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The September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack occasioned spontaneous outbreaks of public celebration in a number of Arab Muslim communities. Press and television coverage of these celebrations were met with shock and outrage in the U.S. Observers in other nations often contrasted them with what they believe to be a justified distrust and antipathy to American hegemony.

There were reports of celebrations on the West Bank, and at the time there was an urban legend that the footage of some Palestinians celebrating the attacks was faked, and that it was actually footage from the invasion of Kuwait. This was proven false shortly afterwards , and the media widely circulated that fact. However, US media did not widely circulate European media reports (by the renowned German weekly Spiegel and the Swedish Dagens Nyheter) that while the footage was indeed correctly dated, reporters had at least in part staged the scene. One woman was quoted saying that she was offered a piece of pie for celebrating in front of the camera. It is unclear whether it was explained to the woman what she was supposedly celebrating. Further analysis of the footage showed that of the people on the relatively quiet streets, only a relatively small group was shown waving and cheering, most of them children.

Moderate Palestinians, and the Palestinian leadership quickly distanced themselves from any celebrations. A few days after the attacks Yasser Arafat symbolically donated blood for victims of the attacks.

Reports concerning five Israelis employed by the company Urban Moving Systems who photographed or videotaped the burning towers while smiling and dancing received relatively little media attention (, mirror: ). The men were later detained and deported. According to ABCNEWS, the FBI believed Urban Moving Systems may have been a cover operation for Israeli intelligence.