One star after another joins the Saudi-backed LIV Tour of Golf.
Survivors and relatives of 9/11 victims are now pleading with players to rethink.
“We are angry that you are willing to help the Saudis overcome history.” She writes Terri Strada, the widow of Tom Strada who died at the World Trade Center.
The LIV Golf Invitational Series shook the golf world.
Funded by the state-owned Saudi Investment Fund, PIF, they are attracting billions of stars from the PGA Tour. Last in line are Americans Pat Perez and Patrick Reedpresented on Sunday.
According to human rights group Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia has a “terrible attitude toward human rights” and for many in the United States, the nation is forever linked to the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in 2001.
Send a message to the stars
Fifteen of the nineteen hijackers were Saudis, and Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda terrorist leader in the country, was also born.
The Associated Press reports that Terry Strada, president of the Federation of 9/11 Families and Survivors for Justice Against Terror, sent a letter to representatives of golf stars in Leif urging them to reconsider their participation. Her husband Tom died when a hijacked plane flew into the World Trade Center.
“Given Saudi Arabia’s role in the killing and wounding of our loved ones on 9/11 – your citizens in America – we are angry that you are willing to help the Saudis smooth history about their desire for ‘decency’.” Write Strada and accuse the players of betraying American interests.
“You will be complicit”
Strada sent the letter to representatives of Patrick Reed, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Kevin Na.
“When you cooperate with the Saudis, you become complicit in their attempts to purify themselves, and you help give them a better reputation they so desperately want – and are willing to pay for appropriately.” She completes.
The Saudi government insists that all allegations of their involvement in the terrorist attacks are “completely false.”
South American Charles Schwarzl won the first LIV competition, in English Hertfordshire, which ended on Saturday.