Possible Israeli Foreknowledge of 9/11 attacks

Possible_Israeli_Foreknowledge_of 9/11 attacks

�[E]vidence linking these Israelis to 9-11 is classified. I cannot tell you about evidence that has been gathered. It's classified information.� - Unnamed US Government official [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

Summary:

Many observers have suggested that Israel had foreknowledge of the 9/11 terrorists attacks. Some have even argued that they may have been behind the attacks.

Please note: Our concern over the alleged activities of current and former Israeli intelligence agents presented below is based on the potential threat they pose to the security of American citizens. In no way, is this investigation to be interpreted as being inspired by anything else.

Related Outlines:

U.S. Intelligence and the Terrorists
Explicit warnings of imminent terrorist attacks
U.S. Intelligence pre-9/11 investigations
Knowledge that planes might be used as missiles
Suspicious pre-9/11 Trading Activity
Evidence suggesting CIA likely had penetrated al Qaeda
Hijackers who were under surveillance before 9/11
Impediments to investigating al Qaeda prior to 9/11
What US officials claimed to have known pre-9/11
Acknowledgments that US had significant pre-9/11 intel.
What was the government doing on 9-11?
Unresolved issues that need to be explained
Did Bin Laden meet with CIA agents in July of 2001?
911 and D.B. Alex. Brown, Inc.
Possible Israeli foreknowledge of Sept. 11 attacks
Pre-9/11 foreshadowing of war in Afghanistan
Pakistani ISI, the CIA and 911
Previous Cases of Fabricated Evidence
Reluctance to Investigate
Independent Commission
Criticisms of 'Conspiracy Theories'
Mainstream Skepticism

1 Timeline of possible Israeli foreknowledge

2 Evidence suggesting possible Israeli involvement or foreknowledge of attacks

a Israel is known to have a highly sophisticated and effective espionage network in the U.S.

(A) Recent media and government investigations have uncovered an extensive Israeli espionage ring within the U.S.. Sources have revealed that some Israeli suspects have been under investigation for nearly 2 years. As a result of the investigations more than 120 Israelis were detained and deported. Many observers suspect, that through these spies, Israel may have had foreknowledge of the September 11 plot.

ii Companies and organizations that are suspected as being covers for Israeli espionage.

(b) The company has contracts with the 25 largest phone companies in the U.S. to do the directory assistance calls, telephone billing, and call records. [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

(i) Amdocs has computerized records and billing data for nearly every phone call made in America [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

(a) On May 5, 2000, the Washington Times affiliate magazine Insight and Fox News revealed that Israel was possibly spying on the U.S. government through wiretaps on the telephone lines of the White House, National Security Council, the Pentagon, and the State Department. An unnamed official reportedly stated, �It is a politically sensitive matter. I can�t comment on it beyond telling you that anything involving Israel on this particular matter is off-limits. It�s that hot.� [MRMEA 5/6/00; Rockfor Institute 2000; Insight 5/5/00]

(b) The following day the New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Fox-affiliated New York Post published articles refuting that evidence implicating Israel in espionage were in possession of the FBI. [New York Times 5/6/00; AP 5/6/00]

(a) Israeli intelligence may have access to the information that is gathered by this company. U.S. investigators believe that this information may have given Israeli intelligence advance knowledge of the attacks and that Amdocs data later helped Israeli suspects evade investigators. [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

(i) �Amdocs is unaware of any investigation or allegations and has not been contacted by any agency.� [Newsmax 1/16/02]

(ii) �Amdocs has not been involved in any illegal or improper activity.� [Newsmax 1/16/02]

(a) It is a subsidiary of an Israeli-run private telecommunications firm. [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

(i) The company produces electronic surveillance equipment that is integrated into the telephone system�s routers and switchers. The equipment can intercept phone calls and transmit them to U.S. law enforcement authorities. [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

(i) The equipment is accessible by Comverse Infosys at anytime so that it can be serviced when needed. This also allows the company to access intercepted phone calls. [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

(a) According to the January 21, 1991 edition of Long Island Business News, the company�s chairman, Kobi Alexander �served in the Israeli armed services as an intelligence officer in an elite commando unit.� [cited in Steinberg 2/1/02]

(b) The Israeli Ministry of Industry and Trade reimburses up to 50% of the research and development costs incurred by Comverse Infosys. [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

01. This relationship with Israel has not been investigated by the DEA, INS, or FBI because the agents have stated that to �pursue or even suggest Israeli spying through Comverse is considered career suicide.� [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

(a) Several previous FBI investigations of Comverse were blocked. [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

(b) A 1999 F.C.C. document demonstrated that multiple government agencies have criticized Comverse equipment because it allows unauthorized monitoring of phone calls. [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

01. An FBI office in Chantilly, Virginia, which supervises the CALEA wiretapping program, is one of the most vocal critics. [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

(c) Investigations have exposed an incestuous relationship between the FBI office that awards the wiretapping equipment contracts and Comverse. [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

01. Many of the FBI officials who had awarded contracts to Comverse have left the FBI and now work for the Israeli company. [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

(a) The website of its parent company, Koor Industries, says that Telrad �provides secure communications systems for the Israeli Defense Forces.� [Koor Industries Website]

(b) According to the May 21, 2000 edition of the Times, Israeli intelligence had infiltrated Telrad and were using it to intercept data coming from the White House. [Sunday Times 5/21/00]

(1) Several Israeli mall vendors who sell these toys from carts are suspected by U.S. intelligence to be Israeli agents. [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

(a) They were �employees� of the Israeli-owned Quality Sales Corporation [EIR 12/28/01]

(b) After 9/11, many of these vendors stopped selling from their carts and disappeared. However U.S. authorities did manage to detain some of the vendors. [Fox News 12/12-13/01] It is presently unclear what happened to the vendors that were detained.

