StevenWarRan: The Dancing Israelis, or the Dancing Palestinians?

This would make for a hell of a good season on Dancing with the Stars. Every week we could have three surprise reappearances of formerly missing family members come on the show to be the judges. Can anybody say Father Mychel, yuck, yuck?

I insist on having some fun here, but they make it too easy on me. Those same 9/11 gatekeepers who for nearly ten years haven't once mentioned FireEngineering Magazine's most important work from 2002, but who can go on about an Odego being forewarned. Why don't they talk about Zim-Israel, who got more than just a few hours advanced notice?

A trailer running on CNN and Fox News listed an office for Zim-American Israeli Shipping Co. in the buildings. This information was apparently outdated, as the company relocated to new offices in Norfolk, Virginia, one week ago. Zim Chairman Dr. Yoram Sebba said, "Despite our own miracle, we of course are very sad about the massive loss of life throughout the United States." September 12, 2001, Israel Insider, Fear for fate of Israelis in New York, by Ellis Shuman,

And you especially Phil Jahan---didn't your Lets Roll Press Release Occupancy FOIA list a Zim-American Israeli Shipping in suite 1601 of the North Tower with a lease running from March 1, 1996 to February 28, 2006, with over five years left to still run on it? Might this not warrant an explanation? Isn't that your job---to throw the ball back when its tossed your way?Could you really have the presumptive gall to characterize as thrusting the PA with "what was in essence a surprise occupancy audit of the World Trade Center," when you were really parrying us? You are a repository Phil, like a seminal dump, for the semi-exposure of items of interest---otherwise you would have owned what you had emerged instead of letting it sit there fetidly. You did the same thing with the Dun & Bradstreet document listing all the companies doing business in the World Trade Center. Where you came up with it I can't imagine, but it just sat there until I was the first person to attempt to correlate it with other facts and thereby corner some truth.
But enough about Phil. The same article from the daily newspaper aptly named the Israel Insider, also offered up this:

Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh (Labor) is in New York City coordinating Israeli affairs in the disaster. Sneh, a former physician himself, said he is dealing with the growing number of requests for information and is also acting as a liaison with Israeli doctors in the various hospitals. ynet reports that Hebrew-speaking doctors circulated among the hospital patients yesterday in attempts to locate Israelis.

Well, gosh, gee, darn, shucks. Since planes weren't allowed to fly into the U.S. after the attacks, I guess it was just his good dang luck to have come in advance of the tragedy, and be so situated to coordinate all that "usefulness," but what exactly does a liaison do in such a case? Is it like the Edelman public relations firm volunteering to run the Cantor grief center at the Pierre, or more like the government employed doctors and nurses coming into New York Hospital to handle the mere handful of serious burn victims

June 16, 2001, virtualjerusalem.com, BBC's Gaza reporter publicly declares he and other reporters are 'waging media campaign shoulder to shoulder with Palestinians'; BBC responds that Gaza reporter meets their 'best standards of balance', by Ha'aretz,
June 21, 2001, Haaretz, Third settler slain by Palestinians in two days, by Amos Harel, A third settler in two days was shot dead yesterday. After the slayings, settlers rampaged through neighboring Palestinian villages, vandalizing property and beating passersby,
August 10, 2001, Salon.com, Revenge bombing kills 15; Palestinian groups vie for credit for the pizza-restaurant blast that left hundreds injured, by Flore de Préneuf,
August 11, 2001, Salon.com, Palestinians are not afraid of death; Just a week before a deadly Jerusalem pizzeria bombing, the spiritual leader for Hamas told Salon how, by "protecting the dignity of his people," a suicide bomber "becomes a martyr", by Flore de Préneuf,

September 11, 2001, BBC News, Mixed response from Arab world, Heba Saleh in Cairo, [ 22:03 GMT 23:03 UK] September 11, 2001, [1:30 pm EST] Reuters, Palestinians Celebrate Attacks with Gunfire, by Joseph Logan,
September 11, 2002, [4:04 PM ET] Reuters, Arab Street Cheers, Govts Lament U.S. Attacks, by Joseph Logan,
September 11, 2001, Agence France Presse, [2:50 a.m. SGT, 12:50 p.m. EDT] "Bullseye," say Egyptians as they celebrate anti-US attacks,
September 11, 2001, Agence France Presse, Palestinians in Lebanon Celebrate Anti-US Attacks,
September 11, 2001, The Times, UK, Palestinians go into the streets, dancing and shooting in the air and handing out sweets, to celebrate the news of the terrorist attack in the U.S.,
September 11, 2001, Salon.com, Rejoicing in the streets of Jenin; While many Palestinians celebrate the attack on the U.S., Yasser Arafat denounces it as "unacceptable" and Israelis mourn. by Flore de Préneuf, [Tuesday, 17:08 ET]
September 11, 2001, Israel Insider, Palestinian officials condemn attacks, strive to contain popular joy,September 11, 2001, Israel Insider, Israeli reactions: Solidarity with the American people, high alert at home,

September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israel declares day of mourning for US attacks,

September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, 'Now I know how the Israelis feel',
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Pentagon attack panics Washington,
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Sharon weighs response to attacks,
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Air force on heightened alert,
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israel closes air space for 24 hours following US attacks,
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Visitor: Attack shows you shouldn't be afraid to come to Israel,
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, WTC architect: Collapse 'unbelievable',
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Katsav expresses nation's sorrow,
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu: World must join to crush terror,
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, United Jewish Communities 'praying for attack victims',
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Gunmen kill two border policemen,
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Dehamshe: I'm willing to be Islamic martyr,
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem Sbarro set to reopen today,
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Labor Party election chief resigns,

September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (07:55) Hundreds of Israelis missing in WTC attack,
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (23:00 - Tues) Old City residents react with joy & horror,

September 11, 2001, AP - The Jerusalem Post [22:40 Tuesday] "Arafat horrified; Palestinians celebrating," by Mohammed Daraghmeh,
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (21:30 - Tues) Solidarity in Tel Aviv (audio),
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (21:00 - Tues) Hamas: A tragedy (audio),
September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (20:05 - Tues) Peres: Israel grieves at unimaginable tragedy,

September 12, 2001, Reuters, Palestinians Celebrate Attacks with Gunfire, by Joseph Logan,
September 12, 2001, St Augustine.com, Terrorism experts split on cause of attack, by Peter Guinta, Staff Writer,
September 12, 2001, AP, AP protests threats to freelance camerman who filmed Palestinian rally,
September 12, 2001, Associated Press - St Augustine.com, Palestinians rejoice, World watches in horror as terror unfolds in New York,

September 12, 2001, St. Petersburg Times, Pained world condemns acts, but some cheer,
September 12, 2001, news.com.au staff, It wasn't us: Hamas,

September 12, 2001, Salon.com, Arab-Americans fear backlash, by Deborah Kong,
September 12, 2001, FOX News, Arafat Horrified by Attacks, but Thousands of Palestinians Celebrate; Rest of World Outraged, As thousands of Palestinians celebrated in the West Bank and in Lebanese refugee camps, governments across the globe offered condolences to an America that looked more vulnerable than ever after Tuesday's terror attacks.
September 12, 2001, Associated Press, Arafat horrified; Palestinians celebrating, by Mohammed Daraghmeh,
September 12, 2001, Associated Press, [6:02 p.m. EDT] AP Protests Threats to Cameraman Who Filmed Palestinian Rally,
September 12, 2001, Washington Post, As Mideast Officials Offer Condolences, Some Arabs Rejoice, by Howard Schneider and Lee Hockstader,
September 12, 2001, Associated Press Breaking News Wire [Thomas Crosbie Media] Police confirm arrests but deny explosives find,
September 12, 2001, Associated Press Breaking News Wire [Thomas Crosbie Media] Three arrested with van full of explosives,
September 12, 2001, The NJ Record, Bergen (New Jersey), Five men detained as suspected conspirators, by Paulo Lima, Staff Writer, Archived,
September 12, 2001, IMRA, PA threatens to kill news workers if broadcast photos of celebrating Palestinians, by Aaron Lerner [Wednesday]
September 12, 2001, Jordan Times, Israel evacuates diplomatic missions, closes airspace,
September 12, 2001, Jordan Times, When terrorism wins, everyone loses,
September 12, 2001, forums.dpreview.com, CNN Using 1991 Footage of celebrating Palestinians to manipulate you, by Márcio A.V. de Carvalho,September 12, 2001, Israel Insider, Fear for fate of Israelis in New York, by Ellis Shuman,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (22:05) Palestinians fire shots at IDF patrol, community,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (21:25) Relatives of slain Israelis reach out to Americans,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (20:50) Foreign correspondents told to prepare for US attack,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (20:35) EDS names Ehud Barak as special adviser,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (20:30) Palestinian terrorists wound Israeli motorist in Samaria,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (20:15) Terrorists kill Israeli women in drive-by shooting,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (18:50) Weeping survivors return to scene of pizzaria bombing,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (18:25) IDF rescue team will not travel to US,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (18:00) Israeli airspace to be gradually opened up,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (17:05) IDF kills 10 Palestinians in early morning clashes,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (16:35) Consulate helps some 500 Israelis contact their families,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (16:10) Palestinian terror groups decry US attacks,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (15:25) Powell: America wants revenge,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (15:15) Trauma aid offered to English-speakers,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (15:00) Ben-Eliezer offers military, intelligence aid to US,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (14:50) US to Israelis: 'We will not forget your friendship',

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (14:30) Two bombs found near southern Jerusalem,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (14:15) Father and daughter found safe in lower Manhattan,

September 12, 2001, AP - The Jerusalem Post (14:00) Report: Armed Palestinians threatened photojournalists, [Report]

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (13:45) Palestinians: Israel exploiting US terror attacks,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (13:40) Blood drive for terror victims in high gear (audio),

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (12:45) Katsav donates blood for terror victims,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (12:30) Jerusalemites send 'giant' condolence card to NY,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (12:00) Sephardi chief rabbi to Muslims: Rescind suicide ruling,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (11:45) Where do the Palestinians go from here? (audio),

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (10:35) Shekel pulls up after plunge,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (11:15) Iraqi TV: US 'Reaping Fruits of Crimes Against Humanity',

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (10:55) Arafat postpones trip to Syria,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (09:55) Palestinians: Nine people killed by IDF,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (09:50) Americans in Jerusalem: We feel like Israelis (audio),

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (09:40) Bin Laden: Terror was US work,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (09:35) Israeli critically wounded in terror shooting,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (09:30) Netanyahu: Designate PA 'enemy',

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (09:25) Israeli flags fly at half mast,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (09:20) IDF rescue units depart for NYC,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (09:15) US Dollar-Shekel exchange rate at highest level ever,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (09:10) Israel sets up emergency hotlines in NY, DC,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (09:00) Sneh to US: Welcome to our world,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (08:45) Car bomb found on George Washington Bridge,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (08:30) Israeli troops enter Jenin,

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (08:15 - Wed) Thousands of Israelis missing near WTC, Pentagon,

September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:15) Jericho: PA walls come tumblin' down,

September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (17:45) Foreign journalists 'deeply concerned' by PA harassment,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (18:10) Abed Rabbo: Israel exploiting terror strikes on US,

September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Jewish leaders stress Palestinians' support of attacks, by Melissa Radler,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israel to AP: Release film of Palestinian celebrations,

September 13, 2001, AP - The Jerusalem Post, (22:15) Sharon compares Arafat to bin Laden

September 14, 2001, Reuters, Journalists accuse Palestinians of harassment,

September 14, 2001, FOX News, One Arrested, Others Detained at NY Airports,
September 14, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Foreign Press Association protests PA threats to journalists, by Jerusalem Post Staff,
September 14, 2001, indymedia.org, CNN did not use images from 1991, by Márcio A. V. Carvalho,
September 14, 2001, Ars Technica, Video of Palestines Celebrating took place in 1991?,

September 16, 2001, Los Angeles Times, Anti-U.S. Displays Worry Palestinians, by Tracy Wilkinson,
September 16, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Palestinian Police confiscates footage at Gaza rally, by Jerusalem Post Staff and AP, [Highbeam]
September 16, 2001, Washington Post, Palestinians Suppress Coverage of Crowds Celebrating Attacks; Journalists Are Threatened; Officials Contend Images Present a Distorted View of Public Opinion, by Lee Hockstader,

September 17, 2001, CNN News, Official Statement by Universidad de Campinas-Brasil,
September 17, 2001, Haaretz, Arab MKs refuse to condemn Palestinian joy over U.S. attacks, by Gideon Alon,
September 17, 2001, Ha'aretz, Five Israelis detained for "puzzling behavior" after WTC tragedy, by Yossi Melman,
September 17, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, PA unapologetic on confiscating rally footage, by Lamia Lahoud,
September 17, 2001, The Daily Star [Lebanon] Hizbullah regrets lives lost in US,

September 18, 2001, The Daily Star [Lebanon] Aridi: media must improve its coverage,
September 20, 2001, CNN News, CNN statement about false claim it used old video; Brazilian university statement says no fact to original claim,
September 20, 2001 [4:04 PM EDT-20:04 GMT] CNN.com, Reuters statement on false claim it used old video, Archived,
September 20, 2001, [5:12 PM ET] AP, More Than 6,300 Said Missing at WTC, by Larry McShane, Associated Press Writer,

September 21, 2001, Knight Ridder - Tribune News Service, Urban legends running rampant, heightening fears of public, by Marian Liu,
September 21, 2001, New York Times, Effort to ID Victims an Issue For Jews,
September 21, 2001, Pravda, Irina Malenko: 4,000 Israelis Working at the WTC Failed to Turn Up at Work on That Day, [16:49]
September 21, 2001 [04:26 p.m. EDT] ABC News, Foreign Nationals Add to List of Missing in Terror Attack,
September 22, 2001, Wall Street Journal, Whooping It Up; In Beirut, even Christians celebrated the atrocity, by Elisabeth Burba,

October 4, 2001, The Beacon News - Aurora (IL) Believe it or not, 911 rumors run rampant, by Denise Crosby, [10:00 a.m. in SGT (Singapore Time) is 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time]
October 13, 2001, The Guardian, Evidence of six hijacking teams, Search for 10 terrorists still at large in US, by Julian Borger in Washington and John Hooper,
October 17, 2001, The Mercury [Philadelphia PA] More Suspicious Israeli "Movers" Detained with Detailed Video of Sears Tower, by Michelle Mowad, Special to The Mercury,
October 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israelis mistaken for terrorists may be home soon, by Melissa Radler,

November 1, 2001, Israel Insider, Top U.S. lawman dismisses report of manhunt for Israeli passport holders,
November 2, 2001, Yediot America, [Reposted at GothamGazerre.com,] Midnight Express
November 13, 2001, Israel Insider, Nearly 100 Israelis arrested in U.S. since September 11 attacks, by Ellis Shuman,

December 12, 2001, Today's Alternative News, Arrest of Jewish Defense League Officers, by Sam Hamod,
December 13, 2001, New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, State Granted Access to Moving Company's Storage Facility, by Ronald George, Beth Rosenberg, Archived,
December 17, 2001, The Globe and Mail, U.S. arrests of Israelis a mystery, by Doug Saunders,
March 22, 2002, NBC News 4 , Exclusive: 911 Tapes Tell Horror Of 9/11 (Part 2) Tapes Released For First Time,
June 24, 2002, ABC News, The White Van: Were Israelis Detained on Sept. 11 Spies?,

March 18, 2004, Al-Gumhouriyya, The Secret Israeli Weapon, by Abd Al-Wahhab 'Adas, deputy editor,
April 23, 2004, Jihad Watch, Leading Egyptian Journalist: The Jews are Behind Every Disaster or Terrorist Act, by Robert Spencer,

March 7, 2007, Counterpunch, High-Fivers and Art Student Spies: What Did Israel Know in Advance of the 9/11 Attacks?, by Christopher Ketchum,

September 9, 2011, Radical Islam VS World [FreeRepublic] Triple Islamic crime: massacring 3,000 on 911 / "Palestinians" celebrating / conspiracy theories, by Righting,

May 20, 2012, StevenWarRan, Early Media Accounts of Arab Reaction to 9/11,
May 22, 2012, StevenWarRan Research, 4,000 Jews,

December 3, 2015, New York Post [8:45pm] The video of revelers cheering 9/11 that no one got to see, by Harry Litman,

December 4, 2015, Gateway Pundit, AP Called Out for Hiding Video of Thousands of Palestinians Celebrating 9/11 Attacks, by Kristinn Taylor,
________________________________________________________________________________

September 11, 2001, [1:30 pm EST] Reuters, Palestinians Celebrate Attacks with Gunfire, by Joseph Logan,

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Palestinians in Lebanon met news of devastating attacks on American targets Tuesday with jubilant gunfire, dancing and cheering, saying Israel's chief backer deserved such a punishment.

