Ahmed Yousef is a former director of the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), an Islamic think tank based in Fairfax County, Virginia. The UASR promotes the ideology of the Palestinian-based terrorist organization Hamas and frequently hosts terrorist-related radicals at its events. Yousef, who attributes America’s anti-terror policy, both at home and abroad, to a wide-ranging “pro-Zionist” conspiracy, succeeded Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook for the UASR position. He is also the past editor of the Middle East Affairs Journal, and he authored the book The Zionist Fingerprint on the Post-September 11 World.

In a December 2004 interview with the Hezbollah television station Al-Manar, Yousef explained how Zionists must have been behind 9/11:

“Israel excels at espionage within the U.S., and is capable of disguising many operations as Islamic. In other words, Israel is capable of penetrating certain Islamic circles, of directing and running them behind the scenes, so that they will conduct operations from which Israel benefits. Anyone who considers the events of 9/11 cannot say that the Muslims gained anything. … No one could have captured the pictures [of the attacks] so perfectly except for the cameras in the hands of several Mossad agents, who were near the scene of events and succeeded in filming the scene so that it will always serve Zionism to remind the world of the Arabs’ and Muslims’ crimes against America. … Today, there is much evidence casting doubt on the ability of these Muslims, with their meager means, to carry out such an operation, and there are others … Who profited from this operation more than the Zionist movement? Since the end of the Cold War, Israel has been trying to attain a position that would allow it to direct American policy …”