(a) One high-ranking U.S. intelligence source told Forward magazine that intelligence agents� investigation of this company led them to believe it was a front for the Israeli Mossad. At present there is no publicly available information that conclusively confirms this allegation. However there was an incident that had occurred on 9-11 that casts a very dark shadow of suspicion on the company and its employees. [Forward, 3/15/02]

(i) On September 11, five of the company�s employees were detained as a result of witness accounts that they were taking pictures of the flaming ruins of the World Trade Center and celebrating.

(i) Shortly after the collapse of the towers a neighbor called the police and reported that the 5 individuals were, �going to unusual lengths to photograph the World Trade Center ruins� and, significantly, �making light of the situation.� The neighbor claimed they that had gone on the roof of the office of their employer, Urban Moving Company, and were posing, dancing, and laughing. [New York Times 10/8/01; Bergen Record 9/12/01; Ha'aretz 9/17/01; Gotham Gazette 11/2/01]

(ii) After their stint on the roof of the building, the five Israelis headed down to a nearby parking lot where they mounted the roof of their truck and resumed their photographing and celebrating. Another witness called the police and told them that the men were smiling, dancing, and giving each other high-fives. [Gotham Gazette 11/2/01; ABC News, 6/21/02]

(iii) A few hours later, the five Israelis were stopped by police while driving their truck. One individual had $4,700 in cash hidden in his sock, while another had two foreign passports. They were also found to be in the possession of a box-cutter, which they presumably had because of their job as professional movers. [New York Times 10/8/01; Gotham Gazette 11/2/01; ABC News, 6/21/02]

01. On September 14, Dominic Suter, the owner of the moving company, left the country very abruptly after FBI agents indicated that they wanted a second interview with him. According to ABC News� 2020 [ABC News 6/21/02], �Three months later 2020's cameras photographed the inside of Urban Moving, and it looked as if the business had been shut down in a big hurry. Cell phones were lying around; office phones were still connected; and the property of dozens of clients remained in the warehouse. The owner had also cleared out of his New Jersey home, put it up for sale and returned with his family to Israel.� [New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, 12/13/01; Gotham Gazette 11/2/01; ABC News, 6/21/02; Forward, 3/15/02]

02. Shortly after the arrest of the men, FBI officials suspected that the Urban Moving company was an Israeli intelligence front. Vince Cannistraro, a former chief of operations for counterterrorism, told ABC News that the FBI was concerned that the moving company had been �set up or exploited for the purpose of launching an intelligence operation against radical Islamists in the area, particularly in the New Jersey-New York area.� [ABC News, 6/21/02]

01. The five employees that were taken into custody were all former members of the Israeli Army. After being transferred to jail, the FBI�s Criminal Division sent the case to the Counterintelligence Section on account of suspicions that they were Israeli spies. They were then detained for more that two months. Some of them spent 40 days in solitary confinement. [New York Times 11/21/01; ABC News, 6/21/02]

01. He was released from FBI custody after pressure from �top ranking Israeli diplomats.� After being released he returned to Israel. Attorney General John Ashcroft reportedly signed off on his release. [New York Times 11/21/01]

02. For ten weeks, Kretzberg refused to take a lie detector. He ended up eventually taking a polygraph test twice, failing both times. He had �refused on principle to divulge much about his role in the Israeli army or subsequently working for people who may have had ties to Israeli intelligence.� This was reported in November 21 New York Times. [New York Times 11/21/01; ABC News, 6/21/02]

(a) According to a small local newspaper in Pennsylvania, The Mercury, three Israeli employees working for Moving Systems, Inc. were detained by police on October 11, after being caught illegally dumping garbage from their moving truck into the dumpster of a restaurant. The suspects had fled the seen after being confronted by the restaurant�s manager, who immediately reported the incident to the police. [The Mercury 10/17/01]

The Mercury reported: �The area was searched by township police, and the vehicle was spotted parked on the curb in front of John Kennedy Ford on Ridge Pike, just west of Industrial Way. An officer proceeded to make contact with the occupants of the truck by knocking on the cab, according to reports. A Middle Eastern [an Israeli according to Executive Intelligence Review 3/29/02] man, later identified as Ron Katar, 23, exited the sleeper area of the cab and said that the operator was across the street as he pointed toward the Don Rosen Porsche dealer, reports said. Elmakias and a white female, Ayelet Reisler, 23, were approaching the vehicle from the dealership, but the female then began walking in a different direction, acting as if she were not with Elmakias, according to reports. . . . Elmakias said that his destination was New York and that he was also coming from New York. He said he was in Plymouth because he was supposed to make a pickup from a male in the morning and pointed toward the Storage USA facility on Belvoir Road and West Ridge Pike, police said. Elmakias could not, however, provide a name or telephone number of the customer.� [The Mercury 10/17/01]

A search of the truck turned up detailed video footage of the Sears Towers along with several other suspicious articles. It was also discovered that the driver of the truck had falsified his driver log.