"This is the result of American policy. America and Israel are one," one Palestinian gunman said.

"This is the reaction required to confront the American and Israeli arrogance," said Mohamad Hallak, a 40-year-old Palestinian refugee from the southern Rashidiyeh camp in Tyre.

Firing rattled across Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and the West Bank as soon as television stations broke the news, carrying live footage of buildings on fire and collapsing and terrified Americans fleeing the stricken areas.

Jubilant Palestinians took to the streets of refugee camps of Lebanon and the West Bank, waving Palestinian flags and distributing sweets to celebrate the attacks on major U.S. landmarks and government offices.

Some Lebanese shared the joy.

"We're ecstatic. Let America have a taste of what we've tasted," said Ali Mareh, a Lebanese resident of Beirut.

"People are happy. America has always supported terrorism. They see how the innocent Palestinian children are killed and they back the Zionist army that does it. America has never been on the side of justice," said Samir, a Lebanese.

"This is the language that the United States understands and this is the way to stop America from helping the Zionist terrorists who are killing our children, men and women everyday," said Mohamed Rasheed, a Palestinian.

Lebanon is home to some to 360,000 Palestinian refugees. After four generations of exile, many Palestinians feel embittered against the United States for its support of Israel -- a feeling which has grown during the present uprising in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza.

"Today is a feast for the Palestinians. We do not differentiate between America and Israel. America is our prime enemy," added another Palestinian.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat condemned the attacks which leveled the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and struck the Pentagon in Washington.

Palestinians who have often burned U.S. flags in protests during their 11-month-old uprising against Israeli occupation also celebrated in the streets of Arab East Jerusalem.

"I feel I am in a dream. I never believed that one day the United States would come to pay a price for its support to Israel," said Mustafa, a 24-year-old Palestinian gunman.

Several dozen Palestinian youths gathered in Arab East Jerusalem to celebrate as well, honking out wedding tunes on their car horns. "We are so happy that America was hit. America is against us in supporting Israel," Suleiman, one of the demonstrators, said.

In Nablus, motorists honked their horns and gunmen fired into the air from assault rifles to cheer on the attacks which unfolded in the space of a few hours and stunned people around the globe.
_________________________________________________________________________________

September 11, 2001, Israeli Insider, Israeli reactions: Solidarity with the American people, high alert at home, by israelinsider staff,
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called U.S. Ambassador Dan Kurtzer and expressed his condolences over the terrible attacks and said that the State of Israel is prepared to render any and all necessary assistance.

President Moshe Katsav spoke for the Israeli people when he expressed his "deep shock over the disastrous and brutal terrorist attacks, perpetrated by heartless and bloodthirsty individuals."

Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres said, "This is not just an American tragedy, but a worldwide tragedy." He extended on Israel's behalf his "deepest condolences to the American people and leaders" and "expressed his rage and anger at the abominable acts of terrorism." Israel, he said, "grieves at this tragedy of unimaginable proportions."

Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak said, "We must join hands intelligence-wise and operationally" to stop what he called "these terrorist thugs." He welcomed the condemnation of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, but said that the condemnation was "coming from a person who has been encouraging terror his whole life and in recent months."

Netanyahu: "Only force works"

Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said: "This is a turning point in history, and no one understands terror better than Israelis. We have been on the front lines against terror. Today the terrorists have hit the heart of the free world. We and the Americans represent the idea of freedom. The terrorists want to erase that idea."

Netanyahu referred to looming threats of biological and nuclear weapons. "If we don't act now, we will face even worse attacks that will undermine all free societies."

He added: "Time is now in our hands. Concerted efforts by democratic nations must be made now to uproot terror. Only force works. We must destroy the regimes that support terror.

There are addresses for the terrorists, Netanyahu said: "Bin-Laden. Saddam Hussein. Arafat."

Netanyahu said, "It is possible now to understand what is the significance of a Palestinian state--a terror state next door to our home."

Israel closes airspace to foreign carriers

Israel closed airspace to foreign carriers for 24 hours. The Israeli Air Force is on heightened alert, although security sources report that there are no specific warnings.

Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, in a statement, expressed both his deep shock and the State of Israel's sincerest condolences to the US government and the American people--Israel's closest allies and friends -- over the disasters that struck them today.

He suggested that extremist Islamic terrorism is the main threat facing the nations of the free world today since its goal is to destroy everything connected to the values shared by democratic governments and western societies.

Ben-Eliezer has approved the dispatch of IDF rescue units to the US.

Ben-Eliezer is holding consultations with the security establishment in order to analyze the terrorist attacks in the US with the goal of being able to respond to possible scenarios.
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September 11, 2001, Israel Insider, Palestinian officials condemn attacks, strive to contain popular joy, by israelinsider staff,

PA Chairman Yasser Arafat with European Union peace envoy Miguel Moratinos, before the attacks on the United States. (AP)

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat condemned the attacks on the United States and sent his condolences to the American people: "We are completely shocked. This is unbelievable. Unbelievable. Unbelievable."

The PA denied any involvement in the attacks. Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Yassin condemned the attack on the United States and said that his organization's actions were limited to "occupied Palestine."

After an initial claim of responsibility was made in the name of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, but was quickly denied. A spokesperson for the DFLP used the opportunity to criticize American support for Israel.

Palestinians celebrate attack with flag-waving, sweets

Despite the condemnations of Palestinian leaders, Israel Radio reported this afternoon that Palestinians thronged to the streets in celebration of the attacks on the United States in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza, and in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Celebrants danced, clapped, waved Palestinian flags, and distributed sweets. Many shots were fired into the air.

There were reports that Palestinian police were trying to prevent demonstrations of joy, with limited success.

Official PA paper praises suicide attacks on US, Israel

Earlier today, before the assaults on the United States, the official Palestinian Authority daily, Al Hayat Al Jadida, published an editorial praising suicide attacks on the United States and Israel:

"The suicide bombers of today are the noble successors of their noble predecessors...the Lebanese suicide bombers, who taught the US Marines a tough lesson in [Lebanon] ...and then, with no preconditions, they threw the last of the remaining enemy [Israeli] soldiers out of the [security] zone. These suicide bombers are the salt of the earth, the engines of history...They are the most honorable [people] among us..."

Translation supplied by Palestinian Media Watch.
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September 11, 2001, AP - The Jerusalem Post [22:40 Tuesday] "Arafat horrified; Palestinians celebrating," by Mohammed Daraghmeh, The Associated Press,

NABLUS, West Bank (AP) – Thousands of Palestinians celebrated toiday's terror attacks in the United States, chanting "God is Great" and distributing candy to passers-by, even as their leader, Yasser Arafat, said he was horrified.

The US government has become increasingly unpopular in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past year of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, with many Palestinians accusing Washington of siding with Israel.

In the West Bank town of Nablus, about 3,000 people poured into the street shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and government targets in Washington.

Demonstrators distributed candy in a traditional gesture of celebration. Several Palestinian gunmen shot in the air, while other marchers carried Palestinian flags.

Nawal Abdel Fatah, 48, wearing a long black dress, threw sweets in the air, saying she was happy because "America is the head of the snake, America always stands by Israel in its war against us."

Her daughter Maysoon, 22, said she hoped the next attack would be launched against Tel Aviv.

In traditionally Arab eastern Jerusalem, there was a smaller gathering of about two dozen people, many of them young children led in chants by adults. Some drivers passing the scene honked their horns and flashed victory signs from their windows.

Arafat and his top advisers huddled at his seaside office in Gaza City, watching the events unfold on television. Arafat later emerged to speak to reporters.

"We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable," he said.

"We completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to the American people, to the American president and to the American administration, not only in my name but on behalf of the Palestinian people.

In the West Bank, meanwhile, the leader the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine denied his group was involved in the attacks.

Qais Abdel Rahim was reacting to reports that two Arab satellite stations in the Gulf had received anonymous claims of responsibility on behalf of the DFLP, a radical PLO faction. Abdel Rahim said his group condemned the attacks.
________________________________________________________________________________

September 12, 2001 Jerusalem Post (14:00) Report: Armed Palestinians threatened photojournalists,

Reports indicate armed Palestinians trapped foreign photojournalists inside a Nablus hotel late yesterday while thousands took to the streets in celebration of the terror attacks in the United States.

The journalists were reportedly forced to remain confined in the hotel, guarded by armed Palestinians - both in uniform and wearing civilian clothes - while the festivities continued in the streets. At least one photographer who did manage to capture images of the celebrations was told his life would be in danger if the pictures were eventually published.

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post [Reposted at WhatReallyHappened] (09:30) Netanyahu: Designate PA 'enemy',

Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said this morning the Palestinian Authority and world terror organizations should be designated as "enemies" and must be treated as such.

Israel and the international community must unite in undertaking all efforts to fight this "enemy," Netanyahu said.

"Today we have the strength to act against such organizations," Netanyahu said. "But tomorrow, when they use weapons of mass destruction, we won't have the strength. The time to act is now."

September 12, 2001, IMRA, PA threatens to kill news workers if broadcast photos of celebrating Palestinians, by Aaron Lerner [Wednesday]

Israel Radio correspondent Danny Zaken reported on the noon news program that while hundreds of Palestinians went out to the streets in many cities in Judea and Samaria (but not Gaza) to celebrate the attacks against the United States - distributing candy, waving flags, honking horns and shooting in the air in joy, coverage by the foreign news was typically limited to east Jerusalem.

According to Zaken, at least two news organizations, a large news agency and a foreign TV network, had footage of the celebrations in Nablus and Ramallah that included Palestinian policemen shooting in the air in joy within a crowd of hundreds.

They declined, Zaken reports, to broadcast the material after senior officials in the Palestinian Authority - including PA ministers who are frequently interviewed by the media - contacted the heads of the news organizations, threatening the lives of the cameramen and stringers in the field and that if they broadcast the reports that they would not be allowed to cover events within the Authority in the future.

The news agencies declined to comment to Israel Radio.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director
IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-5480092
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
pager 03-610666 subscriber 4811

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (14:50) US to Israelis: 'We will not forget your friendship',
[Google Groups-JustPeaceUK]
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer made the following statement - first in English and then in Hebrew - in Jerusalem this afternoon:

"On behalf of the United States Government and the American people, I want to thank the people and the government of Israel for their generous expressions of sympathy and solidarity. The United States experienced horrific events yesterday. It was good and important to hear from our friends.

"We are deeply moved by Israel's response. The Government of Israel has declared a national day of mourning. The Israeli public is donating blood. The embassy is receiving numerous calls of condolence and solidarity. We appreciate the offers of assistance. Words cannot fully convey our appreciation. We will not forget your friendship.

"The United States embassy in Tel Aviv is operating today at a reduced capacity. We have no specific information regarding threats to American citizens or interests in Israel, but prudence dictates that we heighten our security posture. We thank Israeli authorities for their assistance in this regard.

"President Bush has spoken about our government's response to this heinous crime. America and our friends join with all those who want peace and security. We stand together to win the war against terrorism. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. We will go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.

"May God bless all the families and friends touched by yesterday's tragedy."

September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (14:00) Report: Armed Palestinians threatened photojournalists,

Reports indicate armed Palestinians trapped foreign photojournalists inside a Nablus hotel late yesterday while thousands took to the streets in celebration of the terror attacks in the United States.

The journalists were reportedly forced to remain confined in the hotel, guarded by armed Palestinians - both in uniform and wearing civilian clothes - while the festivities continued in the streets.

At least one photographer who did manage to capture images of the celebrations was told his life would be in danger if the pictures were eventually published.
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September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post (13:45) Palestinians: Israel exploiting US terror attacks,

Ten Palestinians, most of them Tanzim gunmen, were killed in heavy gunfights with IDF troops in the Jenin area this morning.

Palestinians claim Israel is exploiting the terror attacks in the United States as an opportunity to carry out massacres of Palestinians in the territories.

It is unclear if this most recent account of Palestinian dead is in addition to this morning report that nine people were killed in overnight gunfights.

To hear her report, click here for Media Player format.

Thousands of Palestinians celebrated today's terror attacks in the United States, chanting "God is Great" and distributing candy to passers-by, even as their leader, Yasser Arafat, said he was horrified.

The US government has become increasingly unpopular in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past year of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, with many Palestinians accusing Washington of siding with Israel.

September 12, 2001, Independent Media Review Analysis, Baghdad TV Commentary: US 'Reaping Fruits of Crimes Against Humanity'

Baghdad TV Commentary: US 'Reaping Fruits of Crimes Against Humanity'

Baghdad Republic of Iraq Television in Arabic 1700 GMT 11 Sep 01 [TV Commentary by Sa'd Yasin Yusuf read by announcer over footage of explosions in New York] [FBIS Translated Text] [With thanks to Laurie Mylorie - Iraq Watch]

The American cowboy is reaping the fruits of his crimes against humanity. It is a black day in the history of America, which is tasting the bitter defeat of its crimes and disregard for peoples' will to lead a free, decent life.

