The Big Shift: How September 11 Has Advanced the Agenda of the Neo-Conservatives and Boosted the Support to Israel’s Right-Wing

Abstract

The twenty-first century kicked off in America with an awful shock: September 11, 2001 will be remembered as a day that has tremendously influenced the course of history. So many things have changed after this event to the extent that some observers will not hesitate to talk of «two worlds»: one before and one after September 11.

While al-Qaeda’s objective in striking the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, nine years ago, was likely to prove its capacity to hit the US soil, and beyond that first goal, to induce a shift in US foreign policy in the Middle East, judged unbalanced, particularly regarding the Palestinian problem and other issues in the Muslim world (Iraq included), such aggression on civilian population succeeded just in provoking the opposite reaction. Indeed, a shift in US foreign policy occurred, but not in the way expected.

Here is the explanation of that shift.

Keywords: September 11, Bush, Changes in Foreign Policy, Neoconservatives, Muslim World

JEL Classification: H56, N40, D81, B25