As of this date, no ties to Israeli intelligence have been made. [The Mercury 10/17/01]

(a) Israelis - posing as �art students� selling their art [actually made in China], but suspected of spying for Israel - were detained by the FBI and later deported to their homeland on account of visa violations. The FBI first took notice of them in January of 2001.

(a) DEA, FBI, and other Federal officials who have been interviewed by reporters.

(b) A DEA report that was acquired by French intelligence analysts revealed details concerning the Israeli art students that had been detained. [DEA report 6/01]

02. Confirmed. Its accuracy was confirmed by DEA spokeswomen Rogene Waite and Will Gaspy of the DEA�s Public Affairs department. It was also confirmed privately by various other officials who had been named in the report. [DEA report 6/01; AP 3/5/02] It was also reportedly confirmed by the Justice Department [Pittsburg-Tribune Review 5/17/02]

03. Detailed. It was highly detailed. It documented 180 cases of Israeli art students infiltrating DEA facilities. It provided names, drivers' license numbers, addresses and phone numbers of the Israelis. [DEA report 6/01; Insight 3/11/02]

04. Available to the public. Despite official confirmations of the report, other U.S. officials denied its existence. In response, Intelligence Online released the document to CreativeLoafing.com who published it on the Internet for the public. [DEA report 6/01] The Associated Press also reported that it had a copy [AP 3/9/02]

05. Conclusion. The report acknowledged that the art students �may well be an organized intelligence-gathering activity.� [DEA report 6/01; AP 3/5/02; Sun Sentinel 3/7/02]

01. Thomas Hinojosa, a DEA spokesman, said, �Our agents noted suspicious activities and reported them to our headquarters last year. This was compiled into an internal document and then referred to law enforcement agencies.� [Forward 3/15/02]

02. Bill Carter, a spokesman for the FBI, said, �After an agency reported suspicious activities by those so-called students, the FBI conducted an investigation and determined that there was no credence to the assumption that this was an Israeli spying operation. None of the Israelis were charged with espionage and they were all deported by the INS for visa violations.� [Forward 3/15/02]

(i) �In virtually every incident of the many reported by the entire DEA field-office structure the pattern was similar: Students would attempt to enter secure buildings, take photographs, follow federal agents when they left buildings, show up at their homes, take pictures of their cars and circle their neighborhoods, visiting only their houses and then departing.� [DEA report 6/01; Insight 3/11/02]

(ii) They visited the homes and offices of Federal employees in several cities including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, Miami soliciting their China-produced artwork. [DEA report 6/01; Intelligence Online 2/28/02; AP 3/9/02; AP 10/1/03]

(ii) They had been found in Federal office buildings and 36 Department of Defense buildings. [Fox News 12/12-13/01; AP 10/1/03]

01. One was found wandering the halls of a federal facility in Dallas with a floor plan in his hands. [Channel 11 News in Dallas 10/3/01]

(ii) Several of the 'art students' claimed to be employed by �Universal Art, Inc.,� located at 10873 NW 52^nd Street Sunrise, Florida. A local reporter visited the office and found no evidence of the company. [Fox News 12/12-13/01; AP 3/9/02]

(vi) They were even tied to an ecstasy drug trafficking ring. The DEA report read, �DEA Orlando has developed the first drug nexus to this group. Telephone numbers obtained from an Israeli Art Student encountered at the Orlando [district office] have been linked to several ongoing DEA MDMA [Ecstasy] investigations in Florida, California, Texas, and New York.� [DEA report 6/01]

(vii) The �art students� had all claimed that they were students of Bezalel Academy of Arts in Jerusalem. However, the school had no record of their identities. [DEA report 6/01; Pittsburg-Tribune Review 5/17/02]

(i) Among the 13 students arrested was Eran Mosha, who was a member of the Israeli Special Forces. [Intelligence Online 2/28/02]

(iii) Among the 13 students arrested was Michael Gal, who was bailed out of jail by his relative, Orphus Baer, who happens to work for Amdocs. [Intelligence Online 2/28/02]

(iv) One �art student� had received money from an Israeli employee of Amdocs. [Le Monde 3/5/02]

(v) Two �students' had previously worked at the Israeli high-tech company Retalix. [Le Monde 3/5/02]

(vi) 5 of the students had been picked up in Hollywood, Florida. They had been residing at 4220 Sheridan St. Interestingly, four of the five 9/11 hijackers that were on AA Flight 11 [Mohammed Atta, Abdulaziz Al-Omari, Walid and Wa�l Al-Shehri] and 1 of the five [Marwan Al-Shehhi] from UA Flight 175 had at one time or another also resided in Hollywood. Mohammed Atta, the presumed lead hijacker had lived at 3389 Sheridan St, only a few blocks away. [Le Monde 3/5/02; Reuters 3/5/02; Jane's Intelligence Digest, 3/15/02; Salon, 5/7/02] According to the German Zie Zeit, reported the Der Speigel, �between December 2000 and April 2001 a whole horde of Israeli counter-terror investigators, posing as students, followed the trails of Arab terrorists and their cells in the United States. In their secret investigations, the Israelis came very close to the later perpetrators of Sept. 11. In the town of Hollywood, Florida, they identified the two former Hamburg students and later terror pilots Mohammed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi as possible terrorists. Agents lived in the vicinity of the apartment of the two seemingly normal flight school students, observing them around the clock.� [Der Spiegel 10/1/02]

(vii) In addition to the close proximity of the Israeli �art students� to the Florida-based hijackers, other �art students� in Texas, California, and Arkansas were operating close to several of the other hijackers suspected of taking part in the 9-11 attacks. [DEA report 6/01]