The massive explosions in the centers of power in America, notably the Pentagon, is a painful slap in the face of US politicians to stop their illegitimate hegemony and attempts to impose custodianship on peoples. It was no coincidence that the World Trade Center was destroyed in suicidal operations involving two planes that have broken through all US security barriers to carry the operation of the century and to express rejection of the reckless US policy.

Panic has spread among US official circles, which evacuated the White House following a series of explosions. They also evacuated the Pentagon, the State Department, and Congress and closed down the airports and government institutions. The collapse of US centers of power is a collapse of the US policy, which deviates from human values and stands by world Zionism at all international forums to continue to slaughter the Palestinian Arab people and implement US plans to dominate the world under the cover of what is called the new [world] order. These are the fruits of the new US order. [Video of explosion rocking World Trade Center] [Description of Source: Baghdad Republic of Iraq Television in Arabic

--Official television station of the Iraqi Government]
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(08:45) Car bomb found on George Washington Bridge,

American security services overnight stopped a car bomb on the George Washington Bridge connecting New York and New Jersey.

The van, packed with eplosives, was stopped on an approach ramp to the bridge.

Authorities suspect the terrorists intended to blow up the main crossing between New Jersey and New York, Army radio reported.

(08:30) Israeli troops enter Jenin,
(08:15 - Wed) Thousands of Israelis missing near WTC, Pentagon,
(23:00 - Tues) Old City residents react with joy & horror,
(22:40 - Tues) Arafat horrified; Palestinians celebrating,
(21:30 - Tues) Solidarity in Tel Aviv (audio),
(21:00 - Tues) Hamas: A tragedy (audio),
(20:05 - Tues) Peres: Israel grieves at unimaginable tragedy,

News
Israel declares day of mourning for US attacks,
(07:55) Hundreds of Israelis missing in WTC attack,
'Now I know how the Israelis feel',
Pentagon attack panics Washington,
Sharon weighs response to attacks,
Air force on heightened alert,
Israel closes air space for 24 hours following US attacks,
Visitor: Attack shows you shouldn't be afraid to come to Israel,
WTC architect: Collapse 'unbelievable',
Katsav expresses nation's sorrow,
Netanyahu: World must join to crush terror,
United Jewish Communities 'praying for attack victims',
Gunmen kill two border policemen,
Dehamshe: I'm willing to be Islamic martyr,
Jerusalem Sbarro set to reopen today,
Labor Party election chief resigns,

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September 12, 2001, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, New understanding for Israel could emerge from U.S. rubble, by David Landau,

Anxiety that any American response, when it comes, could somehow involve Israel.

Just as the U.S.-led coalition against Iraq during the 1991 Persian Gulf War led to Iraqi Scud missile attacks against Israel, Israelis worried this week that countries targeted by Washington, or countries sympathetic with those targeted, would hit back at the Jewish state.

A political assessment that, in the wake of this cataclysmic event, American sympathies and perhaps other Western opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could tilt in Israel's favor.

Bolstering this assessment were the demonstrations of glee and gratification among Palestinians, both in the West Bank and in refugee camps in Lebanon. These manifestations were quickly picked up by
international media and could discredit the Palestinians in American opinion.

September 12, 2001, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 'Surreal' terrorist attacks in U.S. sparking Jewish anger and prayer,

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat sent the "condolences of the Palestinian people to American President Bush," but many of his people did not seem to share Arafat's remorse.

Thousands of Palestinians celebrated the attack throughout the West Bank, chanting "God is great" and distributing candy. In Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, gunmen fired into the air in celebration.

September 12, 2001, The Associated Press, Arafat horrified; Palestinians celebrating, by Mohammed Daraghmeh,

Thousands of Palestinians celebrated toiday's terror attacks in the United States, chanting "God is Great" and distributing candy to passers-by, even as their leader, Yasser Arafat, said he was horrified.

The US government has become increasingly unpopular in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past year of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, with many Palestinians accusing Washington of siding with Israel.

In the West Bank town of Nablus, about 3,000 people poured into the street shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and government targets in Washington.

Demonstrators distributed candy in a traditional gesture of celebration. Several Palestinian gunmen shot in the air, while other marchers carried Palestinian flags.

Nawal Abdel Fatah, 48, wearing a long black dress, threw sweets in the air, saying she was happy because "America is the head of the snake, America always stands by Israel in its war against us."

Her daughter Maysoon, 22, said she hoped the next attack would be launched against Tel Aviv.

In traditionally Arab eastern Jerusalem, there was a smaller gathering of about two dozen people, many of them young children led in chants by adults. Some drivers passing the scene honked their horns and flashed victory signs from their windows.

Arafat and his top advisers huddled at his seaside office in Gaza City, watching the events unfold on television. Arafat later emerged to speak to reporters.

"We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable," he said.

"We completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to the American people, to the American president and to the American administration, not only in my name but on behalf of the Palestinian people.

In the West Bank, meanwhile, the leader the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine denied his group was involved in the attacks.

Qais Abdel Rahim was reacting to reports that two Arab satellite stations in the Gulf had received anonymous claims of responsibility on behalf of the DFLP, a radical PLO faction. Abdel Rahim said his group condemned the attacks.

September 12, 2001, Jordan Times, Israel evacuates diplomatic missions, closes airspace,

Israel closed its airspace to foreign planes on Tuesday and evacuated staff from diplomatic missions and Jewish institutions around the world, in response to a wave of airborne terror attacks in the United States.

Israeli officials said they "assumed Islamic extremists were responsible for the attacks in the United States".

Several hours after the devastating attacks in New York and other US cities, Israel announced it was closing its airspace to foreign flights.

Only Israeli airliners would be allowed to enter Israel's air space, said Yerah Tal, an adviser to Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh. Israeli aircraft subject passengers to more stringent security checks than foreign carriers.

Tal said the limitation on foreign flights would be in effect for 24 hours, and then be reviewed. Dozens of foreign airliners serve Israel, landing at Israel's international airport outside Tel Aviv and two smaller facilities at the southern resort of Eilat.

Closing Israeli air space in peace time is almost unprecedented. Other cases of banning flights have occurred when hijacked planes were in the air.

An Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israeli fighter planes were escorting Israeli passenger aircraft in and out of Israeli airspace.

The report could not immediately be confirmed independently.

Police sent reinforcements to US Embassy in Tel Aviv and the two American consulates in the occupied Palestinian city of Jerusalem, said police spokesman Ofer Sivan. "Extra police have been sent, and security is being stepped up," he said.

The Jewish Agency, a quasi-governmental organisation that brings immigrants to Israel, announced that it had closed its offices around the world.

Staff at Israeli embassies and consulates was reduced to the bare minimum, but the buildings would remain open, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Yaffa Ben-Ari. Israel's consulate in New York City was closed at the instruction of the New York police, she said.

The Israeli embassy in Washington was put on "emergency footing," she said, but would not give details.

Caught in the uncertainty over the closure of Israeli airspace was Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who was scheduled to visit Damascus on Wednesday.

Arafat was enroute to Gaza International Airport when he received word that Israel had closed its airspace. Arafat's motorcade turned back to Gaza City, and officials close to the Palestinian leader said he would try to reach Egypt by land on Wednesday to catch a flight from there.

Arafat was to meet Wednesday with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

September 12, 2001, Jordan Times, When terrorism wins, everyone loses,

JORDANIANS STAND hand-in-hand with all peace-loving peoples around the world in condemning terrorism and grieving the huge loss of innocent lives in yesterday's attacks in Washington and New York.

As inhabitants of a region torn and consumed by more than five decades of Israeli occupation of Arab lands, Jordanians have long known what a blind and inhumane monster terrorism is, and have spared no effort in resisting and trying to eradicate it.

Even at the most trying time of deepest frustration — and the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon have plunged Arab masses into deep frustration indeed — Jordanian and Arab governments and peoples have always upheld the principle that violence only breeds more violence. And they have rejected terrorism as a vile, brutal, deformity of human nature.

While Americans stand appalled and speechless before the debris of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, the whole world should feel battered and defeated.

Whenever terrorism wins, everyone loses — human and religious values crumble, the very foundations of human civilisations and societies are shaken, and the universal principles of mankind are violated.

Yesterday's horrific wave of horrendous attacks hit at the very heart and symbols of American might: Manhattan, the financial and trading centre of the world; the Pentagon, the brain moving what is by far the planet's strongest military machine; the Treasury, America's monetary centre; the State Department, the world's policy-maker, and even the White House, supreme symbol of the state.

A mature and strong nation, America will surely find in itself the strength to heal these terrible and deep wounds — perhaps the worst sustained in its modern history.

American leaders might also pause and use this time of national grief to do some soul-searching that could help their country become even stronger and stand more steadfast in the face of tragedies and adversities.

Anti-American feelings are growing worldwide because of the new US-led world order after the collapse of Soviet power. Denying rising anti-Americanism would not serve any purpose.

In the Middle East, US policies towards Iraq and uneven-handed stands in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have fuelled anti-American sentiments amongst most social and political sectors in the Arab world. Even traditional and loyal allies, such as Saudi Arabia, are finding it extremely difficult to continue dealing with Washington with the same cordiality.

US decision-makers should evaluate whether they have steered the world's only superpower to dominate under the insignia of justice and international legitimacy, or succumbed to short-term interests, shortsighted considerations and the power of arrogance.

As for us, our prayers and most sincere condolences go to the American people, president, government, and the grieving families of the innocent victims whose lives were so brutally shattered.

September 12, 2001, Israel Insider, Fear for fate of Israelis in New York, by Ellis Shuman,

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was flooded with phone calls yesterday from Israeli citizens trying to establish the whereabouts of relatives who live and work in New York City. The Israeli Consulate in New York, the Israeli Embassy in Washington and the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem set up emergency hotlines but were limited by a lack of information to report.

For many hours, Foreign Ministry officials were unable to get updates from the United States due to a collapse of phone networks and the excess demand for international lines. Many of the callers could not provide the ministry with the exact location of their relatives in New York. Dorit Shavit, who coordinated the ministry's emergency room, said that all she and her staff could do was to record the information provided by callers.

ynet reported this morning that an Israeli trapped under the rubble of the collapsed towers managed to call for help on his cellular phone. According to the report, the man contacted his wife, who is also located in New York. No additional information was available about his condition.

At least four other Israelis are reported missing, according to ynet. Two are employed in companies located inside the World Trade Center towers. Another Israeli, who reportedly lives in the lower Manhattan area nearby, was still missing Wednesday morning after leaving his home with his daughter, in the city on a visit.

Many Israelis worked in World Trade Center offices

According to media reports, many Israelis work in the high tech companies and trade agencies in the towers. Yediot Aharonot reported that some Israeli companies had local representatives at the World Trade Center, but Israeli Channel Two television discredited this claim.

A trailer running on CNN and Fox News listed an office for Zim-American Israeli Shipping Co. in the buildings. This information was apparently outdated, as the company relocated to new offices in Norfolk, Virginia, one week ago. Zim Chairman Dr. Yoram Sebba said, "Despite our own miracle, we of course are very sad about the massive loss of life throughout the United States."

No Israelis have been located in any of the New York City hospitals admitting the injured from the bombings. Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh (Labor) is in New York City coordinating Israeli affairs in the disaster. Sneh, a former physician himself, said he is dealing with the growing number of requests for information and is also acting as a liaison with Israeli doctors in the various hospitals. ynet reports that Hebrew-speaking doctors circulated among the hospital patients yesterday in attempts to locate Israelis.

The Israeli Ministry of Health and Magen David Adom last night declared a nationwide emergency blood drive. Israel Radio called for O-type blood donors to come to first aid centers, which were opened at midnight for the special operation. The blood is to be airlifted to the United States together with an Israeli rescue unit today. According to media reports, some 600 blood units had already been collected by early this morning.

The IDF's disaster rescue unit attached to the Home Front Command was scheduled to leave for New York City today. Army Radio reported that 120 soldiers would assist local authorities in participating in the rescue operations. The unit is to depart in two planes that will be granted special permission to land in the New York area. According to Army Radio, the unit can begin its mission one hour after arriving at the disaster site.

Successful Israeli high tech figure among confirmed victims
One confirmed Israeli victim from yesterday's tragedy was Daniel Lewin, cofounder of Akamai Technologies. Lewin, 31, served as Akamai's chief technology officer and was responsible for the company's research and development strategy. He reportedly was a passenger on one of the planes that crashed yesterday into the World Trade Center towers.

Born in Denver, Colorado, Lewin was raised in Jerusalem. He served as officer in the Israel Defense Forces for more than four years. Lewin held a Bachelor of Arts and of Science, summa cum laude, from the Technion and a Master's degree from MIT. Previously, he worked at IBM's research laboratory in Haifa where he was a full-time research fellow and project leader.

Lewin founded Akamai in September 1998, along with Tom Leighton and a leading group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists and business professionals. The company provides businesses with high-performance delivery of streaming media, rich Web content and Internet applications through scalable, easily implemented services.

Lewin was frequently mentioned in the media as one of the richest Israelis in the world, due to his 15% holdings of Akamai shares.
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September 13, 2001, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Arab leaders' condemnations belie sentiment in the streets, by Gil Sedan,

JERUSALEM, Sept. 12 (JTA) -- Never before have so many Arab and Muslim leaders condemned a terrorist attack so swiftly and so strongly.

But the official denunciations were drowned out by the din of anti-American euphoria in the streets of several of their countries.

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat was among the first to denounce the terrorist assaults Tuesday on the Pentagon and New York's World Trade Center -- even offering Palestinian help in tracking down the perpetrators.

To underline the point that it was not business as usual, Arafat postponed a long-awaited visit to Syria, which remains on the U.S. list of countries supporting terrorism.

Arafat's comments came in sharp contrast to his own people's jubilation as news of the catastrophe reached the Palestinian street.

In the West Bank, thousands of Palestinian men, women and children took to the streets of Ramallah and the Balata refugee camp in Nablus. They sang, danced and handed out sweets as if their dreams had come true.

In Nablus, armed Palestinians reportedly trapped foreign photojournalists inside a hotel to prevent them from covering the festivities. At least one photographer who managed to film the celebrations said he was told his life would be in danger if the pictures were published.

However, the revelry spread to eastern Jerusalem, and Arab television networks rushed to deliver the pictures to the entire Arab world.

Similar scenes occurred in the streets of Baghdad. Iraqi leaders remained silent, but Iraqi TV played a patriotic song with the words "down with America" as it showed the World Trade Center towers falling.

The country's state-controlled media said the "American cowboy" deserved the attacks for its "crimes against humanity."

In the face of such scenes, Arafat could only engage in damage control, knowing that the free world would show very little understanding for Palestinian support of terrorism.

On Wednesday, Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi denied that the Palestinian celebrations had been in response to the terror attacks in New York and Washington, describing such reports as "misleading."

"We feel your pain, we feel your sorrow. We will do everything we can to help," she was quoted as saying.

