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Tzemach Yehudah Richter

A Closer Look At 9/11 Flight 77 & Jewish Victim Darin Pontell

בסייד

Before beginning this Blog, I am going to include the link to the Flight 77 video which appeared in my previous Blog-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGJSZN4apvs

You will notice that there are two women speaking who lost loved ones at the Pentagon, with basically the same name. I discussed Debra Burlingame, sister of Charles Burlingame, the pilot of Flight 77. Charles was slaughtered in the cockpit by the terrorists who then took over the controls and crashed into the Pentagon.

One of those killed in the Pentagon was Darin Pontell, the husband of Devora, who is also speaking in that video. Since there were many other relatives of the victims that spoke, I was only able to learn a small portion about Darin.

It was obvious that Devora was the Jewish version of the name Debra and that is one of the reasons I wanted to know more about Darin. But when it was mentioned he served in the US Navy, then my interest grew because my father also served in the Navy during WWII. Added to that, Darin’s grandfather’s name was Louis, which is pronounced the same as Lewis; my father’s middle name. And then I saw Darin’s brother Steven (my English name) was killed while also serving in the Navy.

The similarities were too many to ignore and therefore I want to look at interesting observations which relate to Darin and Devora. I plan on doing that in my next Blog, but for this Blog I want to further discuss Flight 77 itself.

Flight 77 Seemed To Be Ignored By Mainstream Media  

When speaking about 9/11, most of the media coverage concentrates on the collapse and destruction of the Twin Towers. We were all aware of the terrorist attack on the Pentagon as well, but given the relatively small number of casualties at the Pentagon, it is logical to assume that media coverage would concentrate on the Twin Towers, which has basically been the case.

But during this past week, Debra Burlingame’s WSJ article caused me to pay more attention to the stories related to Flight 77 and families of the victims.

Flight 77 – A Terrorist Rocket With Wings And Innocent Victims Aboard

As I have commented in the past, these terrorists took advantage of the US in many ways by not being detected regarding their true reason for being in the US. Even some of the terrorists came to train as pilots and then used those skills to fly a US-owned plane into US property and kill innocent US citizens.

The terrorists did not have to spend any of their own money to buy weapons, they hijacked those planes and killed anyone in a most gruesome manner who came in their way before launching their attack on the intended target. Flight 93 was the exception, and because the target was most likely the US Capitol Building, anyone who was in that building on the morning of 9/11 have the passengers and crew to thank for causing the terrorists to miss their target.

The 9/11 Terrorists Operated The Same Way As Hamas

The recent Gaza rocket attacks came without any warning to my family and fellow Israelis. That contrasts sharply with the way the IDF operates because it warned Gaza residents of potential terrorist targets in Gaza they must evacuate before the building is attacked.

Because Hamas has no airplanes, Israel can attack Gaza anytime from the air. If Israel gave no warnings to Gaza and its residents, the Palestinian death toll would have been in the thousands rather than a few hundred.

But the 9/11 terrorists not only hid their true intentions in their suitcases with those knives, but in the case of the Twin Towers and the Pentagon attacks, they disabled communication with the aircraft from ground control.

So in the case of David Pontell and all those heroes and victims in the Pentagon, there was no warning their building was about to be attacked by terrorists  in US aircraft. They were caught completely off guard, just like nearly 80 years ago when the US Navy came under attack at Pearl Harbor by Japanese aircraft.

Hopefully, we are not watching the beginning of the same scenario take place in the US where one day another surprise attack will occur. But the recent cyber attacks on a US pipeline, major meat packing facility and other infrastructure facilities is a major worry. Especially with Biden’s open border policy.

About the Author
Born and raised in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park. Married to a South African, we lived in Johannesburg from 1979 to 1996. Made Aliyah with our seven children on Parshat Lech Lecha. BSB Accounting Degree from the University of Minnesota. Investment Portfolio Manager /Fundamental And Technical Analyst. Wrote in-depth research on companies, markets, commodities for leading financial publications. Served in the US Army Reserves Semi Retired spending quality time with my wife, children, grandchildren and attend Kollel while analyzing current events as they relate to Torah and Mitzvahs.
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