(viii) Six of the students had mobile phones that had been purchased by a former Israeli vice consul in the U.S. [Le Monde 3/5/02]

(ix) The passports of the students revealed that they had been visitors in several different countries including, Thailand, Laos, India, Kenya, Central and South America, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada. [Insight 3/11/02]

(a) In spite of the findings of the DEA report, the students were deported back to Israel on account of visa violations. [AP 3/5/02]

(7) There are several other Israelis that were detained that are suspected of being a part of the spy ring but were not �art students�

(i) Some had reportedly been part of the Israeli counter-terrorism force, military intelligence, electronic surveillance intercept and explosive ordinance units. Several had also worked for Israeli high technology information companies. [Fox News 12/12-13/01; Intelligence Online 2/28/02]

(iii) Some of the suspects failed polygraph tests when they were questioned about suspected Israeli espionage. [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

02. He had �direct� links to five people who recruited �art students� in Israel. [Intelligence Online 2/28/02]

01. He was a high level operative in the Israeli spy ring operating in Texas. [Intelligence Online 2/28/02; ]

(a) It is a pro-Israeli think tank that was formed in 1973 with the purpose of ensuring continual U.S. support for the Israel.

(i) It was founded in 1973 after the Israeli-Arab wars. In order to guarantee that the U.S. would support future Israeli actions against its Arab neighbors, JINSA collected active and former U.S. military officers under its umbrella of influence. [JINSA website; Observer 9/1/02]

(i) David P. Steinmann, is the CEO and president of JINSA and the director of CAMERA. He is also the head of the Rosenwald family trust and chairman of the New York Board of Governors of Middle East Quarterly. [JINSA Website]

(iii) Steven Bryen, JINSA Director. He is a former deputy undersecretary of defense. [JINSA Website]

(iv) Richard Perle, JINSA director, member of Defense Policy Board. [JINSA Website]

(vii) Michael Ledeen. He is a former National Security Consultant. [JINSA Website]

(viii) Several retired military officers who currently are employed by defense contractors are also on JINSA�s advisory board. [JINSA Website]

01. Its website stated at one time, �Only one think tank puts the U.S.- Israeli strategic relationship first � JINSA.� [Observer 9/1/01]

02. After the September 11 attacks, it called on the administration to make war on Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Sudan, the PLO, Libya. Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. [JINSA 9/13/01; Observer 9/1/02; JINSA 9/17/01]

01. JINSA sponsors trips to Israel for U.S. soldiers in order to establish loyalty and respect for the Israel. Its website states � The JINSA �work/study program is designed to provide the next generation of American military leadership with a personal, intensive experience with an allied country. Although the vast majority of those who participate are not Jewish, many have a strong interest in Israel for political and religious reasons.� [JINSA Website]

(1) The case of the �Puzzle car � and �Zoom Copter� toy vendors as described above. [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

(2) In several investigations of Israeli suspects, the suspects quickly modified their behavior after U.S. enforcement agencies began wiretapping them. This suggests that the suspects may have known that they were being monitored. [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

(B) U.S. government agencies have taken actions to protect themselves from suspected espionage.

(a) In stark contrast to the official line that there is no Israeli spy network, several federal agencies have in the past year taken steps to protect themselves against espionage.

(a) Warnings to federal employees concerning Israeli art students. The U.S. Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, officially warned federal employees in March 2001 about the art students and urged them to report any contact with such art students. The warning read, �These individuals have been described as aggressive. They attempt to engage employees in conversation rather than giving a sales pitch.� [Insight 3/11/02; AP 3/9/02; Forward 3/15/02]

(b) DEA communications employees were put on alert. According to John Sugg, �a Dec. 18 e-mail among DEA communications employees makes clear that the agency underwent self-scrutiny as the �result of the Fox network expose on Israeli counterintelligence activities�.� [Creative Loafing Atlanta 3/27/02]

(c) Warning to Justice Department to restrict access to their information systems to non-U.S. citizens and end the awarding of certain contracts to non-U.S. companies. On March 4, 2002, U.S. assistant attorney Robert Diegelman, sent a memo to officials at the Justice Department warning them to permit access to their information systems to U.S. citizens only. The memo also indicated that they were no longer to use foreign supplied computer and communications equipment. [Creative Loafing Atlanta 3/27/02]

(d) U.S. government distributed the DEA report to several of its own agencies. On March 13, 2002, the controversial DEA report was dispersed to several agencies including the Justice Department�s Joint Terrorism Task Force. [Intelligence Online 2/28/02 cited in American Free Press 3/25/02]

(e) Pentagon and DOD ended practice of awarding foreign companies contracts involving sensitive projects. The World Tribune [World Tribune 3/12/02] reported, �Israeli nationals could be banned from participating in U.S. defense contracts under new regulations that seek to keep foreigners out of sensitive projects.� The article revealed that these restrictions were specifically targeted at �IT� and other �computer-related� contracts. Pete Nelson, the deputy director for personnel security in the Pentagon, stated, �Some foreign nationals � those in the most sensitive positions � may not be permitted to remain in those positions. As we review our security requirements as a nation, we need to ensure all people with access to sensitive IT [information technology] systems are cleared and properly vetted for the material to which they have access.�

(f) In April, the DOD announced further proposals to limit the influence of foreign companies in the U.S. On April 5, the Financial Times reported that the U.S. Department of Defense wanted to expand the powers of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. which is charged with the responsibility of making sure that foreign acquisitions of U.S. companies do not pose a threat to U.S. national security. The new proposal wanted the committee to review all foreign acquisitions of U.S. companies valued at more than $100 million, all acquisitions involving companies that had done more than $1 million in business with the DOD, and all deals involving companies that were owned or controlled by foreign national governments. [Financial Times 4/5/02]

(A) Media and government response to accusations that Israel is/was spying on the U.S.