Speaking on CNN, King Abdullah of Jordan called the celebrations isolated events, saying, "it's no way a reflection of the Palestinian people or other peoples of the Middle East."

But the joy on the street reflected the depth of Arab and Muslim animosity toward the United States that has been building since the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada a year ago. That antipathy reached a peak earlier this month at the World Conference Against Racism in South Africa, especially after the United States and Israel walked out together.

Israelis drew parallels between Tuesday's street celebrations and the way Palestinians "danced on the roofs" during the Gulf War.

In 1991, however, they were rejoicing over Iraqi missile attacks against Israel, while this time they ridiculed the tragedy of the most powerful country in the world -- one that has invested tremendous efforts over the

past decade to stand as an "honest broker" between Israel and the Palestinians.

When the United States vowed Tuesday night, in President Bush's words, to punish those responsible for the attacks as well as those who harbor them, trembles of fear could be felt throughout the Middle East from Afghanistan to Sudan.

Even such longtime enemies of the United States as Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi made a point of condemning the terror attacks. The same man who recently said U.S. military power was increasingly helpless in the face of a new kind of "rebellious challenge" this week offered condolences and humanitarian aid to the United States.

In Iran, President Mohammad Khatami said he felt "deep regret and sympathy with the victims."

In the Gaza Strip, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, leader of the fundamentalist Hamas movement -- responsible for numerous suicide attacks against Israeli civilians -- said his organization has no interest in "moving our struggle outside the occupied Palestinian land."

Perhaps in response, Israel's Sephardic chief rabbi urged "leaders of the Arab world who are condemning this terrible tragedy" to persuade Muslim clerics to "immediately cancel the definition of a suicide bomber as a martyr and forbid all large-scale attacks."

"Whoever calls a suicide bomber a martyr is an accessory to the horrible crime," Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron said.

His suggestion highlighted the balancing act Arab leaders face as they confront a free world that is outraged over the U.S. tragedy.

Even a veteran political acrobat like Arafat will find it almost impossible to disassociate himself from the radical terrorist elements behind this week's attacks while at the same time backing a war of terror against Israel.

September 13, 2001, The Daily Mail, Suspects filmed New York atrocities,

Five men suspected of being involved in the attack on the World Trade Centre set up cameras to record the atrocity, it emerged today.

The men set up cameras on the west bank of the Hudson River, trained them on the twin towers to capture the attacks and apparently congratulated each other when the crashes occurred, the New York Times reported.

The five were under investigation by police in Union City, New Jersey, but it was unclear if any of them were in custody today.

The allegation came as police in New Jersey told the New York Times the hijackers who left from Newark airport on the flight which crashed in Pennsylvania had received aid from associates in the area.

The paper reported law officials said the team was "aided by confederates in Newark who were responsible for logistical support, including money, rental cars, credit cards and lodging".

And it emerged that FBI investigators believe each team of hijackers acted independently from each other but under orders from a supreme commander.

The conclusion was reached after evidence from the flights' passenger lists, payphone records, evidence taken from the rental car seized in Boston and the frantic phone calls made from the hijacked planes.

It was the commander who selected the flights to be hijacked and orchestrated the attacks to occur at about the same time.

But the man has not been publicly identified by investigators, the New York Times reported. His whereabouts are currently unknown.

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September 13, 2001, Associated Press, Foreign journalists 'deeply concerned' by PA harassment,

Foreign journalists based in Israel have condemned the Palestinian Authority's harassment of journalists and its suppression of videotape made of Palestinian celebrations in the wake of the terror attacks in the United States this week.

The Foreign Press Association in Israel released the following statement relating to this incident:

"The FPA expresses deep concern over the harassment of journalists by the Palestinian Authority as police forces and armed gunmen tried to prevent photo and video coverage of Tuesday's rally in Nablus where hundreds of Palestinians celebrated the terror attacks in NY and Washington.

"We strongly condemn the direct threats made against local videographers by local militia members and the attitude of Palestinian officials who made no effort to counter the threats, control the situation, or to guarantee the safety of the journalists and the freedom of the press.

"We call on the PA to ensure freedom of the press and the free flow of information and to prevent elements operating within PA jurisdiction from making or carrying out threats that aim to impede this and effectively impose censorship. We hold the PA fully responsible for the safety of each and every journalist operating within their areas, especially those who were filming and covering Tuesday's events in Nablus."
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September 16, 2001, Jerusalem Post, Palestinian Police confiscates footage at Gaza rally, by Jerusalem Post Staff and AP,

JERUSALEM (Jerusalem Post Staff and Ap) - About 1,500 Palestinians, many supporters of Hamas, marched in a Gaza Strip refugee camp Friday, burning Israeli flags and carrying a large poster of Osama bin Laden, an exiled Saudi millionaire who US Secretary of State Colin Powell has named a key suspect in last week's terror attacks in the United States.

After the rally, plainclothes Palestinian policemen questioned several journalists, including members of foreign news agencies, and confiscated videotape, film, and other camera equipment. An Associated Press Television News video was among the materials taken, and an AP photographer was warned by officials not to publish pictures of the bin Laden poster.

AP protested and demanded the return of the video and other material.

The journalists were told police would review the material before deciding whether or not to release it.

Palestinian Authority officials refused to comment on the record and did not respond immediately to AP's protest.

The Palestinian Police said in a statement that the rally in the Nusseirat refugee camp took place without a permit.

"The Palestinian Police confiscated media material which documented illegal acts," the statement said.

Earlier last week, Palestinian Police stopped camera teams and photographers from covering a rally in Nablus in which several thousand Palestinians celebrated the attacks in the US. Palestinian officials said the demonstration did not represent widespread Palestinian opinion.

According to one source, the Reuters correspondent in Nablus not only agreed to the PA demand not to document the rally, but attempted to press his AP counterpart to follow suit. He was unable to reach him in time. The AP cameraman later received death threats.

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September 20, 2001 [4:04 PM EDT-20:04 GMT] CNN.com, Reuters statement on false claim it used old video, Archived,

Reuters rejects as utterly baseless an allegation being circulated by e-mail and the Internet claiming that it circulated 10-year-old videotape to illustrate Palestinians celebrating in the wake of the September 11 tragedies in the United States.

Reuters welcomes a statement by the Universidad Estatal de Campinas-Brasil (UNICAMP), one of whose students was the author of the original e-mail, setting the record straight.

The videotape in question was shot in East Jerusalem by a Reuters camera crew on September 11 in the immediate aftermath of the attacks on the United States. The footage was broadcast by CNN and other subscribers to the Reuters video news service.
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October 17, 2001, The Mercury [Philadelphia PA] More Suspicious Israeli "Movers" Detained with Detailed Video of Sears Tower, by Michelle Mowad, Special to The Mercury,

PLYMOUTH (PA) -- Two men whom police described as Middle Eastern were detained in the township by federal immigration authorities after being found with detailed video footage of the Sears Tower in Chicago.

Plymouth Police encountered the men after an officer responded to Pizzeria Uno on West Ridge Pike at 2:40 p.m. Thursday for a report of illegal dumping.

A manager there advised the police officer that a tractor-trailer was observed backed up to the dumpster at the rear of the restaurant. The manager noticed a freshly dumped pile of furniture adjacent to the Dumpster, according to police. The manager confronted the vehicle's operator, a Middle Eastern man, police said.

The man, who later identified himself as Moshe Elmakias, 30, denied that he did anything and fled the scene, heading west on West Ridge Pike... The manager was able to provide township police with the Florida registration number of the tractor-trailer and said that a sign posted on the side of the vehicle read "Moving Systems Incorporated" police said.

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. An officer proceeded to make contact with the occupants of the truck by knocking on the cab, according to reports.

A Middle Eastern 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. Reisler was detained and checked for identification. She had a German passport in her name and medication in a different name, police said. Plymouth Police Sgt. Thomas Longo was notified and responded to the incident.

Elmakias allegedly admitted to being behind Pizzeria Uno, although he said that he did not dump furniture, he was only turning around. 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 in the morning and pointed toward the Storage USA facility on Belvoir Road , police said. Elmakias could not, however, provide a name or telephone number of the customer.

Township police dispatched a request for a Motor Carrier Program Inspector. Officer Gerald Schwartz of the Whitpain Police Department responded. Schwartz discovered through his investigation that the operator's log had been falsified and put the truck out of service due to violations. Inspection of the tractor-trailer's contents revealed a load three-quarters full containing household items, including furniture and boxes. Among the items in the truck was a Sony video camera. Plymouth Police Officer David McCann reviewed the tape found inside the camera. The tape had video footage of Chicago with zoomed-in shots of the Sears Tower, according to police.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was notified of the incident and all three subjects were transported to the Plymouth Police station. FBI Agents James Sweeney and Richard Tofani arrived at the station and proceeded to investigate both the subjects and their belongings with the assistance of Immigration and Naturalization Services. All evidence collected by Plymouth and Whitpain officers was transferred to federal facilities. Special Agent Linda Vizi, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia FBI, could not be contacted for comment on further investigations.

* The names of the 3 "Middle Easterners" named above are clearly of Israeli-Jewish origin.

October 13, 2001, The Guardian, Evidence of six hijacking teams, Search for 10 terrorists still at large in US, by Julian Borger in Washington and John Hooper in Berlin, Saturday, 11.31 EDT,

US immigration officials are racing against time to comb through years of data in a search for up to 10 trained al-Qaida hijackers who, investigators believe, are still on the loose in America.

Evidence has emerged on both sides of the Atlantic that indicates there were plans to hijack two more airliners on September 11 and that several of the would-be hijackers have yet to be caught.

Since September 11 there has been speculation over the existence of more hijack cells, apart from the 19 terrorists who took over four airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon, and a rural area in Pennsylvania.

Following the discovery of fresh documentary evidence, investigators in the US and Europe are working on the assumption that 30 terrorists, in six teams, were intended to have taken part in the onslaught. It is thought at least one plane was to have been aimed at the White House.

An intelligence source in the US said another plane due to have been hijacked was a Continental Airlines flight from Newark on the morning of September 11. Retractable knives (similar to Stanley knives) of the same type used in the four successful hijackings were found taped to the backs of fold-down trays.

The source did not give details of the sixth plane. However, similar knives were found stashed in the seats on a plane which had been due to leave Logan airport in Boston the same morning, and which was delayed and then cancelled.

The new evidence specified the number of hijackers involved but did not provide all their names, an intelligence source in the US said. Two suspected members of the Hamburg-based cell where the plot is thought to have been hatched are missing.

Both men, Said Bahaji and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, are thought to have formed part of the operation's back-up structure and are thought to have fled to Pakistan.

The only named suspect thought to have been part of the September 11 team is a Moroccan-French man in custody in New York. Zacarias Moussaoui is seen as a possible fifth member of the hijack team which seized United Airlines flight 93, the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.

Moussaoui, who lived in London before leaving for the US early this year, was detained on August 17 after his requests for flying lessons on an airliner simulator aroused suspicion. He possessed only a student pilot's licence and wanted to learn how to turn and fly straight, not how to take off or land.

Two Indian citizens, Mohamed Azmath and Ayub Khan, have also been under suspicion of involvement. They were arrested on September 12 in Texas on a train from St Louis to San Antonio.

On the morning of September 11, they had boarded a flight from Newark to San Antonio, but it had been diverted to St Louis after news came of the first impact in New York. The two men were found with retractable knives, thousands of dollars, and hair dye among their possessions.

There have been reports that both held a commercial pilot's licence in India, although before September 11 they had low-paid jobs at a newspaper kiosk. Somehow they could afford to send $64,000 (£45,000) in wire transfers to India in 1999.

However if the men, both from Hyderabad, were would-be hijackers it is not clear why they did not seize their plane. Also, they were on a TWA flight from Newark and knives were reportedly found hidden on a Continental airliner.

Neither man is cooperating with investigators, nor is Moussaoui. The identity of the other hijackers still at large is a mystery, an intelligencesource in the US said.

"In some cases they don't even have any names. In other cases they are not sure of the right spellings for the Arabic," the source said. "The search through the INS (Immigration and Naturalisation Service) records is turning out to be a nightmarish experience. It goes back months or years."

The FBI on Thursday warned of fresh attacks in the next "several days" but gave no details about targets.

October, 26 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israelis mistaken for terrorists may be home soon, by Melissa Radler,

NEW YORK (October 26) - Five Israeli men detained in New Jersey with box-cutters, multiple passports, and $4,000 cash on September 11, the day of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, may be deported back to Israel for immigration violations as early as next week, according to the Israeli consulate in New York.

Consul for Media and Public Affairs Ido Aharoni said the deportation order was issued by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, and it must be approved by the Justice Department.

But the lawyer for the men, Steven Gordon, said the group is still waiting for the INS to sign the deportation order.

Gordon said the plight of the five, who were almost immediately cleared by authorities but subsequently held on relatively minor immigration violations, including overstaying a tourist visa by nine days and working illegally on a tourist visa, serves as a warning to anyone concerned with civil liberties in the wake of September 11.

"However, after ascertaining almost immediately that they had no involvement, it is just unconscionable that they have been denied bail and the government is deporting them," he said.

The consulate has visited the men twice, said Aharoni, the first time two weeks ago. Consul-General Alon Pinkas plans to visit them Monday.

Gordon said they have continuously requested, and not yet received, kosher food.

Trouble began for Sivan Kurzberg, his brother Paul Kurzberg, Yaron Shmuel, Oded Ellner and Omer Gavriel Marmari, all in their twenties and workers at a New Jersey-based moving company, on September 11 when they were picked up in a during the heightened security sweep following the attacks on New York and Washington.

A series of coincidences brought the police and FBI in hot pursuit of the men, said Gordon. After the two terrorist airplanes hit the World Trade Center, the men went to the rooftop of their workplace, and the rooftop of their moving van, and began taking pictures of the burning buildings, some with themselves in the foreground smiling.

In each location, the men, described in press reports as rugged and Middle Eastern-looking, evoked the ire of neighbors, who called the police to report suspicious activity.

Hours later, the men, who were driving back to their home in Brooklyn, were pulled over based on the description of the van given to police. With their box-cutters and cash seen as hijacker's weapons rather than tools of the moving trade, they were taken to Meadowlands police station, forced to lie down for 1.5 hours in a grassy area, then questioned by the FBI for 12-16 hours. They were not given food for the duration of the interrogation, said Gordon.

After determining the men were not connected to the attacks, they were turned over to INS custody and detained on immigration violations. A new round of interrogations began after the FBI developed their film, which, according to their lawyer, showed them posing on the rooftop and van as the World Trade Center collapsed behind them.

All five were held in solitary confinement until last week.

When asked if they had complained of being mistreated, Aharoni said, "All the reports that we received said they're in a maximum security facility. How well can you be treated in such a facility?"

November 13, 2001, Israel Insider, Nearly 100 Israelis arrested in U.S. since September 11 attacks, by Ellis Shuman,

Nearly 100 Israelis have been detained in the United States since the September 11 terror attacks. Most of the Israelis were arrested on visa violations or for working without permits. Some, though, were detained on suspicion of connection to international terrorist organizations.

