New York Post columnist Fred Siegel, whose post-Sept. 11 column was cited by Donald Trump Tuesday in an attempt to validate his claim that “thousands” of New Jersey Muslims celebrated the downing of the Twin Towers, says the Republican front-runner may be confused, but he isn’t “completely wrong.”
“Here in New York, it was easy to get angry listening to Egyptians, Palestinians and the Arabs of nearby Paterson, N.J. celebrate as they received word of the murderous attacks in New York and Washington,” Siegel wrote on Sept. 14, 2001, in a column titled, “The Problem is Radical Islam.”
Trump tweeted screenshots of Siegel’s column Tuesday, with the caption: “Look at the editorial I was just sent from the NY Post on 9/14/01 – 3 days after collapse of WTC. Any apologies?”
Still, Siegel said Trump appears to have confused the smaller events in the U.S. with the larger celebrations seen overseas.
“What Trump has done is conflate the small demonstration that took place in New Jersey with those massive demonstrations that took place on the West Bank,” Siegel said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Hordes of Palestinians were caught on camera near Jerusalem praising the al Qaeda-led terror attacks shortly after they occurred, but footage of widespread celebration in the Tri-state area has yet to surface.
“I first heard of it on the radio so I then called up an acquaintance in Clifton [N.J.] … he said people were driving through the streets honking [and] shouting ‘Allahu akbar,'” Siegel said Wednesday when asked about his sources.
Siegel also said he received an email from a professor who first told him his sources “are not as good as you think they are,” before later saying “you’re basically right – there were demonstrations that occurred, but they were small. A couple dozen at most.”
“I heard [Trump] say yesterday, ‘my memory is perfect.’ Whose memory is perfect? That’s ridiculous,” Siegel said later in the program.
“He’s a great Vaudeville act, but he’s not a good source of accurate information. However, he’s not completely wrong,” Siegel added.