9/11: Our emergency number

The article discusses the origins of the 911 emergency number in the U.S., established in 1967 following a series of political assassinations, and its formal designation as the national emergency number by 1999. It then shifts to the September 11, 2001, attacks, characterizing them as an "Islamic jihadist attack on the Judeo-Christian West." The author laments the perceived denial and minimization of the attacks' significance, noting that some officials and supporters have acted as if the murders were justified. The article also references the 1993 World Trade Center bombing as a precursor and criticizes what it views as American unpreparedness for war and the normalization of radical Islamic ideologies. The author recalls typing, "Now, we are all Israelis," on 9/11/01, feeling that the world had irrevocably changed and that safety from terrorism was gone. Osama bin Laden, the article notes, called the attacks "blessed attacks" and attributed them to American support for Israel, linking the event to a new form of antisemitism and anti-Zionism.