CNN
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Families of 9/11 victims are asking New York City Mayor Eric Adams to rescind an invitation prolonged to a Saudi-funded golf tournament scheduled to reportedly happen at a Donald Trump-owned golf course in New York in October.
The Aramco Team Series girls’s golf tournament in query is scheduled to happen in New York October 13-15, in accordance to the tournament’s official web site. The web site doesn’t point out the place in New York the tournament will happen, however The Washington Post and The New York Times, citing metropolis officers, have reported it’s going to be held at Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point within the Bronx.
“9/11 Justice is calling for New York City Mayor Adams, to stay away from Ground Zero and any and all other 9/11 memorials and events unless his office rescinds its approval of the Saudi funded Aramco Golf Series coming to New York City in October at the Trump Links (Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point) course,” 9/11 households advocate Brett Eagleson stated in a press release on Friday.
CNN has reached out to the Trump Organization and the Aramco Team Series for remark.
The request follows outcry from advocacy teams and media retailers who’ve referred to as for help of LIV Golf tournaments to be rescinded over Saudi Arabia’s alleged human rights violations and the 2018 homicide of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. It additionally comes weeks earlier than the twenty first anniversary of the September 11 terror assaults, during which allegations of Saudi government complicity have lengthy been the topic of dispute in Washington.
The Aramco Team Series is a golf sequence financed by Saudi Arabia’s state oil firm Aramco, the identical group that sponsors the LIV Golf tournament.
“The fact that this news is breaking less than two weeks before 9/11 on the heels of the LIV tournament in Bedminster, I just think that the entire 9/11 community has had it,” Eagleson, whose father Bruce was killed within the assault on the World Trade Center, advised CNN on Saturday. “It’s egregious, it’s in your face and its tone-deaf.”
Trump, who has brushed apart criticism of LIV Golf, has benefited from his skilled relationship with the golf tour, particularly after officers at PGA of America pulled the 2022 PGA Championship from Trump’s Bedminster course following the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. During an interview with The Wall Street Journal final month, he spoke approvingly about how the golf tour has improved the dominion’s repute and referred to as it “a great thing for Saudi Arabia.”
Adams’ press secretary Fabien Levy advised CNN, “While we disagree with the values of the Trump Organization, we cannot legally block their application.” New York City officers additionally stated that the tournament was agreed upon throughout former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration and that the present administration can’t break the settlement.
“As the decision in the previous administration’s court case displayed, contractually, the city is obligated to follow the terms of the Trump Ferry license agreement and cannot unreasonably withhold approval of this tournament,” NYC Law Department’s Nick Paolucci advised CNN Friday.
Michael Cardozo, former New York City Corporation Counsel and present associate at Proskauer, stated town is “obligated to comply with the express terms of the contract it has entered into” and though it doesn’t need the golf tournament to be held, it doesn’t give it “the right to prohibit the Trump Organization from allowing the tournament to be held.”
Eagleson, who urged officers to cancel the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series tournament held at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, final month, stated he’s not suggesting that town break any authorized contracts however that town take a stronger place.
“I think that the mayor should consider meeting with some members of the 9/11 community,” Eagleson stated, including {that a} assembly with the group would present that he’s prepared to work with them to give you an answer.
The allegations of Saudi authorities complicity with the assaults on September 11, 2001, have lengthy been the topic of dispute in Washington. Fifteen of the 19 al Qaeda terrorists who hijacked 4 planes have been Saudi nationals, however the Saudi authorities has denied any involvement within the assaults.
The 9/11 Commission established by Congress stated in 2004 that it had discovered “no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded” al Qaeda.
Still, the victims’ households have pushed for additional disclosures, and final 12 months, the FBI launched a doc that particulars its work to examine the alleged logistical help {that a} Saudi consular official and a suspected Saudi intelligence agent in Los Angeles supplied to at least two hijackers.
Golf Saudi, proprietor of the Aramco Team Series, sponsors a month-to-month 30-minute golf present on CNN International.