Most of the Israelis detained by U.S. immigration officers have already been deported, but others remain in American prisons, awaiting deportation orders. Only last weekend 22 Israelis were reportedly arrested in Missouri -- 12 in Kansas City and 10 in St. Louis.

"The FBI agents stood us up against a wall and handcuffed us like criminals"
- Gali Ben-Haim, being held in the U.S.

According to Booni Cohavi, Israeli Consul for Administration and Consular Affairs in Chicago, two main factors have led to the wave of arrests. The first is the significant growth in the number of Israelis entering the United States on tourist visas who end up working in various jobs without a permit. The second factor is the toughening of American immigration policies towards those residing illegally in the United States. American citizens are more aware in finding illegal aliens and bringing about their deportation. Israelis are being targeted, Cohavi says, due to their Middle Eastern appearance.

Roi Barak with his mother shortly after his return from the United States.

"Sources in the American Jewish and Israeli community here have already hinted that they fear being associated with the detained Israelis," Cohavi said. "This is happening at a time when we are conducting a very intense public relations campaign intended to increase the support for Israel in the American public, and it is giving Israel a bad name."

Cohavi called on the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs to quickly organize a campaign to instruct young Israelis bound for the United States not to travel or work without visas and work permits, Yediot Aharonot reported. "From my talks with the detained youths and their families I learned that most of them are unaware of the meaning of visa transgressions," Cohavi said. These transgressions lead to "arrest and weeks of imprisonment, deportation and prohibition from entering the U.S. for ten years."

One of the Israelis arrested recently in the United States was Gali Ben-Haim, 22, whose father was killed nine years ago in a terrorist shooting in Gush Katif. She arrived in the United States with her friend, Yaakov Rosenberg, and began working in a local firm. Two days later, the two of them were arrested.

"The FBI agents stood us up against a wall and handcuffed us like criminals," Gali told her mother. "In the investigation they told us we were suspected of involvement in the wave of terror in the U.S."

Gali's mother, Dalia, asked, "How can my daughter be suspected of dealing with terror, when she, herself, is a daughter of a family hit by terror?"

According to Yediot Aharonot, former Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Bibi Netanyahu, who served in the IDF with Gali's father, Amatzia, have both tried to secure Gali's release, and the Foreign Affairs Ministry has hired a lawyer for the family in the U.S. Ministry officials said that they are doing everything possible to ensure that arrested Israelis are treated with full regard for their rights under local American law.

Israeli moving men questioned, arrested

"It was a nightmare," said Roi Barak, 23, who returned to Israel this week after being detained in Pennsylvania on September 12. Barak was working for a moving company with his friend, Moti Butbul. Upon stopping their truck for a routine inspection, local police found that Barak's visa had expired and that Butbul was working without a permit. FBI agents arrived and began questioning the two.

The two understood at first that they were not under suspicion for involvement in terror attacks. Later interrogation did suggest possible involvement in terrorist activities and the FBI questioned them about their IDF military service and about the possibility that they were spies. The two were kept in jail for nearly two months, much of the time in solitary confinement.

"I can understand their arresting me and questioning me, but why did they keep us locked up for so long?" Barak said this week.

Five additional Israelis who worked at the same moving company as Barak and Butbul are still being held in the United States, but two of them will be deported next week. The five were arrested in New York shortly after the September 11 attacks, when they were seen acting suspiciously on a rooftop, photographing the burning World Trade Center towers.

After initial interrogation, American officials determined that the Israelis had no connection to the terror attacks. Even so, it was discovered that their visas had expired and they remained in prison. A deportation order was signed on September 25, but its implementation was delayed.

At the beginning of last week, Israeli Consul in New York Alon Pinchas visited the five young Israelis. Pinchas promised the American authorities that he would personally accompany the men until they boarded a plane out of the country. When the deportation orders for two of the five were finally approved, they were on the condition that no official Israeli representatives escort them to the airport.

November 1, 2001, Israel Insider, Top U.S. lawman dismisses report of manhunt for Israeli passport holders, by israelinsider staff,

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft dismissed a newspaper report that federal agents were searching for six men with Israeli passports who had been carrying material about a nuclear power plant in Florida and an Alaskan pipeline. "To the best of my knowledge that's a story and nothing more," Ashcroft told reporters. "I don't have any reason to believe it to be true."

He was referring to a report in The Miami Herald, which said agents were searching for the men, who reportedly had been detained in the Midwest but later released. "We have absolutely no information at this point in time to substantiate that story," said Russ Bergeron, spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Ashcroft also refuted claims in the story that he and FBI Director Robert Mueller were "furious" that the INS had allowed the men to be released. "As a matter of fact, I hadn't even known about the situation until I read about my response in the newspaper," Ashcroft said.

According to the report, police stopped the six men traveling in two cars in an unidentified Midwestern state over the weekend. In addition to the photographs, they were carrying box-cutters and other "suspicious equipment," it said. The Miami Herald said the men appeared to be from the Middle East and carried Israeli passports. After determining that the passports were valid, the INS released the suspects without consulting the FBI, the Herald said.

Ha'aretz reports that an Israeli embassy spokesman in Washington said he was aware of the affair from press reports, but had not been contacted by American authorities on the subject.
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Israel Insider, August 1, 2001 web crawl,

January 1, 2001, Israel Insider, The Journalists & the Palestinians, by Fiamma Nirenstein, Information coming out of Israel is heavily influenced by the political imagination of reporters and cameramen.

May 18, 2001, Israel Insider, After Netanya: The religious basis of Palestinian suicide bombing, by Louis Rene Beres, The Palestinian concept of sacrifice plays a very substantial role in Palestinian atrocities against Jews.

May 30, 2001, Israel Insider, Expelling the settlers, by Barry Chamish, Wake up to the fact that the settler movement is targeted for dismantling.

May 31, 2001, Israel Insider, The settlement myth, by Jeff Jacoby, Palestinian violence did not explode because Israel refused to give up the settlements but because it agreed to do so.

June 3, 2001, Israel Insider, Set a deadline by Mitchell G. Bard, Ph.D., The conditions for a cease-fire must be crystal clear. There can be no acts of violence, even stone throwing.

June 7, 2001, Israel Insider, Price for peace?, by Sharon Chaplik, A crowded street of teenagers was transformed into a sea of sirens by the actions of a mad man.

June 8, 2001, Israel Insider, U.N. conference on racism faces dual challenge,, by Richard D. Heideman and Daniel S. Mariaschin, Efforts to marginalize anti-Semitic attacks on Israel must be defeated.

June 10, 2001, Israel Insider, Countering Arafat’s strategy, by Bob Westbrook, Since October, Arafat has orchestrated the so-called popular uprising according to his strategic objectives.

June 17, 2001, Israel Insider, The importance of trips to Israel, by Rabbi Michael Graetz, The presence of Jews from the US and around the world is just what we need now.

June 18, 2001, Israel Insider, What ceasefire?, by Cynthia Yacowar-Sweeney, Israelis are still waking up to the news of another drive-by-shooting, another mortar attack, another killing.

June 23, 2001, Israel Insider, U.S. flees from terrorists; Where does Israel sail?, by Emanuel A. Winston, The U.S. put its fleet to sail when learning of the bin Laden threat; Israel has no such luxury available.

June 28, 2001, Israel Insider, Chasing chimeras, Jewish Renaissance Media editorial, Can physical separation of Palestinians from Israelis bring permanent peace in the Mideast?

June 29, 2001, Israel Insider, When to hit the rock, by Gary Rosenblatt, Ariel Sharon is facing a dilemma of biblical proportions - when to use force and when to use diplomacy.

July 5, 2001, Israel Insider, UN proves it can't be trusted,, by Dr. Aaron Lerner, The United Nations continues to bash Israel and be anything but neutral.

July 9, 2001, Israel Insider, Left with Sharon, by Ellis Shuman, Many of Ehud Barak's voters now find themselves serving as some of Ariel Sharon's most loyal supporters.

July 13, 2001, Israel Insider, Where in the world?, by Judy Lash Balint, Exciting things happen in Jerusalem, a vibrant center of Jewish cultural, social and educational life.

July 15, 2001, Israel Insider, Before the boom, by Reuven Koret, At first glance, it might appear to be an almost normal summer here in Israel.

July 16, 2001, Israel Insider, We want to live, by Helen Freedman, On my recent trip to Israel I met countless Israelis, unified by the desire to live in peace.

July 16, 2001, Israel Insider, You can vacation safely in Israel, by Mike Rivest, Americans need to be told the truth - it is safe to visit Israel.

July 20, 2001, Israel Insider, We can live with it, by David Wilder, It finally happened. Someone took aim, pulled the trigger and killed and wounded Arab travelers near Hebron.

July 23, 2001, Israel Insider, What closure is all about, by Gila Svirsky, The closure in the territories is not related to security, but to power.

July 25, 2001, Israel Insider, Yasser, it's time to say good riddance to Arafat, by Jackie Mason & Raoul Felder, Why are we still negotiating with Arafat if he admits he's not responsible for the daily killing of Israelis?

July 26, 2001, Israel Insider, Rebuilding the Third Temple?, by Ruth and Nadia Matar, Thousands of Jews observe the ancient custom of circling the Old City walls on Tisha B'Av.

July 28, 2001, Israel Insider, Something is rotten in the State of Israel, by Uri Avnery, Why would a person who headed the Israeli Security Service insist on serving in Denmark of all places?

July 29, 2001, Israel Insider, The trauma of exile: A meditation on Tisha B'Av, by Avi Davis, Tisha B'Av provides the opportunity to reflect deeply on the reasons for Jewish survival.

August 1, 2001, Israel Insider, Sontag's off-key ode to Oslo, by Daniel Pipes, The New York Times has devoted its immense resources to the men of Oslo.
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Israel Insider, October 19, 2001, web crawl

September 16, 2001, Israel Insider, Twin towers, by Uri Avnery, Humankind has woken up to find there is no safe place on earth.

September 17, 2001, Israel Insider, A grapevine grows in Tzfat, by Avi Davis,The old world is gone. But a mystical city in Israel offers hope for a New Year.

September 17, 2001, Israel Insider, Palestinians and damage control, by Cynthia Yacowar-Sweeney, No amount of media control can erase the images of Palestinians celebrating terror attacks.

September 17, 2001, Israel Insider, The nature of the beast, by Alan Perlman, Israel's experiences may help illustrate the impact of terrorism and what can be done to combat it.

September 20, 2001, Israel Insider, A caution before the crusade, by Reuven Koret, The U.S. is walking into a terrible trap if it depends on unstable Islamic allies in its crusade against global terrorism.

September 20, 2001, Israel Insider, Terrorists in the anti-terror coalition, by Bob Westbrook, The U.S. is making insane overtures to include Syria, Iran and the Palestinians while excluding Israel.

September 23, 2001, Israel Insider, How suicide bombers are made, by Fiamma Nirenstein, From hatred of Israel, it is but a short step to incitement and acts of violence.

September 24, 2001, Israel Insider, Making Arafat kosher, by Avi Davis, When will the U.S. realize that making overtures to Arafat only encourages and rewards terror?

September 24, 2001, Israel Insider, The bomb in the basement, by Louis Rene Beres, Israel should make a calculated and limited clarification of its nuclear doctrine.

September 30, 2001, Israel Insider, Dealing with the devil, by Reuven Koret, The idea of enlisting terrorists to fight terrorists should not shock Israelis. Let's hope America deals more wisely with its Devil.

October 1, 2001, Israel Insider, The last Straw, by Avi Davis, European diplomats are scurrying to distance themselves from Israel and insinuations of Arab terrorism.

October 1, 2001, Israel Insider, Terrorism and the global clash of civilizations, by Louis Rene Beres, Terrorism is but a barbarous tactic of a methodically planned apocalyptic war that will soon spread uncontrollably.

October 3, 2001, Israel Insider, Israel: Into the abyss, by Neve Gordon, PM Sharon's measures against the Palestinians are endangering Israel most.

October 4, 2001, Israel Insider, Which way Bush Middle East policy?, by Dr. Rand H. Fishbein, As war looms in the Middle East, something is amiss in U.S.-Israel relations.

October 5, 2001, Israel Insider, The unspeakable scenario of Siberian 1812, by Reuven Koret, Disinformation surrounding the explosion of the Israeli-filled jet obscures what could be, since September 11, the most logical explanation.

October 7, 2001, Israel Insider, With allies like these..., by Jeff Jacoby, A multiple choice quiz tests the logic of U.S. alliances in the war against terror.

October 8, 2001, Israel Insider, Victory for Bin Laden, by David L. Lamon, Bin Laden has managed to enshrine himself as a hero to millions of radical Muslims worldwide.

October 8, 2001, Israel Insider, Israelis are not cannon fodder, by Mitchell G. Bard, Ph.D., The United States is waging a war against terror, but Israel is not allowed to do the same.

October 10, 2001, Israel Insider, Flirting with evil: The limits of coalition building, by Rand H. Fishbein, The specter of the U.S. aligned with some of the world's most notorious terrorist states is an oddity indeed.

October 10, 2001, Israel Insider, Israel called to negotiate, not to fight terror, by Avital Talmor, As it gears up for its anti-terrorism campaign, the U.S. is reorganizing the world according to its needs.

October 11, 2001, Israel Insider, From Helsinki to Oslo, by Natan Sharansky, The only way to create real Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation is to help the Palestinians create a liberal, democratic state that will uphold human rights.

October 12, 2001, Israel Insider, Bin Laden, Columbus, and the Jews, by Reuven Koret, For the terrorist, the explorer symbolizes his arch-enemies: Americans, Europeans and the Jewish people.

October 14, 2001, Israel Insider, America at the Crossroads, by Alan Perlman, America seems to be sliding toward the wrong side of the battle.

October 14, 2001, Israel Insider, Sharon and Peres keep dancing, by Avi Davis, PM Sharon's accusation that the U.S. was sacrificing Israel's security in the interests of coalition building let loose a torrent of criticism.

October 15, 2001, Israel Insider, A new American peace initiative: Can it work?, by Gershon Baskin, Ph.D., The new American engagement in the Middle East is welcome, but only if they are really determined and forceful with both sides.

October 15, 2001, Israel Insider, A Palestinian state and regional nuclear war, by Louis Rene Beres, The creation of a new Arab state alongside Israel will give rise to new and more deadly terrorism.

October 18, 2001, Israel Insider, Ze'evi's legacy, by Bob Westbrook, It is ironic that Rechavam Ze'evi's tragic death may spur the vindication of his ideas.

October 18, 2001, Israel Insider, Gulliver on the ropes: The U.S. and the new fight against terrorism, by Rand H. Fishbein, Everything has changed in American foreign policy since September 11th, and nothing at all as well.

