On the first day students returned to Concordia University, Councillor Zorchinsky spotted an individual distributing inflammatory flyers on campus and intervened.
The flyer, titled “Israeli & American Elements Were Responsible for 9/11,” presented a collection of conspiracy theories alleging that Israel, Israeli intelligence agents and American officials were responsible for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. [1]
Rather than presenting verifiable evidence, the document combined real but unrelated events with speculation, disputed engineering claims and accusations directed at people because of their Israeli or Jewish connections. It cited personal websites, Rumble videos and documents uploaded to Scribd while treating suspicion, coincidence and association as proof .
From Conspiracy Theory to Collective Blame
The flyer did not limit itself to questioning the official investigation of 9/11. It repeatedly emphasized the Jewish or Israeli identity of individuals mentioned in its allegations, invoked the Mossad without substantiating operational involvement and concluded by encouraging readers to boycott Israeli products and services.
This framing is significant. Criticism of Israel, Zionism or any government is not automatically antisemitic. However, assigning collective responsibility to Jews or Israelis for an atrocity, portraying Jewish-connected individuals as members of a hidden network and presenting Jewish identity as evidence of wrongdoing crosses into a recognizable form of antisemitic conspiracy theory.
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance notes that antisemitism frequently portrays Jews as conspiring to harm humanity and blames them for why events go wrong. Its working definition also identifies the collective blaming of Jews for the actions of individuals or groups as an example of antisemitism. [2]
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum similarly explains that antisemitism often appears through scapegoating and conspiracy theories that falsely portray Jewish people as dangerous to society or the world. [3] The language of the Concordia flyer follows that pattern by constructing a vast conspiracy through Jewish and Israeli associations rather than demonstrating responsibility through reliable evidence.
The Established Evidence
The established historical record attributes the September 11 attacks to 19 hijackers acting as part of an al-Qaeda operation . The FBI’s investigation drew upon travel and financial records, communications, physical evidence, interviews and the documented movements of the hijackers. [4] The independent 9/11 Commission also reconstructed the development of the plot, identifying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as its principal architect and Osama bin Laden as the al-Qaeda leader who approved it. [5]
There were genuine security failures before the attacks. American agencies missed warnings, failed to share important intelligence and lost opportunities to locate future hijackers. Acknowledging those failures, however, does not establish that American or Israeli officials organized the attacks. Institutional incompetence and an intentional conspiracy are fundamentally different claims , and the flyer provides no credible evidence bridging that gap.
Antisemitism Should Not Become Part of Campus Life
The timing of the distribution made the incident especially disturbing. A university’s first days should allow returning students to reconnect with their community and begin the academic year without encountering material that attributes mass murder to Jews, Israelis or Zionists through unsupported accusations.
Zorchinsky’s intervention drew attention to something that can too easily be dismissed as merely provocative political literature. Students are entitled to question governments, challenge official accounts and engage in difficult political debate. They are not entitled to transform Jewish identity into evidence of criminality or circulate collective accusations without being challenged.
Visible antisemitism should receive a visible response. Confronting it does not suppress legitimate debate. It protects the distinction between evidence-based criticism and propaganda that recycles longstanding myths about hidden Jewish power, control and responsibility for global tragedy.
Concordia University should investigate the incident, determine whether the distribution violated campus policies and communicate clearly that political expression cannot be used as cover for harassment, collective blame or hatred against Jewish students.
Sources and Further Reading
Flyer photographed at Concordia University and supplied to the publication. “Israeli & American Elements Were Responsible for 9/11.” International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. “Working Definition of Antisemitism.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Antisemitism.” Holocaust Encyclopedia. Federal Bureau of Investigation. “9/11 Investigation.” National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. The 9/11 Commission Report.