The September 11 attacks were carried out by 19 hijackers of the Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda. In the 1990s, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden declared a militant jihad against the United States, and issued two fatawa in 1996 and 1998. In the 1996 fatawa, he quoted the Sword Verse. In both of these fatawa, Bin Laden sharply criticized the financial contributions of the American government to the Saudi royal family as well as American military intervention in the Arab world and support for Israel.