October 18, 2001, Israel Insider, The bell that tolls for Arafat, by Avi Davis, It is time for the U.S. to force Arafat to honor commitments and abandon terror.

http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/spyring2.html

Urban Moving Systems and Detained Israelis, by Scott DaVault,

Could the key to understanding the World Trade Center tragedy be found in detention in our country? This reporter believes that it is, and that the vast majority of Americans are not being told the truth. A story in Philadelphia's The Mercury may hold the answer.

October 17, 2001, The Mercury, 2 found with video of Sears Tower, by Michelle Mowad, Special to The Mercury,

PLYMOUTH -- Two men whom police described as Middle Eastern were detained in the township by federal imigration authorities after being found with detailed footage of the Sears Tower in Chicago. Plymouth Police encountered the men after an officer responded to Pizzeria Uno on the 1000 block of West Ridge Pike at 2:40 p.m. Thursday for a report of illegal dumping, according to reports. A manager there advised the police officer that a tractor-trailer was observed backed up to the dumpster at the rear of the restaurant. The manager noticed a freshly dumped pile of furniture adjacent to the dumpster, according to police.

The manager confronted the vehicle's operator, a Middle Eastern man, police said. The man, who later identified himself as Moshe Elmakias, 30, denied that he did anything and fled the scene, heading west on West Ridge Pike, according to police.

The manager was able to provide township police with the Florida registration number of the tractor-trailer and said that a sign posted on the side of the vehicle read "Moving Systems Incorporated" and included a phone number, police said.

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 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.

Reisler was detained and checked for identification. She had a German passport in her name and medication in a different name, police said. Plymouth Police Sgt. Thomas Longo was notified and responded to the incident.

Elmakias allegedly admitted to being behind Pizzeria Uno, although he said that he did not dump furniture, he was only turning around. 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.

Township police dispatched a request for a Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program Inspector.

Officer Gerald Schwartz of the Whitpain Police Department responded. Schwartz discovered through his investigation that the operator's log had been falsified and put the truck out of service due to violations, police said. In addition, the vehicle reportedly had numerous equipment violations that rendered the truck unsafe.

Inspection of the tractor-trailer's contents revealed a load three-quarters full containing household items, including furniture and boxes. Among the items in the truck was a Sony video camera.

Plymouth Police Officer David McCann reviewed the tape found inside the camera. The tape had video footage of Chicago with zoomed-in shots of the Sears Tower, according to police.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was notified of the incident and all three subjects were transported to the Plymouth Police station. The subjects were then processed through the National Crime Information center and placed into detention, according to the report.

FBI Agents James Sweeney and Richard Tofani arrived at the station and proceeded to investigate both the subjects and their belongings with the assistance of Immigration and Naturalization Services. Elmakias and Katar were eventually detained by INS and transported to a federal facility, said police. Reisler was released.

All evidence collected by Plymouth and Whitpain officers was transferred to federal facilities with the exeption of a VCR. Special Agent Linda Vizi, as spokeswoman for the Philadelphia and FBI, could not be contacted for comment on further investigations.

The question of the nationality of the detained Middle Eastern men can be found in other newspapers. On Saturday, September 15th, The Record of New Jersey ran an article by Adam Lisberg. An excerpt follows:

Closer to New York, FBI agents and Bergen County Sheriff's Department crime scene technicians spent three hours Thursday night searching the Weehawken headquarters of Urban Moving Systems at 3W 18th St.

Investigators first became interested in the business after witnesses reported Tuesday that three men seemed to celebrate the World Trade Center explosions in Liberty State Park, then drove away in a company van. 'To the best of my knowledge, my client Urban Moving Systems and Dominik Suter are not targets,' said attorney Jay Hamill of Jersey City. 'This is an informational situation. We're cooperating completely and have objected to nothing they've requested.'

Agents took pictures inside the company's office Thursday night and seized 13 computer hard drives. They also showed a keen interest in the roof, which had a very clear view of the World Trade Center until Tuesday. A half-dozen agents searched the roof with flashlights and appeared particularly interested in the sight lines from the roof toward downtown Manhattan.

East Rutherford police stopped an Urban Moving Systems van on Route 3 Tuesday and detained five men inside, at least some of them company employees. The occupants said they were all Israelis. They were being detained because they are in violation of immigration regulations, and all have expressed a desire to leave the country on their own, according to an Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman. An employee of Urban Moving Systems, who would not give his name, said the majority of his co-workers are Israelis and were joking on the day of the attacks.

'I was in tears,' the man said. 'These guys were joking and that bothered me. These guys were like, "Now America knows what we go through."

The identities and nationalities of the employees were confirmed by the Jerusalem Post. What authorities have not elaborated on is the connection between the confiscated Sears Tower video that was found in Pennsylvania and the antics of Urban Moving System's employees. Additionally, the INS has recently signed papers that will allow the detained Israeli's to be deported without having to stand trial for possible involvement in the events of September 11th. Was the fourth plane headed toward the Sears Tower before it made an abrupt turn over Ohio? This reporter is prepared to accept the possibility.

September 11, 2001, Scribd, Rutherford, NJ Police Report, Dancing Israelis

Time 1556 A/T
Nic
Alt Location Service-Road
Business Name/Apt#
Reported by Ln: Sgt -Rivelli
Fn: Dennis
Dob: Sex: Address: Phone:
How Reported: Tel 911 HQ On Scene x
Received by: Ciravolo
Weather:Clear
Car #: 4
Officer Assigned: Rivelli, T.Yannacone, Yannacone, Felten, Hopkins
Towing: MV's Impound
ACTION TAKEN
General Report filed by PO DeCarlo.
Bergen County Bomb Squad Dispatched.
1856 - Bergen County PD requests
ERES and ERFD to stand by at the ramp from the Sports Complex to the NJ TRPKE.
Investigated by:Sgt - Rivelli

Officer in Charge: Po-Ciravolo

Reviewed by:This officer was on special detail at the above location diverting traffic from further travel on Rt 3east re-routing the traffic north on Rt 120 and 3 west.While diverting traffic,this officer was informed by dispatch of a national broadcast related to the terrorist attack earlier in the day.The information relayed was to be on the look out for a 2000 chevy van color white NJ registration JYJ13Y occupied with approximately 3 or more individuals (unclear as to male or female). A short time later this officer observed a van traveling quite slower than the rest of traffic east towards me on the service road that appeared to be a newer model chevy with at least two occupants. I immediately informed Sgt Rivelli (The OIC at the scene) of the possibility of a match on the vehicle. As this officer approached the vehicle I did not observe a front license plate.I went to the rear of the vehicle and observed the license plate(NJ JRJ13Y) I felt that the one letter difference in the plate could have been a mistake and requested a confirmation.The return transmission revealed the plate on the van matched the broadcasts oat this time I returned to the driver door and requested the driver to stop the vehicle and exit.The Driver did not immediately exit the vehicle and was asked several more times but he appeared to be fumbling with a black leather fanny pouch type of bag.This officer then physically removed him. SGT Rivelli removed the passenger and one other passenger from the passenger side of the van and with minor assistance from officer in training T.Yannacone the other two occupants were removed placed on the grass off to the shoulder and this officer read all five individuals their miranda rights. The van was secured and headquarters was requested to immediately notify the County Bomb Squad and FBI of the situation. All occupants were transported to the state police facilities inside the Meadowlands sports complex by State Troopers to await the arrival of the FBI. The occupants were (Driver) Mr.Sivan Kurzberg w/m dob 02/02/78 addressess given: 100 Laurence Brooklyn NY and Pohtkua Israel wearing blue jeans torn knees and a gray and black shirt. Yaron Shimuel w/m dob 11/21/75 1345 Drexel Ave #6 Miami Beach FI 33139 Wearing jean overalls. Baul Kurzberg 02/24/74 no address given/ wearing a pink shirt and blue jeans. Oded Ellner w/m dob 12/06/75 No address given and uncertain of clothing description but individual was holding an American Express Card#375518092154895 Orner Gavriel Marmari w/m dob 11/28/79 of 509 W212th St. Manhatten NY (917)529-2528 only personal belongings were a pack of Cigarettes and black sunglasses. I am not sure to the position of the other passengers

While on a traffic detail diverting traffic to Rt. 120 as Rt. 3 east was closed, we were informed by our desk officer PO Ciravolo, that there was a broadcast looking for a 2000 white Chevy van, NJ reg. JYJ-13Y, occupied by at least 3 people. After a short period of time, PO DeCarlo, who was on the traffic detail with me, advised me that a van which was slowly approaching us matches that description of the broadcast. PO DeCarlo approached the driver's side of the vehicle and I approached the passenger side. I was able to see at least 4 people in the van, two in the front and two in the back. Officer DeCarlo read the plate number and I contacted the desk for confirmation on the plate number. PO DeCarlo advised me that the plate #, NJ reg. JRJ-13Y is one number off. He then contacted Hq and then it was confirmed that the plate on the vehicle was in fact the plate that the FBI had stated in the broadcast. While PO DeCarlo was removing the driver from the vehicle, I removed the front seat passenger and one of the rear seat passengers. As I was removing the front seat passenger he stated "we're Isreali". He was identified, via Isreal passport as Oded Ellner, W/M Dob 12/06/75 of Isreal. He advised me that they were on their way to Lawrence St. in Brooklyn where they are staying with a roommate. He did not have the exact address. D/Capt Felten and Det. Yannacone arrived at the scene. All five males were handcuffed and PO DeCarlo read them their miranda warnings. All five spoke and understood English and they acknowledged their understanding of miranda.

Bergen County Bomb Squad, State Police and FBI notified. The driver of the vehicle was Sivan Kurzberg W/M Dob 02/02/78 of 100 Laurence St, Brooklyn, NY. The rear passengers were: Yaron Shimuel, W/M Dob 11/21/75

of 1345 Drexel Ave, Miami Beach, FL (he was wearing blue jean overalls); Baul Kurzberg, W/M Dob 02/24/74 (no address given - wearing a pink shirt and blue jeans); and Orner Ellner, W/M Dob 11/28/79 of 509 W 212th St., Manhatten, NY.

FBI agents responded and took over the scene. All five were seperately transported to the State Police facilities in the Meadowlands Sports Complex by State Troopers. Further investigation by the FBI.

Prior to the transportation to the State Police facilities this officer was told without question by the driver

"We are Israeli,We are not your problem.Your problems are our problems,The Palestinians are the problem." I was also told by Mr.Yaron Shimuel" We were on the westside highway during the incident." The black bag that the driver was fumbling with contained all of his belongings (see attached Receipt from the FBI for its contents). Mr. Oded Ellner was in possession of a white sock like sack filled with $4,700 in cash (see attached receipt from FBI).

This officer did not speak to the Special Agent in charge Kevin Donovan and there were many other agents involved in the investigation. Two of which were Dan O'Brien (973) 792-3389 and Robert F Taylor Jr. (973)792-3327
_________________________________________________________________________________

March 22, 2002, NBC News 4 , Exclusive: 911 Tapes Tell Horror Of 9/11 (Part 2) Tapes Released For First Time, [Updated: 6:03 p.m. EST]

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- They are the first 911 calls from 9/11 to be released. NewsChannel 4 has an exclusive account of the tapes from Jersey City, which sent hundreds of cops and firefighters into the thick of ground zero.

The tapes show the raw words spoken and recorded that tragic day. A plane had just hit the north tower and many thought it might be an accident, but not one cop.

Officer: A terrorist smashed into the twin towers. I'm down at Exchange Place. Cleared off Exchange Place at this point, this looks like some type of terrorism.

From across the river, the view seemed clear. A sense of foreboding extended even to Lady Liberty.

Official: Might want to clear the Statue of Liberty.

It was not so far-fetched, considering the news from the Pentagon.

Official: Was another building hit in Washington, we just wanna confirm that?

Dispatcher: There are reports on CNN, there's apparently some kind of fire in the Pentagon, nothing confirmed yet, they're still checking it.

After both towers had been hit, the scrambling of Air Force jets was at first more unnerving than reassuring.

Dispatcher: Go ahead.Official: Hold on, jets flying over here. Can you check with the controller there, we don't know if this is another one.

Official: It's getting pretty close, it looks like some type of jet plane.

Dispatcher: The news is reporting that it's jet fighters.

At one point, a cop called into a 911 center to talk with a friend, perhaps even his wife.

Officer: It's a terrorist.

Dispatcher: Once they find out who did this, that'll be the end of that country. That'll be the end of their country.

Many though were looking closer to home, wondering if the terror was over, and pointing fingers.

Dispatcher: Jersey City police.

Caller: Yes, we have a white van, 2 or 3 guys in there, they look like Palestinians and going around a building.

Caller: There's a minivan heading toward the Holland tunnel, I see the guy by Newark Airport mixing some junk and he has those sheikh uniform.

Dispatcher: He has what?

Caller: He's dressed like an Arab.

The biggest tragedy for Jersey City heroes came in its fire department that day, not for the rescue one guys who went in for search and rescue, but for a civilian who worked out of a dispatch center. Joseph Lovero was a trained EMT who volunteered to ride into New York with the Battalion 3 chief while the towers were still standing.

Official: Battalion 3 to dispatch, we've just had another explosion.

Official: Battalion 3 to dispatch, we've had additional explosion.

Dispatcher: Received battalion command. Additional explosion.

A handful of Jersey City firemen, with a civilian dispatcher, managed to survive, grouping near the still-standing north tower.

Official: Deputy one from Battalion 3, that's affirmative. I have all JCFD personnel on location.

Dispatcher: Received.

Dispatcher: Battalion 5, be advised we're trying to contact Battalion 3 at this moment to report north tower just collapsed.

Dispatcher: Dispatch. Battalion 3.

Official: Battalion 3. I am, I am Greg. North tower has collapsed.

Dispatcher: Battalion 3, all members accounted for?

All, but for Joseph Lovero, his body was found near that of his chief.

September 12, 2001, Associated Press Breaking News Wire [Thomas Crosbie Media] Police confirm arrests but deny explosives find,

12/09/2001 - 04:34:43

NYPD officers have confirmed the arrest of three men on the New Jersey turn-pike.

However officials denied any explosives were found in the van.

Officials declined to say why exactly the men had been arrested.

September 12, 2001, Associated Press Breaking News Wire [Thomas Crosbie Media] Three arrested with van full of explosives,

12/09/2001 - 04:27:11

Reports from New York are saying three people have been arrested with a van of explosives.

The van was stopped along the New Jersey turn-pike near the George Washington Bridge.

It was not clear why police stopped the van but when they did they found it was laden down with tonnes of explosives.

December 17, 2001, The Globe and Mail, U.S. arrests of Israelis a mystery, by Doug Saunders,
With a report from Associated Press, Monday, – Print Edition, Page A7,

Most charged with immigration violations either have been deported or will be

LOS ANGELES -- U.S. officials have arrested, detained and questioned hundreds of people on vague suspicions of ties to terrorism since Sept. 11, but a few dozen cases are especially mysterious: They are Israelis, young and apparently Jewish, working in the United States on temporary visas and have little obvious connection to Islamic extremism.

