9/11 survivors' group 'appalled' by 'hurtful' Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour ahead of event staged near Ground Zero

By Liam Reilly and Ben Morse, CNN

Updated 2016 GMT (0416 HKT) July 26, 2022

Families of 9/11 victims had already spoken out against the LIV Golf tournament coming to the US.

(CNN)A 9/11 survivors' group has said it is «appalled» by the «offensive, disrespectful and hurtful» Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour as the event prepares to stage its next competition about 50 miles (80km) from the site of the deadly terror attack.

Speaking on Tuesday at a press conference near Bedminster, New Jersey, Terry Strada, chair of 9/11 Families United — a coalition of families and survivors of the 2001 terror attacks — said that playing such a tournament so close to the venue of the worst terrorist attack in American history is wrong. The competition, the third in the series, will be played at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster beginning July 29.«On September 11, after nearly three hours of unprecedented terror by 19 Saudi-funded terrorists, Bedminster and surrounding towns came together in extraordinary ways,» said Strada, who lost her husband in the attacks.«750 innocent people from New Jersey were brutally murdered, leaving over 1,000 children in our towns without a parent, including my three. Friends, neighbors and strangers embraced our suffering and helped us move through our devastation and pain.»Read MoreAlison Remy Crowther, a 9/11 Families United member whose son died during the terrorist attacks, emphasized that Saudi Arabia must be held accountable for the «barbaric human rights atrocities for which they are known» should the kingdom want to «gain legitimacy on the modern world stage and be seen as world leaders.»Echoing this sentiment, Matthew Bocchi, whose father, John, also died during the attacks, noted the group had gathered «to