(1) Comments made by high-level U.S. government officials concerning the investigations that are being conducted into Israeli espionage.

(i) He claimed to know nothing and referred a FOX News reporter to the Department of Justice. [Fox News 12/17/01]

(i) He claimed not to know why the Israelis were being detained and referred a FOX News reporter to the Department of Justice. [Fox News 12/17/01]

(ii) On December 13, 2001 when the EIR's Washington Bureau Chief Bill Jones asked Powell, �There were 60 Israeli citizens who have been picked up in the post-Sept. 11 sweep, many of whom, if not all of whom, are connected to Israeli intelligence. Are you concerned about such intelligence operations on U.S. soil, and have you taken up this issue with your counterpart in Israel?� Powell responded: �I'm aware that some Israeli citizens have been detained, and I've been in touch with the Israeli government as to the fact that they have been detained, in making sure that they have rights of access to Israeli diplomatic personnel here in the United States. With respect to why they are being detained, and the other aspects of your question, whether it's because they are in intelligence services or what things they were doing, I will defer to the Department of Justice and the FBI to answer that; because, frankly, I deal with the consular parts of that problem, not the intelligence or law-enforcement parts of that problem.� [Fox News 12/17/01; EIR 12/28/01]

(i) Referring to the numerous articles citing the leaked DEA report, she claimed, �At this time, we have no information to support this.� [Le Monde 3/5/02; AP 3/9/02; Cox News Service 3/5/01]

(ii) She claimed that the story was �an urban myth that has been circulating for months. The department has no information at this time to substantiate these widespread reports about Israeli art students involved in espionage.� [Washington Post, 3/6/02]

(i) �We have seen the Fox News segments that aired several weeks ago on this topic and found some inaccuracies with it. Because they are sensitive issues, I do not have the luxury of discussing what precisely was accurate and what was inaccurate about their reporting.� [Newsmax 1/16/02]

(ii) �Most of the questions [asked by NewsMax.com] are not directly answerable by CALEA [Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act]. Your questions may be more properly addressed to our National Security Division, which I know would never discuss this with you, unfortunately.� [Newsmax 1/16/02

(i) When an FBI investigator, who requested anonymity, was asked �whether any spying activity occurred, the official repeated that no charges had been filed,� i.e., he would neither deny nor confirm. [AP 3/5/02]

(i) According to one independent journalist who was investigating the �art students� a CIA officer had told him, �We�ve just closed the book on it. And I recommend that you do the same.� [Salon, 5/7/02]

(i) One official stated that the �evidence linking these Israelis to 9-11 is classified. I cannot tell you about evidence that has been gathered. It's classified information.� [Fox News 12/12-13/01]

(i) �We think there is something quite sinister here but are unable at this time to put our finger on it.� [Insight 3/11/02]

(i) �The higher-ups don't want to deal with this and neither does the FBI because it involves Israel.� [Insight 3/11/02]

(a) Pro-Israeli director of the Middle East Forum Daniel Pipes wrote an op-ed piece asserting that the whole espionage story was just a �myth.� In spite of all the above evidence, he claimed the story was baseless and amounted to little more than fodder for the �conspiracy theorists.� [New York Post 3/11/02]

(7) Critical media coverage of investigations into Israelis has been virtually non-existent.

(a) The major media, with the exception of Fox News, completely ignored the Israeli spy scandal. But Fox soon canned the story under pressure for pro-Israeli lobbies.

01. Salon reported, �Oddly, four days after the Cameron investigation ran, all traces of his report -- transcripts, Web links, headlines -- disappeared from the Foxnews.com archives. [Normally, Fox leaves a story up for two to three weeks before consigning it to the pay archive.] � Asked why the Cameron piece disappeared, spokesman Robert Zimmerman said it was �up there on our Web site for about two or three weeks and then it was taken down because we had to replace it with more breaking news. As you know, in a Web site you've got x amount of bandwidth -- you know, x amount of stuff you can put stuff up on [sic]. So it was replaced. Normal course of business, my friend.� � When informed that Cameron's story was gone from the archives, not simply from the headline pages [when you entered the old URL, a Fox screen appeared with the message �This story no longer exists�], Zimmerman replied, �I don't know where it is.� [Salon, 5/7/02]

02. Le Monde, attempted 3 times to acquire the transcripts from Fox. The requests were ignored until February 26, when Fox explained that there was some sort of �problem� preventing them from sending it. The �problem� was not explained. [Le Monde 3/5/02; see also Salon, 5/7/02]

(b) Several pro-Israeli organizations put pressure on Fox to halt its probe and retract its story.

