yorkers died on September 11th; 22 years later, the dying hasn't stopped. We mourn our neighbors who died that day. “About the hundreds of thousands who lost their lives in the wars that followed,” he had written. A petition aims to ensure that he does not take part in the memorial service. However, he doesn't want to let that stop him.