Did Saudis threaten Canada with 9/11-style attack? Some believe they did…

A Saudi Arabian social media creative group has published a picture of an Air Canada flight moving towards the CN Tower, accompanied by a warning to the Canadian government.

The picture was produced by a group called @Infographic_KSA, which describes itself as a project “managed by a group of Saudi youth who are interested in technology and social media Facts backed by numbers & evidence”. Its online presence is mostly on Twitter, Instagram and Telegram.

Full poster posted by @Infographic_KSA on Twitter

The poster was produced amid a diplomatic spat between Canada and Saudi Arabia over Ottawa’s criticism of the Arab kingdom’s treatment of human rights activists. It shows the picture alongside a message: “Sticking one’s nose where it doesn’t belong! As the Arab saying goes: ‘He who interferes with what doesn’t concern him finds what doesn’t please him’.” There are also versions in languages other than English.

Screenshot from the @Infographic_KSA Instagram page

The work doesn’t clarify what exactly would not please the Canadians, but the connotation with the terrorist hijacking of planes and ramming them into the World Trade Center towers didn’t escape many Twitter commenters. 

As the controversy unfolded, the tweet was swiftly removed, as were the pictures on Instagram.

The group later issued an apology, explaining that “the aircraft was intended to symbolize the return of the ambassador. We realize this was not clear and any other meaning was unintentional."

The image of CN tower in Toronto was then reposted, but without the plane in its upper right corner.

However, a few hours later, the Saudi Ministry of Media has ordered the shutdown of the @Infographic_ksa account on Twitter, pending investigation of the complaints filed against the group.