(i) The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs [JINSA] rallied the Committee for Accurate Middle East Reporting in America [CAMERA] to mobilize its members and associates to send a barrage of email, faxes, and phone calls to FOX in order to discourage its investigation into the Israeli espionage case. In a press release it stated, �These charges are arrant nonsense unworthy of the usually reliable Fox News.� [Camera 12/12/01 see also Camera 12/13/01; EIR 12/27/01]

o David P. Steinmann, is director of CAMERA and the CEO and president of JINSA. He is the head of the Rosenwald family trust and also chairs the New York Board of Governors of Middle East Quarterly. [EIR 12/27/01]

02. Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America wrote to top executives at FOX. . [EIR 12/27/01]

03. Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League spoke with top executives at FOX. . [EIR 12/27/01]

(a) �We know of absolutely no factual basis for suggestions that intelligence agencies or others have misused our products for illicit purposes.� [Newsmax 1/16/02]

(b) �In particular, no company employees have been involved in any of the incidents referred to in your December 19 story. Moreover, the reference in that story to a suspected abuse of our equipment in a foiled Los Angeles drug bust was completely erroneous. Our equipment was not involved in any such incident.�

(c) �The board of directors overseeing these operations consists of former high-level military officers, including two retired Air Force generals appointed by the DOD. In addition, the DOD monitors Comverse Infosys Technology's operations to ensure they remain in full regulatory compliance.� [Newsmax 1/16/02]

(d) �All equipment supplied by Comverse complies with all applicable government security requirements. The notion that 'backdoor' access has been built into the systems is absurd. For more than 10 years, these systems have been sold to customers in more than 40 countries, who have subjected them to rigorous and continuous security testing without a single reported breach.� [Newsmax 1/16/02]

(a) �Amdocs is unaware of any investigation or allegations and has not been contacted by any agency.� [Newsmax 1/16/02]

(b) �Amdocs has not been involved in any illegal or improper activity.� [Newsmax 1/16/02].

(a) In response to the Fox News stories, the Israeli embassy stated the following, �The report on Fox News contains no quoted source, it has in no way demonstrated anything more than anonymous innuendo, and should be regarded accordingly. Israel does not spy on the United States of America.� [Jerusalem Post, 5/14/02]

(b) In response to the DEA report that was publicized by Intelligence Online, a spokesperson at the Israeli embassy in Washington claimed, �No one in the US is taking this story seriously. I categorically deny the claims and my embassy has received no complaints from the US. . . . I am not aware of a single Israeli who has been charged with espionage.� [Independent 3/6/02]

(a) In response to the DEA report that was publicized by Intelligence Online, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Yaffa Ben-Ari asserted that it was �nonsense.� [AP, 3/5/02; Cox News Service 3/5/01]

(a) In a December 12 press release it stormed, �These charges are arrant nonsense unworthy of the usually reliable Fox News. This is especially true because Cameron was well aware that similar allegations against detained Israelis have been shot down as baseless by no less an authority than Attorney General John Ashcroft.� The press release than suggested that concerned readers contact Fox News, and �politely demand that they either provide credible evidence for their charges or issue a forthright public retraction, [e]xplain why reporter Cameron kept from viewers Attorney General Ashcroft�s denial of similar charges a few weeks ago, [e]xplain why Cameron kept from viewers Judge Hacker�s finding that the Israeli detainees from Ohio were not spies or in any way threats to the national security of the United States.� [CAMERA, 12/12/01, CAMERA, 12/13/01]

(b) CAMERA's associate director, Alex Safian, told Salon �I think it's just Cameron who has something, personally, about Israel. He was brought up in the Middle East. Maybe that has something to do with it. Maybe he's very sympathetic to the Arab side. One could ask.� [Salon, 5/7/02]

(a) Forward, after initially denying the allegations of an Israeli spy ring, acknowledged its existence in mid March 2002, [Forward, 12/21/01] but claimed, �far from pointing to Israeli spying against US government and military facilities, as reported in Europe last week, the incidents in question appear to represent a case of Israelis in the United States spying on a common enemy, radical Islamic networks suspected of links to Middle East terrorism.� [Forward, 3/15/02]

(1) On February 26, 1998, UPI reported that five Israeli intelligence agents were arrested after being caught in the action of installing telephone surveillance equipment in an apartment on the night of February 19. [UPI 2/26/98]

(a) The AP reported, �Six accused Israeli spies, including an Egyptian diplomat, will be tried on espionage charges� in December 2002. �The six were accused of spying for Israel in exchange for money and of smuggling Chinese, Russian and Maldives nationals into Israel while operating under the cover of a travel agency, an official said on condition of anonymity,� the report explained. [AP 11/14/02]

(a) Nagla'a Ibrahim, a 35-year-old retired handball player. She is suspected to have been the leader of the group. [AP 11/14/02]

(b) Issam el-Sawi, a prominent businessman in the tourism industry. [AP 11/14/02]

(e) A diplomat, who worked at the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel. The person�s name was not revealed. [AP 11/14/02]

(A) In the months preceding 9/11, Israel provided the CIA with numerous warnings about imminent terrorist attacks.

(1) August 23, 2001: According to German newspapers, the Mossad gave the CIA a list of 19 terrorists living in the US and said that it appeared that they were planning to carry out an attack in the near future. It is unknown if these are the same exact 19 names as the actual hijackers or if the number is a coincidence. However, at least four names did refer to actual 9/11 hijackers: Nawaf Alhazmi, Khalid Almihdhar, Marwan Alshehhi, and Mohamed Atta. [Die Zeit, 10/1/02, Der Spiegel, 10/1/02, BBC, 10/2/02, Haaretz, 10/3/02] The Mossad appears to have learned about this through their quot;art studentquot; spy ring. Yet apparently this warning and list were not treated as particularly urgent by the CIA and also were not passed on to the FBI. It is not clear if this warning influenced the adding of Alhazmi and Almihdhar's names to a terrorism watch list on this same day, and if so, why only those two. [Der Spiegel, 10/1/02] Israel denied that there were any Mossad agents in the US. [Haaretz, 10/3/02] The US has denied knowing about Atta before 9/11, despite other media reports to the contrary.