The U.S. government has offered no explanation for the detentions, estimated to be as many as 60 in number, and some of them have begun speaking out in protest and asking courts to end their detention. But Washington appears to be treating them as palpable threats: Many remain in jail. Most have been charged with immigration violations, and either have been or will be deported.

Based on what the Israelis say about the questions they have been asked, federal officials appear to believe they are either Muslim extremists hiding behind false Israeli identities or spies working for the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency.

If the latter is the case, it raises the possibility that Washington is using its antiterrorism campaign as an excuse to round up other groups of people it wants out. "They asked if I was spying on anybody," said Yaniv Hani, 22, who spent four weeks in custody after Sept. 11 and now faces charges from the Immigration and Naturalization Service for working with an improper visa. He said

Federal Bureau of Investigation officials asked him whether he was really Muslim before switching to questions about possible ties to Mossad. Mr. Hani worked for a number of years for Israel's military police.

Israel has protested the arrests. Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington, said the FBI has not contacted Israel about spying allegations, and that "not a single one has been charged with intelligence violations. It has all been visa violations."

Another possibility is that the FBI suspects the Israelis of taking part in a clandestine operation. A majority of those arrested were employees of a Florida company, Quality Sales, that hires vacationing Israeli youth to work at vending carts in U.S. shopping malls.

Thomas Dean, a lawyer for the company, acknowledged that the Israelis had been issued the wrong type of visa, since they were tourists on working vacations rather than permanent workers.

However, he noted that their cases had all been labelled "special interest" by the INS, a new designation indicating that they are suspects in the antiterrorism campaign, not regular immigration violators.

"Clearly that was what the FBI, from the very beginning, was very interested in talking about -- their activity in the Israeli military or any kind of intelligence agency."

(Israel does have a history of spying against the United States, even though the two nations are officially allies. The most famous case is that of Jonathan Pollard, a U.S. military official convicted in 1987 of espionage for stealing top U.S. military secrets on behalf of Israel.)

Also, five of the Israelis came to the FBI's attention after they were seen by New Jersey residents on Sept. 11 making fun of the World Trade Center ruins and going to extreme lengths to photograph themselves in front of the wreckage. The FBI seized and developed their photos, one of which shows Sivan Kurzberg flicking a cigarette lighter in front of the smouldering ruins in an apparently celebratory gesture.

Steven Noah Gordon, a lawyer for the five, told The New York Times that their behaviour may have been offensive, but said the behaviour was not criminal -- "and they were being treated as if it was." The five have since been deported.

U.S. officials have offered no explanation for the arrests, even to immigration judges. Last month, when the INS asked that bail be denied to 11 of the Israelis, a judge rejected the request, saying the government had been less than forthcoming with evidence.

"Although the [INS] alleges that these cases are 'special,' it has failed to present any credible evidence of the basis for this finding," Judge Elizabeth Hacker wrote. "The service has failed to submit any evidence of terrorist activity or of a threat to national security."

Copyright © 2001 Globe Interactive, a division of Bell Globemedia Publishing

December 12, 2001, Today's Alternative News, Arrest of Jewish Defense League Officers, by Sam Hamod,

The two top officers of the Jewish Defense League in Los Angeles have been arrested by the FBI for allegedly planning to blow up a Mosque in Los Angeles and the San Clemente office of Congressman Darryl Issa. The mosque also houses the nationally well-respected Muslim Public Affairs Council; Congressman Issa is a Christian of Lebanese descent. The JDL officers were quoted as saying, "The Arabs in America need a wake-up call."

Today, Congressman Issa said he did not condemn all Jews, because he knew that this was the work of a couple of fanatics.

Mr. Issa has been involved in the Middle East peace process recently.

The San Diego office of the Anti-Defamation League had no comment on the matter. The FBI is investigating further connections the JDL officers may have had with other terrorist groups and individuals.

An unnamed Muslim spokesman in San Diego said that, "It is about time that pro-Israeli's and their counterparts were investigated by the FBI. It is still possible to consider that Israel may have been involved in the attacks of 911 because they had so much to gain from the anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment it caused. Do not the forget the Israeli camermen who were arrested by the FBI while rejoicing and jumping up and down while filming the 911 attack in NYC."

In the meantime, though the FBI has kept their eyes on the Israeli's, Attorney General John Ashcroft has continue focusing his detentions and investigations of people of Arab and Muslim descent. This latter policy has led to public outrage from the Arab and Muslim communities because many of the Arabs being investigated are Christians. Not only this, but civil libertarian groups are crying "foul" because the detentions are often secret, the detainees have little or not representation allowed, the term of detention is being stretched and even immigration judges are being overruled by Ashcroft (though Ashcroft has no evidence against the detainees).

The FBI will have more details on the arrest of the JDL members and other possible terrorist attacks they may have planned.

December 12, 2001, FOX News, Suspected Israeli Spies Held by U.S.,

WASHINGTON — Some 60 Israelis, who federal investigators have said are part of a long-running effort to spy on American government officials, are among the hundreds of foreigners detained since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Fox News has learned.

The Israelis, a handful of whom are described as active Israeli military or intelligence operatives, have been detained on immigration charges or under the new Patriot Anti-Terrorism Law. Federal investigators said some of them failed polygraph questions inquiring about alleged surveillance activities against and in the United States.

There is no indication the Israelis were involved in the Sept. 11 attacks, but investigators suspect that they may have gathered intelligence about the attacks in advance and not shared it.

A highly placed investigator told Fox News there are "tie-ins," but when asked for details flatly refused to describe them. "Evidence linking these Israelis to 9-11 is classified, I cannot tell you about evidence that has been gathered. It is classified information," the source said.

An Israeli Embassy spokesman offered categorical denials, and said any suggestion of Israelis spying on or in the United States is simply not true.

But Fox News has learned that one group of Israelis spotted in North Carolina recently is suspected of keeping an apartment in California to spy on a group of Arabs who the U.S. authorities are investigating for links to terrorism.

Numerous classified documents obtained by Fox News indicate that even prior to Sept. 11, as many as 140 other Israelis had been detained or arrested in a secretive and sprawling investigation into suspected espionage by Israelis in the United States.

Investigators from numerous government agencies are part of a working group that has been compiling evidence in the case since the mid-1990s. These documents detail hundreds of incidents in cities and towns across the country that investigators say quote "may well be an organized intelligence-gathering activity."

Investigators are focusing part of their efforts on Israelis who said they are art students from the University of Jerusalem or Bezalel Academy and repeatedly made contact with U.S. government personnel by saying they wanted to sell cheap art or handiwork.

Documents say they "targeted" and penetrated military bases, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, dozens of government facilities and even secret offices and unlisted private homes of law enforcement and intelligence personnel.

Another part of the investigation has resulted in the detention and arrest of dozens of Israelis working at kiosks in American malls, where they had been selling toys called "Puzzlecar" and "Zoomcopter."

Investigators suspected a front. Shortly after the New York Times andWashington Post reported the detentions of Israelis on immigration charges last month, the carts began vanishing.

Why would Israelis spy in and on the United States?

A General Accounting Office investigation referred to Israel as Country A and said, "According to a U.S. intelligence agency, the government of country A conducts the most aggressive espionage operation against the U.S. of any U.S. ally."

A Defense Intelligence report said Israel has a "voracious appetite for information."

"The Israelis are motivated by strong survival instincts which dictate every facet of their political and economic policies," the DIA report said. "It aggressively collects military and industrial technology and the U.S. is a high priority target.

"Israel possesses the resources and technical capability to achieve its collection objectives," the document concludes.

November 2, 2001, Yediot America, [Reposted at GothamGazerre.com,] Midnight Express

Note to those being referred to this article by one of several antisemitic, conspiracy-theory web sites: Please notice that these sites have left out the following important passage: "The five denied dancing. I presume the neighbor was not near them and does not understand Hebrew. Furthermore, the neighbor complained that the cheerful gang on the roof spoke Arabic. As far as I understand it, that neighbor has had previous problems with the company, and she could have been waiting for an opportunity to avenge the owners." In other words, the one "witness" was not telling the truth. Last Thursday we arrived at the detention facility of the immigration authorities in Brooklyn. The penitentiary stands in the heart of a blue-collar neighborhood, next to a chewing gum factory which spreads its sweet scent all around. Before we got used to the smell, we were stopped in a blockade four blocks from the jail. Two FBI agents wearing bulletproof vests told us we couldn't proceed without a permit. "But you can photograph the building from any other direction, as long as you won't enter the restricted area," they explained courteously.

Following their advice, we went to the back of the building, where there was a police barrier and an empty police car. The photographer started snapping his camera but after 30 seconds about 20 FBI agents appeared out of nowhere and with pointed guns ordered us to surrender our equipment (a camera, a pen and a notebook) and raise our hands. Traffic on the nearby road was immediately stopped and drivers were diverted to a side street. With our hands up and barrels pointing at our necks, we were interrogated by the officers on our actions. We didn't know whether to laugh or cry. We came to the penitentiary writing an article on the Israelis arrested a day after the terrorist attack, and soon, we thought, we'll find ourselves in the cell, next to them.

The story ended with the film's confiscation, a warning not to return and an apology from the force's commander. "You have to understand the situation we're in," he told us and sent us on our way. If until then we didn't fully comprehend how much the city changed during the last couple of months, now we know.

Steven Gordon is the lawyer representing the five detainees, held in Brooklyn. The five, Yaron Shmuel, Oded Helmar, the brothers Paul and Sivan Kretzberg, and a fifth man named Omer, were arrested in New York a few hours after the disaster. They worked for the Urban moving company; whose offices are located in Hoboken, New Jersey. The company's offices closed down following the arrests, and the owner, an Israeli named Dominick, could not be located. Many versions of the reasons leading to the arrests and the events following them have been circulating in the last weeks. Gordon's is the most complete and reliable one.

"On the day of the disaster, three of the five boys went up on the roof of the building where the company office is located," said Gordon. "I'm not sure if they saw the twin towers collapse, but, in any event, they photographed the ruins right afterwards. One of the neighbors who saw them called the police and claimed they were posing, dancing and laughing, against the background of the burning towers. The five denied dancing. I presume the neighbor was not near them and does not understand Hebrew. Furthermore, the neighbor complained that the cheerful gang on the roof spoke Arabic. As far as I understand it, that neighbor has had previous problems with the company, and she could have been waiting for an opportunity to avenge the owners.

"Anyhow, the three left the roof, took an Urban truck, and drove to a parking lot, located about a five-minute drive from the offices. They parked, stood on the roof of the truck to get a better view of the destroyed towers and took photographs. A woman who was in the building above the lot testified that she saw them smiling and exchanging high-fives. She and another neighbor called the police and reported on Middle-Eastern looking people dancing on the truck. They copied and reported the license plates.

"The five men then drove to Yaron's friend's place in New Jersey. At around 2:30 p.m. they decided to go to the Brooklyn apartment of Oded, Sivan and Paul. They headed toward the George Washington Bridge, but, after hearing radio reports about traffic jams and police blockades at entrances to Manhattan, they decided to return to the company's offices in Hoboken and spend the night there. On their way, a policeman stopped them, using the description provided by the neighbors. FBI agents were summoned instantly and the five were arrested.

The agents found a few items that raised their suspicion. Yaron, who also has a German nationality, had two passports, and $4,000 in cash were found in the belongings of one of the men. Police were also alarmed that none of the five were American. News broadcasts reported that a truck full of explosives was caught on its way to blow up the George Washington Bridge. Photos of the Urban truck accompanied the reports, which said there were five young men in the truck, apparently terrorists, who were taken to an FBI facility.

The five were taken to a police station near the Meadowlands sports complex. Gordon said that the FBI agents who questioned them understood after a few hours of interrogation that the suspects had no connection to the World Trade Center disaster and no intention of blowing up a bridge. But during the investigation, it was found the men had no work permits and that some were staying in the United States illegally. The agents called the Immigration and Naturalization Services, which took responsibility for the detainees.

The days turned into weeks, and the five are still under arrest. Gordon said he did not understand why.

"The authorities know for certain they are not involved in the attack. The simplest explanation is the lack of manpower in the INS. I think the paperwork in their case just didn't reach whoever should sign the release...It's not supposed to take 120 days, maybe 120 minutes. All the answers I got about this issue were bull...In the detention facility, I was told they are not there, which is a total lie. I have no sensible explanation for why they are still arrested."

(Translated from Hebrew by Oren Yaniv)

June 24, 2002, ABC News, The White Van: Were Israelis Detained on Sept. 11 Spies?

June 21 — Millions saw the horrific images of the World Trade Center attacks, and those who saw them won't forget them. But a New Jersey homemaker saw something that morning that prompted an investigation into five young Israelis and their possible connection to Israeli intelligence.

Maria, who asked us not to use her last name, had a view of the World Trade Center from her New Jersey apartment building. She remembers a neighbor calling her shortly after the first plane hit the towers.

She grabbed her binoculars and watched the destruction unfolding in lower Manhattan. But as she watched the disaster, something else caught her eye.

Maria says she saw three young men kneeling on the roof of a white van in the parking lot of her apartment building. "They seemed to be taking a movie," Maria said.

The men were taking video or photos of themselves with the World Trade Center burning in the background, she said. What struck Maria were the expressions on the men's faces. "They were like happy, you know … They didn't look shocked to me. I thought it was very strange," she said.

She found the behavior so suspicious that she wrote down the license plate number of the van and called the police. Before long, the FBI was also on the scene, and a statewide bulletin was issued on the van.

The plate number was traced to a van owned by a company called Urban Moving. Around 4 p.m. on Sept. 11, the van was spotted on a service road off Route 3, near New Jersey's Giants Stadium. A police officer pulled the van over, finding five men, between 22 and 27 years old, in the vehicle. The men were taken out of the van at gunpoint and handcuffed by police.

The arresting officers said they saw a lot that aroused their suspicion about the men. One of the passengers had $4,700 in cash hidden in his sock. Another was carrying two foreign passports. A box cutter was found in the van. But perhaps the biggest surprise for the officers came when the five men identified themselves as Israeli citizens.

‘We Are Not Your Problem’

According to the police report, one of the passengers told the officers they had been on the West Side Highway in Manhattan "during the incident" — referring to the World Trade Center attack. The driver of the van, Sivan Kurzberg, told the officers, "We are Israeli. We are not your problem. Your problems are our problems. The Palestinians are the problem." The other passengers were his brother Paul Kurzberg, Yaron Shmuel, Oded Ellner and Omer Marmari.

When the men were transferred to jail, the case was transferred out of the FBI's Criminal Division, and into the bureau's Foreign Counterintelligence Section, which is responsible for espionage cases, ABCNEWS has learned.

One reason for the shift, sources told ABCNEWS, was that the FBI believed Urban Moving may have been providing cover for an Israeli intelligence operation.

