Politics

Authored by Ken Silva via Headline USA,

An FBI informant who shared his home with two of the 9/11 hijackers has been accused in civil court of being “co-opted” by Saudi Arabian intelligence to help carry out the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

That informant, Dr. Abdussattar Shaikh, was presented in the 9/11 Commission Report as “an apparently law-abiding citizen with friendly, long-standing contacts among local police and FBI personnel.” Shaikh was recruited as an informant in 1994, according to his handler.

But according to plaintiffs suing Saudi Arabia for its role in 9/11, at some point Dr. Shaikh was “hired” by Saudi intelligence agent and Omar al-Bayoumi to house the two hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar.

“It was a plan that had been carefully and meticulously developed by Bayoumi in conjunction with other Saudi officials,” a plaintiffs’ lawyer argued at a July 31 court hearing, according to the Florida Bulldog.

Bombshell report by @Florida_Bulldog

“Dr. Abdussattar Shaikh, the FBI informant who shared his home with Flight 77 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, had in fact been “co-opted” by a Saudi intelligence asset.”https://t.co/tyakThqWIF

— Adam Fitzgerald (@_AdamFitzgerald) September 15, 2024

The Saudi government denied that al-Bayoumi hired Dr. Shaikh, reportedly arguing in a court filing that “there is no evidence he had anything to do with [the hijackers] moving into Shaikh’s house.”

Dr. Shaikh’s FBI handlers have also defended the man. His handling agent, Steven Butler, told the 9/11 Commission that Shaikh was “duped” by the hijackers, while former San Diego FBI chief William Gore recently told the Florida Bulldog that Shaikh was “one of the finest guys I ever met.”

Dr. Shaikh, for his part, was reportedly “too old and ill” to be formally interviewed for the long-running civil litigation. A New York federal judge is expected to rule soon on whether the lawsuit against Saudi Arabia will be allowed to continue.

The allegations against Dr. Shaikh follow several other revelations that have come out in recent months, implicating Saudi Arabia in 9/11.

Those revelations included a long-suppressed video showing al-Bayoumi “casing” Capitol Hill in June 1999—months before al-Qaeda made the decision to include Washington DC in its terrorist plot. Numerous investigators believe the Capitol building was the target of Flight 93, which instead crashed in Pennsylvania.

More recently, last month it was revealed that sketches plotting the 9/11 attack belonged to al-Bayoumi.

Pretty interesting development in the long-running 9/11 civil litigation. It was revealed earlier this month that attack plans pictured on the left belong to the man on the right–a Saudi agent and alleged CIA asset pic.twitter.com/wNTvS0GTpB

— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) August 15, 2024

Families of 9/11 victims argued in a 71-page brief filed on May 7 that al-Bayoumi operated under the directions of the Saudi Kingdom. Along with “casing” the Capitol, he served as the handler for al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar.

Additionally, new evidence in recent years has suggested that not only was al-Bayoumi a Saudi agent; he was also an asset of the CIA. That information has been coming from the proceedings against 9/11 defendants at Guantanamo Bay.

According to Office of Military Commissions investigator Don Canestraro, at least two FBI agents told him that the CIA had attempted to recruit two of the hijackers as informants. The CIA was directing its recruiting efforts through al-Bayoumi, according to Canestraro.

Canestraro has also implicated Dr. Shaikh of having received money from the Saudis while working as an FBI informant.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

Delta Air Lines is the latest international carrier to extend its cancelation of flights to Israel, amid the growing war in Israel’s north with Hezbollah.

Delta announced Thursday it is pausing all flights between New York-JFK and Tel Aviv through December 31, citing escalating security concerns. This extends a prior pause which was set to end on September 30. IDF operations are approaching the one year mark in Gaza, while Israel’s war cabinet has approved fresh offensive operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Starting a month ago United Airlines removed all flights to Israel from its booking and scheduling system. “Our flights to Tel Aviv remain suspended – we look forward to resuming flights as soon as it’s safe for our customers and crew,” it said early August.

Some European airlines have actually recently resumed operations to Israel. That current a total of three major US companies have halted their service to Tel Aviv has angered Israeli officials and pro-Israel pundits:

The refusal by the top three US airlines to fly to Israel since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack has sent fares soaring for flights to Tel Aviv — and has essentially led to an economic boycott that benefits its sworn enemy Iran, critics charged.

Delta, United and American have upheld a nearly yearlong suspension of direct flights to Israel in the wake of the Hamas massacre, leaving national carrier El Al as the only airline offering non-stop service. Prices, however, have increased nearly threefold.

“The American carriers are playing into Iran’s game,” Eyal Hulata, who served as national security adviser to two Israeli prime ministers, told Bari Weiss’ online media outlet The Free Press.

UK Foreign Secretary Calls On British Nationals To Vacate Lebanon Amid Escalating Israeli Airstrikes | Sahara Reporters https://t.co/rfEcBid28Y pic.twitter.com/IFD7vCiY8t

— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) September 19, 2024

An Israeli publication has offered the following list of carriers who previously canceled service to Tel Aviv as follows…

(This item is up-to-date as of September 12, 2024).

• United Airlines has canceled flights to Israel til further notice, while Delta has canceled flights until September 30 [now extended to Dec.31] (flights will continue to operate under an El-Al codeshare) American Airlines has canceled flights until March 2025. This means El Al is currently the sole airline operating direct flights between the US and Israel.
• Croatia Airlines has suspended its flights without specifying a return date.
• Vueling from Spain has previously canceled its flights to and from Israel until October, yet upon checking the company’s website, it seems all flights have been removed until January of next year. Vueling has not issued an official announcement regarding the continuation of operations in Israel, and flights may be added to the system later.
• LOT Polish Airlines has resumed flights to and from Israel on Sept. 6.
• The Lufthansa Group, which includes Swiss, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings, resumed flights as of Sept. 5. The German airline said it was halting all connections to and from Tel Aviv and Tehran through Sept. 19. The airline had resumed its flights to Israel on Sept. 5. Flights to Beirut will only resume Sept. 30.
• Air Baltic said it would soon resume flights to Israel
• Ryanair from Ireland has canceled flights to Israel until October 26.
• Air India has suspended flights to and from Israel until October 24, and ticket sales on its website are blocked until October 27.
• Iberia has extended its flight cancellations to Israel until August 28.
• ITA Airways resumed flights on Sept. 3.
• Air France has announced that it would not fly to Israel until Oct. 26 at the earliest.
• The low-cost Transavia canceled flights to Tel Aviv through March 31, 2025.