(1) This company - which was originally founded by a cadre of Israeli businessman, military, and intelligence officials - has contracts with several U.S. and European airports to provide aviation security services.

(1) �A World Leader in security consulting, ICTS [International Consultants of Targeted Security] was founded in 1982 by a select group of Israeli business people, former military commanding officers and veterans of government intelligence and security services. In the ensuring years, ICTS grew into one of the leading companies providing consulting and personnel services in aviation and general security.� [ICTS website]

(ii) He served as a special consultant to the Israeli Defense Ministry from 1991 to 1998. [ICTS website]

(i) Also a subsidiary of another company, Fraport AG, which is owned and operated by Frankfurt Airport. [ICTS website]

(ii) It has contracts at 47 US airports, �including substantially all the international aviation gateways in the USA.� [emphasis added] [ICTS website]

(iii) Its service includes �passenger screening at the security checkpoints, security agents, . . . . ramp agents, baggage x-ray, CTX operations [supervisors, operators, guards], aircraft search, drug searches, baggage carousel guards, FAA guards, international arrival guards, and more.� [ICTS website]

(i) �The shoe bomb case has also sent ripples through US-Israeli relations. DEBKAfile�s sources report the angry tone taken by US officials with Israeli security officers and Sharon himself over the Reid affair. They believe Israeli intelligence services knew six months ago about Reid�s suspected involvement in terrorist activities as well as the real purpose of his Gaza visit � but said nothing. Had Israel spoken up, or at least dropped some hint about Reid, he never would have been allowed to board the American Airlines plane. Washington would have tipped off French authorities, which would have picked Reid up immediately on his arrival in Paris. To make the situation worse, a private security company called ICTS, owned by an Israeli, Ezra Harel, and registered in the Netherlands, was employed at Charles de Gaulle airport to screen passengers boarding US planes. Most of its personnel are ex-Shin Bet officers. The company covers security at Boston�s Logan airport, where the American Airlines plane came down after flight attendants and passengers overpowered Reid. The Americans believe someone at ICTS must have known that Reid planned to take that flight and passed it on to Israel, which withheld information that could have prevented a major air disaster. The Israeli response to US allegations is no less harsh. They admit letting Reid board an El Al flight from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv in July, although an armed sky marshal was ordered to sit next to him. This was a calculated risk in order to find out who Reid�s contacts were in Israel and the Palestinian territories and the only way to cover his movements effectively.� [cited from Afrocubaweb.com]

(1) On September 10, 2001, the Army School of Advanced Military Studies issued a report written by elite US army officers, which was made public just prior to 9/11. The report gave the following description for the Mossad: quot;Wildcard. Ruthless and cunning. Has capability to target US forces and make it look like a Palestinian/Arab act.quot; [Washington Times, 9/10/01]

3 Other suspicious incidents involving Israel.

a Israeli instant messaging company with offices on New York was warned of attacks two hours before the first plane hit.

i The Israeli company, Odigo, Inc. was warned two hours before the attacks. Odigo CEO Micha Macover told the Israeli daily Ha�aretz that �two workers received the messages predicting the attack would happen.� The FBI was quickly notified but it is presently not clear if U.S. authorities are still investigating the incident. [Washington Post 9/28/01]

ii Comverse Infosystems [see above] is a major stockholder in the company. [Comverse 1/9/02]

i EIR reported, �in several Western European countries, including the Netherlands and possibly Germany, the Israeli Mossad is officially handling all visa background checks, for applicants from Arab and Muslim countries. According to a well-placed diplomatic source, the Israelis offered these �services,� free of charge, to the European immigration agencies, in return for access to the unusually detailed information contained in the visa applications. The rationale for the deal is that the Israeli secret services maintain the most comprehensive watch-lists of suspected Arab and Islamic terrorists and criminals.� The author�s source then noted that this meant that the Israelis would have had �access to the past travel itineraries of all the visa applicants, and would, therefore, have a profile of individuals�such as Mohammad Atta�who travelled back and forth to Pakistan and Afghanistan, and other al-Qaeda, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad hotbeds of activity. . . . How much did the Israeli Mossad know about the activities of the so-called �Hamburg cell� of al-Qaeda terror plotters? And why, if the Israelis did, indeed, have the authority to turn down visa applications, did Atta and the others have such free access between Europe and the United States?� [Executive Intelligence Review 3/29/02]

c Israeli nationals were arrested in Washington State driving rental truck tainted with residue from explosives.

