Ten Years Later: NYC Terror Attack Politically Motivated

GAZA CITY - Ali Abu Kamal’s relatives say they are tired of lying about why the Palestinian opened fire on the observation deck of Empire State Building, killing a tourist and injuring six other people before committing suicide.

Kamal’s widow insisted after the shooting spree that the attack was not politically motivated. She said that her husband had become suicidal after losing $300,000 in a business venture.

But in a stunning admission, Kamal’s 48-year-old daughter Linda told the Daily News that her dad wanted to punish the U.S. for supporting Israel - and revealed her mom’s 1997 account was a cover story crafted by the Palestinian Authority.

“A Palestinian Authority official advised us to say the attack was not for political reasons because that would harm the peace agreement with Israel,” she told The News on Friday. “We didn’t know that he was martyred for patriotic motivations, so we repeated what we were told to do.”

But three days after the shootings, Kamal’s family got a copy of a letter that was found on his body, they said. The letter said he planned the violence as a political statement, his daughter said. “When we wanted to clarify that to the media, nobody listened to us,” she said. “His goal was patriotic. He wanted to take revenge from the Americans, the British, the French and the Israelis.”

She said the family became certain that he carried out the attack for political reasons after reading his diary. “He wrote that after he raised his children and made sure that his family was all right he decided to avenge in the highest building in America to make sure they get his message,” said Linda, who works for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

She said her mom burned the diary, fearing that it would cause the family trouble.

Let's start with the basics. President Clinton was in office and the Israelis had signed the Oslo Accords with the Palestinian Authority only three years earlier. The Palestinians continued to engage in terror attacks against Israel, but were written off as minor attacks and limited in scope and nature.

It was under these circumstances that Kamal headed to the observation deck at the Empire State Building to commit an act of terrorism on February 23, 1997. The attack on the observation deck of the Empire State Building was out of the blue and at the time, there were questions as to whether the attack was politically and religiously motivated.

Not only do we get confirmation that the attacks were politically motivated, but the political and religious motivations were purposefully hidden from view because it would undermine the support for the Palestinian Authority inside the US. After all, New York City is home to a very large Jewish population and another terrorist attack by Islamic terrorists would not sit well with American politicians.

It also wouldn't sit well with President Clinton's Middle East foreign policy since he was staking much of his reputation and clout on getting the deal done.

So, we have a confluence of PA and American domestic political agendas to blind the American people to the fact that Islamic terrorists attacked on that day in 1997. It was also yet another example of how terrorist attacks were glossed over by the US government because of the desire to be peacemakers between Palestinians and Israelis despite the fact that the Palestinians had absolutely no desire to make peace with Israel - they continue to this day to seek Israel's destruction.

One has to consider why the US continues to pressure Israel into making concessions with a terrorist group that seeks Israel's annihilation. It will not improve the US security posture in the region and undermines an American ally. Palestinian terrorists have repeatedly targeted Americans and yet the American government refuses to bring the hammer down on the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, and Fatah once and for all. Even now, the US is considering supporting a Palestinian Authority that includes Hamas officials that refuse to recognize Israel's right to exist.