In the days following the tragedy of September 11, 2001, academics, pundits, and news analysts searched for a reason for the terrorist attacks. The conventional wisdom held that the Islamic extremists who targeted the World Trade Center and the Pentagon did so because of America's alliance with Israel. The reasoning was that the US had alienated elements of the Arab and Islamic world by supporting the Jewish state and ignoring Israel's suppression of the Palestinians, thereby inflaming public opinion on "the Islamic street."

The terrorists, according to this thesis, were desperate men avenging American colonialism in the Middle East, and carried out the murder of almost 3,000 people in the name of a beleaguered Islam. Had America been more supportive of the Islamic world and not a staunch ally of Israel, the attacks would not have occurred.