(A) On May 7, 2002, local police authorities pulled over a Budget rental truck in Oak Harbour, Washington near the Whitney Island Naval Air Station. The driver and his passenger were Israeli nationals, one of which had entered the country illegally. The other had an expired visa. Tests performed on the vehicle revealed that there were traces of TNT on the gearshift and RDX plastic explosives on the steering wheel. But no actual explosives were reported to have been found in the truck. [Fox News, 5/13/02]

A report in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer the following day reported that the FBI performed follow-up tests on the truck which turned-up negative. One source speculated that perhaps the original tests had actually detected just cigarette residue, and not explosives. [Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 5/14/02, Jerusalem Post, 5/14/02]. Critics, weary of an Israeli/U.S. government cover-up, argued that it would make no sense for U.S. authorities to use a method of testing that could be skewed by cigarette residue. The website whatreallyhappened.com remarked:

�The specific claim is made that residue from a cigarette lighter confused the tests for TNT and RDX. That doesn't explain why the trained bomb-sniffing dog, who surely knows the difference between explosives and cigarettes [else he would false-positive every smoker, ashtray, and convenience store he came across] gave the first indications of explosives in the truck that led to the tests in the first place. Likewise, were the chemical tests unable to discriminate between tobacco and TNT/RDX, which are chemically quite different from tobacco combustion products, they would give false positive results for every vehicle ever tested in which smokers had ever ridden. Given the likelihood of finding tobacco residues in any car, such tests would have to be designed to tell the difference. The same is true for other products from non-electric cigarette lighters, the vast majority of which are butane.�

The same website also provided references to three documents with detailed information on the tests used to detect TNT and RDX. None of the documents indicated that the presence of cigarette residue might induce inaccurate test results. [International Society for Optical Engineering 1984; Cold Regions and Research Engineering Laboratory 5-1996; Security Management n.d.]

d Six Israelis were detained after taking photos of a nuclear power plant and the Trans-Alaska pipeline.

(A) On September 29-30, 2001, Police in the Midwest stopped six men who had suspicious documents, and then released them. They possessed photos and descriptions of a nuclear power plant in Florida and the Trans-Alaska pipeline, and also had quot;box cutters and other equipment.quot; All six also had Israeli passports. They were released after their passports were shown to be valid, but before anyone could interview them. The FBI was reportedly furious about their release. [Miami Herald 10/3/01; Knight Ridder 10/31/01; London Times 11/2/01]

4 Other accusations against Israel.

(A) According to EIR, �A well-placed Washington source has alerted EIR that there is growing suspicion among U.S. government law enforcement and intelligence agencies that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has dispatched special operations teams into North America. The warning came in the context of a discussion about the recent deportation of five Israelis who were detained on Sept. 11 for suspicious behavior�Portions of the funds garnered from the illegal operations, according to sources, are funneled to offshore bank accounts of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Some of these dirty funds were reportedly diverted to Sharon's election campaigns. This Israeli mafia apparatus receives technical support via a number of Israeli communications firms, that subcontract with major American telephone companies and government law enforcement agencies� [EIR 12/13/01]

(1) EIR reported that a number of the Israelis that were detained after the terrorist attacks �have been linked to suspected �Islamic� terrorist cells in southern California� [EIR 1/11/02]

(1) On January 12, 2000, 11 Islamic preachers were detained in India prior to boarding a flight headed for Dhaka, Bangladesh on suspicions of being terrorists. Although, the Indian official eventually cleared the clerics to leave, officials in Bangladesh indicated that they would not grant them visas. The Muslims, who all had Israeli passports, were allowed to board a flight to Israel � under Israeli pressure. An Indian intelligence analyst, Ashok Debbarma, explained to The Week, �It is not unlikely for Mossad to recruit 11 Afghans in Iran and grant them Israeli citizenship to penetrate a network such as Bin Laden's. They would begin by infiltrating them into an Islamic radical group in an unlikely place like Bangladesh.� He added that Israel obvious concern for the men, and the haste with which they were flown back indicated a possible �aborted operation.� [The Week, 2/6/00]

(A) The DEA report detailing the results of the Israeli spy investigation also revealed that one of the Israeli quot;art studentsquot; had phone numbers which were linked to several ongoing DEA Ecstasy investigations, which were targeting smuggling rings run by Israeli nationals involved in the delivery of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of illegal drugs, manufactured in the Netherlands and sent to the United States. [Reuters 10/9/00; USA Today 4/19/00; New York Magazine 7/24/00; DEA report 6/01; UPI 10/25/01] At least one of the rings had employed Hasidic Jews as couriers to smuggle the ecstasy pills into the U.S. [New York Magazine 7/24/00]

(A) In April of 1997, Jacob �Cookie� Orgad was arrested for running a large ecstasy drug ring. During the investigation of his ring, it became apparent to the FBI, DEA and LADP that their suspects were being tipped off. Whenever a suspect was wiretapped he almost immediately �began behaving like Mother Teresa.� After a lengthy investigation, it was discovered that both Amdocs and Comverse has been secretly monitoring the communications between government agencies and tipping off suspects. [New York Magazine 7/24/00; EIR, 12/28/03]

(B) Early October 2000, three Israelis were arrested for attempting to smuggle $42 million worth of Ecstasy into the U.S. from Belgium. [Reuters 10/9/00]

(C) In March 2003, the U.S. State Department published a fact sheet, in which it reported, �In the United States, approximately 80% of ecstasy seized in 2000 came from or through the Netherlands. Israeli trafficking syndicates are currently the primary source to distribution groups operating in the United States, smuggling through express mail services, via couriers aboard commercial airline flights, or more recently, through air freight shipments.� [U.S. Department of State, 3/20/03, also cited in the Ha�aretz, 4/6/03]

911review Homepage

1 Timeline of possible Israeli foreknowledge

2 Evidence suggesting possible Israeli involvement or foreknowledge of attacks

3 Other suspicious incidents involving Israel.

4 Other accusations against Israel.

911review Homepage


	War on Terrorism \| Corporate Profiles \| Organization Profiles \| Elite Profiles \| Global Issues \| Regional Issues