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Near Trump course, 9/11 families berate ‘hurting’ Saudi Gulf event

#Trump #families #berate #hurting #Saudi #Gulf #event

For Brett Eagleson, this week’s Saudi-backed golf event at Trump National is an affront: it’s taking place just a few miles from where kidnappers murdered his father on 9/11.

“It’s extremely disrespectful, it’s hurtful, it’s painful,” Eagleson, who was 15 when his father died in the debris of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, told AFP.

The 36-year-old heads 9/11 Justice, a group that accuses Saudi Arabia of complicity in the atrocity – allegations the Saudi government denies.

LIV Golf’s third event will be held this weekend at former President Donald Trump’s course in Bedminster, New Jersey, less than 50 miles from Ground Zero.

Eagleson was among a few dozen relatives of victims and survivors of the al-Qaeda attacks that killed 3,000 people who gathered near the pitch on Friday before the start of the three-day tournament.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers involved in the coordinated attacks on New York and Washington were Saudi nationals. An FBI memo released last year indicated official Saudi involvement.

Trump himself claimed in 2016 during his presidential candidacy that Saudi Arabia was responsible without providing any evidence.

“(Now) he decides to house the kingdom in his backyard spot where 750 people were knocked out,” Eagleson said, referring to the number of New Jersey residents killed on Sept. 11.

“It’s incredibly annoying,” he said.

Funded by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, LIV has sought to lure top golfers from the established PGA and DP World tours with deals totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

Human rights groups say the venture is a “sports laundry” exercise designed to boost Saudi Arabia’s international reputation. The organizers emphasize their intention to increase the popularity of golf worldwide.

Avid golfer Trump has become a vocal supporter of LIV, urging players to “take the money” and sign with the circuit.

Trump played alongside two of LIV’s most prominent recruits – big winners Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson – in Thursday’s Pro-Am at Bedminster.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal last week, he dismissed criticism from 9/11 families.

– “Money over Morals” –

But Eagleson says Trump’s involvement will hurt him politically as he mulls running for the White House again in 2024.

“Some of our biggest 9/11 supporters are family members from the FDNY and NYPD. And these were some of Trump’s biggest supporters. Well, not anymore,” he said.

LIV organizers have previously said that the 9/11 families “have our deepest sympathy” but that “we believe golf is a force for good around the world.”

The tournament has reopened old wounds for Tim Frolich, who was injured on September 11th.

“I had trouble sleeping last night, just the anger,” the 58-year-old told AFP as relatives held up photos of their departed loved ones and wore T-shirts that read “Never Forgotten.”

Eagleson’s father, Bruce Eagleson, was at a meeting on the 17th floor of the South Tower when hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the skyscraper. He was 53.

Eagleson says his father was a huge golf fan whose favorite player was Phil Mickelson, one of the first players to defect to LIV.

“I don’t know how he lives with himself,” Eagleson said of Mickelson. “He literally chooses money over any sense of morality.”

More protests are planned for upcoming LIV events in Boston, Chicago and Miami, with the latter tournament taking place at a different Trump course.

“We’re not going away anytime soon,” Eagleson said.

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