After the five men were arrested, the FBI got a warrant and searched Urban Moving's Weehawken, N.J., offices.

The FBI searched Urban Moving's offices for several hours, removing boxes of documents and a dozen computer hard drives. The FBI also questioned Urban Moving's owner. His attorney insists that his client answered all of the FBI's questions. But when FBI agents tried to interview him again a few days later, he was gone.

Three months later 20/20'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.

‘A Scary Situation’

Steven Gordon, the attorney for the five Israeli detainees, acknowledged that his clients' actions on Sept. 11 would easily have aroused suspicions. "You got a group of guys that are taking pictures, on top of a roof, of the World Trade Center. They're speaking in a foreign language. They got two passports on 'em. One's got a wad of cash on him, and they got box cutters. Now that's a scary situation."

But Gordon insisted that his clients were just five young men who had come to America for a vacation, ended up working for a moving company, and were taking pictures of the event.

The five Israelis were held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, ostensibly for overstaying their tourist visas and working in the United States illegally. Two weeks after their arrest, an immigration judge ordered them to be deported. But sources told ABCNEWS that FBI and CIA officials in Washington put a hold on the case.

The five men were held in detention for more than two months. Some of them were placed in solitary confinement for 40 days, and some of them were given as many as seven lie-detector tests.

Plenty of Speculation

Since their arrest, plenty of speculation has swirled about the case, and what the five men were doing that morning. Eventually, The Forward, a respected Jewish newspaper in New York, reported the FBI concluded that two of the men were Israeli intelligence operatives.

Vince Cannistraro, a former chief of operations for counterterrorism with the CIA who is now a consultant for ABCNEWS, said federal authorities' interest in the case was heightened when some of the men's names were found in a search of a national intelligence database.

Israeli Intelligence Connection?

According to Cannistraro, many people in the U.S. intelligence community believed that some of the men arrested were working for Israeli intelligence. Cannistraro said there was speculation as to whether Urban Moving 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."

Under this scenario, the alleged spying operation was not aimed against the United States, but at penetrating or monitoring radical fund-raising and support networks in Muslim communities like Paterson, N.J., which was one of the places where several of the hijackers lived in the months prior to Sept. 11.

For the FBI, deciphering the truth from the five Israelis proved to be difficult. One of them, Paul Kurzberg, refused to take a lie-detector test for 10 weeks — then failed it, according to his lawyer. Another of his lawyers told us Kurzberg had been reluctant to take the test because he had once worked for Israeli intelligence in another country.

Sources say the Israelis were targeting these fund-raising networks because they were thought to be channeling money to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, groups that are responsible for most of the suicide bombings in Israel. "[The] Israeli government has been very concerned about the activity of radical Islamic groups in the United States that could be a support apparatus to Hamas and Islamic Jihad," Cannistraro said.

The men denied that they had been working for Israeli intelligence out of the New Jersey moving company, and Ram Horvitz, their Israeli attorney, dismissed the allegations as "stupid and ridiculous."

Mark Regev, the spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, goes even further, asserting the issue was never even discussed with U.S. officials.

"These five men were not involved in any intelligence operation in the United States, and the American intelligence authorities have never raised this issue with us," Regev said. "The story is simply false."

No 'Pre-Knowledge'

Despite the denials, sources tell ABCNEWS there is still debate within the FBI over whether or not the young men were spies. Many U.S. government officials still believe that some of them were on a mission for Israeli intelligence. But the FBI told ABCNEWS, "To date, this investigation has not identified anybody who in this country had pre-knowledge of the events of 9/11."

Sources also said that even if the men were spies, there is no evidence to conclude they had advance knowledge of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. The investigation, at the end of the day, after all the polygraphs, all of the field work, all the cross-checking, the intelligence work, concluded that they probably did not have advance knowledge of 9/11," Cannistraro noted.

As to what they were doing on the van, they say they read about the attack on the Internet, couldn't see it from their offices and went to the parking lot for a better view. But no one has been able to find a good explanation for why they may have been smiling with the towers of the World Trade Center burning in the background. Both the lawyers for the young men and the Israeli Embassy chalk it up to immature conduct.

According to ABCNEWS sources, Israeli and U.S. government officials worked out a deal — and after 71 days, the five Israelis were taken out of jail, put on a plane, and deported back home.

While the former detainees refused to answer ABCNEWS' questions about their detention and what they were doing on Sept. 11, several of the detainees discussed their experience in America on an Israeli talk show after their return home.

Said one of the men, denying that they were laughing or happy on the morning of Sept. 11, "The fact of the matter is we are coming from a country that experiences terror daily. Our purpose was to document the event."

ABCNEWS' Chris Isham, John Miller, Glenn Silber and Chris Vlasto contributed to this report.

September 14, 2001, FOX News, One Arrested, Others Detained at NY Airports, Friday,

At least one man claiming to be a pilot has been arrested and up to nine others detained in at least two of New York's three area airports, as officials probed the possibility some of those held were carrying knives, tickets booked for flights Tuesday morning and might be hijackers.

The arrest and detainments caused the immediate closure of all three of the city's airports, which had opened just hours earlier. Peter Yerkes, a spokesman for the Port Authority, which runs the airports, said planes in the air were being allowed to land, but no planes were allowed to take off. The hold went into effect shortly before 5 p.m.

A source knowledgable of the workings of the airline industry said the man arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport checked in sometime between noon and 4 p.m. The man was trying to board American Airlines flight 299 bound for San Jose.

The man had been scheduled for an earlier flight on Tuesday bound for Los Angeles, but that flight was canceled after the terrorist attack began on the World Trade Center, the source said. A subsequent strip search found the man had a pilot's certificate from a Florida school, the source said.

The FBI was already investigating whether an altercation at Kennedy Airport on Tuesday was linked to the World Trade Center explosion, a law enforcement source told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The Tuesday incident occurred about 9 a.m. -- the same time two hijacked jet airliners crashed into the World Trade Center towers, toppling the two 110-story buildings. The source said the FBI is investigating whether the incident may have been an aborted hijacking attempt.

After the plane was boarded, United Airlines officials told passengers that United Airlines Flight 23, bound for Los Angeles, had been cancelled. Three males traveling refused to disembark. The argument with a member of the flight crew became so heated that the crew member called airport security. But before security arrived, the men had vanished, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

On Thursday, according to the airline industry source, a man presented a ticket for Tuesday's Los Angeles flight at the counter -- but told airline employees that he had changed his mind and now wanted to travel to San Jose.

People at the ticket counter were suspicious, but they changed the ticket and alerted a supervisor who, in turn, notified Port Authority police. Authorities tracked the man to the gate, where he passed through security checks, including metal detectors. He was then stopped at the gate by security.

A short time later, three more men arrived at Kennedy and boarded American Airlines flight 133 to Los Angeles. Minutes later, law enforcement officers secretly boarded the plane using a catering cart, according to the industry source. The officers, with weapons drawn, then removed the three from the plane.

The industry source was unable to account for the other two people detained.

ABC News reported Thursday night that 10 people in all were detained trying to board flights at JFK and LaGuardia. They included nine men and one woman carrying knives, false identification cards, and flying licenses/certificate from Flight Safety International in Vero Beach, Fla. Four men and a woman were detained sometime before 5 p.m. at JFK, ABC said. Another five were detained between 7:30 and 8:15 p.m. at LaGuardia.

Early Friday, U.S. and Philippine authorities raided a hotel in the Philippines in connection with the attacks, Philippines President Gloria Arroyo said.

Arroyo, speaking at a Tokyo news conference, said the "joint action" was taken at the Bayview Hotel, which is near the U.S. Embassy in Manila.

The investigation was fueled by the discovery of the black box from United Airlines Flight 93 in Pennsylvania and the reception of a signal from the black box of the plane that crashed at the Pentagon.

Search crews will not be able to retrieve the black box at the Pentagon, which could contain information about the last minutes of American Airlines Flight 77, until they are able to enter the collapsed area of the Pentagon, where the plane's fuselage rests.

They were to begin moving into the collapsed area sometime Thursday night, said Arlington County Fire Capt. Scott McKay.

The Justice Department said Thursday that at least 18 hijackers were on the four planes that crashed; two planes with five and two with four. There are reports Thursday that up to 50 suspects have been identified, with 40 accounted for, many of them dead, and 10 missing.

Meanwhile, one person was arrested Thursday in connection with the attacks in Hamburg, Germany, Fox News has confirmed.

"Most of it today points to Usama bin Laden but the speculation at the end of the road is that he and his network were very much involved with Hezbollah, Fatah" and other terrorist organizations, Sen. Charles Grassley said.

FBI Searches Florida

On Wednesday, a Venice, Fla., man said FBI agents told him that two men who stayed in his home in July 2000 while training at a local flight school were two of the hijackers. Charlie Voss said agents identified the men as Amanullah Atta Mohammed and Marwan Alshehhi.

FBI agents "informed me that there were two individuals that were students at Huffman Aviation, my employer, and FBI told me they were involved in yesterday's tragedy," Voss said.

A former employee at a Florida flight school where some of the terrorists may have trained said Atta and Marwan had arrived from Germany in July 2000, reports say.

Federal agents had warrants to search the Florida homes of at least four men listed on the manifest of American Airlines Flight 11, The Miami Herald reported Thursday.

Some of the FBI agents sought information on a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, The News-Journal of Daytona Beach reported.

Citing two unidentified law enforcement sources, the newspaper reported that Waleed Al Shehri, 25, was listed as a passenger on the American Airlines flight that left Boston and crashed into the World Trade Center.

FBI agents removed student files from the Florida Flight Training Center, which is down the street from Huffman Aviation and offers the same type of pilot training. School owner Arne Kruithof would not give specific information about what the agents were seeking but said one of the files was related to a student from Tunisia.

Agents in Vero Beach asked Hank Habora about a neighbor, Amer Kamfar, 41. Kamfar was licensed as a flight engineer to fly turbojets and listed a Saudi Airlines post office box as his address in FAA records.

Federal agents were also interviewing Adnan Bukhari, who worked for Saudi Airlines and was in Vero Beach for more flight training.

Landlord Lonny Mixel said Thursday the tenant in the house adjacent to Bukhari's was Abdulrahman Alomari, who he said arrived in July 2000 and told him he was a commercial pilot from Saudi Arabia and was in Vero Beach to attend Flight Safety Academy.

Alomari said he would be out of the house by the end of August 2001. Then he pushed the date back until Sept. 3 and moved out that day.

Alomari told Mixel that he knew Bukhari.

Bukhari and his wife began renting a home from Paul Stimelind in June 2000, Stimelind said.

The couple's lease was up Aug. 31, but Bukhari asked for a two-week extension, through Sept. 15.

Stimelind said Bukhari told him he would be leaving by Sept. 17.

"He never gave a reason," Stimelind said. "He said he had a couple of things to clear up."

Attorney General John Ashcroft said authorities believe the hijackers were professionally-trained pilots. At least one hijacker on each of the four planes was trained at a U.S. flight school, authorities say.

The London-based Ash-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Thursday that the Taliban forced an Afghan pilot and a retired Pakistani general to train 14 young Arab, Afghan and Pakistani radicals how to fly in Afghanistan.

The group was said to have left Afghanistan a year ago and to carry European passports.

Eyes on bin Laden

Officials were said to be focusing their efforts almost exclusively on bin Laden, who had recently warned of massive attacks against the United States.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday that bin Laden was a "prime candidate" in the attacks. He denied, however, that bin Laden was a suspect.

Early evidence, including communications between bin Laden supporters discussing Tuesday's attacks, indicated the attacks were tied to the suspected terror mastermind.

Bin Laden congratulated the people who carried out the attacks but denied that he was involved, a Palestinian journalist said.

Authorities were also investigating a possible network of bin Laden supporters in Boston.

At least one set of hijackers thought to have ties to bin Laden is believed to have crossed from Canada en route to Boston, from where two of the deadly flights launched.

Officials confirmed a car containing an Arabic language flight manual was confiscated at Boston's Logan Airport.

Abu Dhabi Television in the United Arab Emirates reported that two men with Saudi Arabian passports and international drivers licenses issued in the UAE were linked to the Mitsubishi sedan.

Officials said authorities were gathering evidence about four terrorist cells that may have had prior involvement in earlier plots against the United States. Those include the USS Cole bombing in Yemen and the foiled attack on U.S. soil during the millennium celebrations.

Bin Laden is linked to both of these plots, as well as the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa.

Other Leads

Fox News has confirmed that 2 weeks ago, American Airlines issued a memo to their employees to be on alert for imposter pilots after burglars broke into flight crews' rooms in Rome, stealing uniforms and ID badges.

The New York Times reported Thursday that a group of five men had set up video cameras aimed at the Twin Towers prior to the attack on Tuesday, and were seen congratulating one another afterwards.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

September 17, 2001, Ha'aretz, Five Israelis detained for "puzzling behavior" after WTC tragedy, by Yossi Melman,

FIVE Israelis who had worked for a moving company based in New Jersey are being held in U.S. prisons for what the Federal Bureau of Investigation has described as "puzzling behavior" following the terror attack on the World Trade Center in New York last Tuesday. The five are expected to be deported sometime soon.

The families of the five, who asked that their names not be released, said that their sons had been questioned by the FBI for hours on end, had been kept in solitary confinement for three days, and had been humiliated, stripped of their clothes and blindfolded.

The mother of one of the young men explained the chain of events as she understands it to Ha'aretz:

She said that the five had worked for the company, which is owned by an Israeli, for between two months and two years. They had been arrested some four hours after the attack on the Twin Towers while filming the smoking skyline from the roof of their company's building, she said. It appears that they were spotted by one of the neighbors who called the police and the FBI.

The mother said that the families and friends of the five in Israel had known nothing of the men's whereabouts for a number of days.

"When they finally let my son make a phone call for the first time to a friend in the United States two days ago, he told him that he had been tortured by the FBI in a basement," the mother said. "He was stripped to his underwear; he was blindfolded and questioned for 14 hours. They thought that because he has citizenship of a European country as well as of Israel that he was working for the Mossad [Israel's secret service]."

Seven FBI agents later stormed the apartment of one of the Israelis, searched it and questioned his roommate. The Israeli owner of the company, who has U.S. citizenship, was also questioned. Both men were subsequently released.

The families here complained that the Israeli consulate in New York and the situation room set up by the Foreign Ministry there to locate missing Israelis had done nothing to help their sons. The Foreign Ministry told the families that the FBI had denied holding the five and that the consulate had chosen to believe the FBI, the mother said.

The five were transferred out of the FBI's facility on Saturday morning and are now being held in two prisons in New Jersey by the Immigration and Naturalization Services. They are charged with illegally residing in the United States and working there without permits.

The Foreign Ministry said in response that it had been informed by the consulate in New York that the FBI had arrested the five for "puzzling behavior." They are said to have had been caught videotaping the disaster and shouting in what was interpreted as cries of joy and mockery.

September 12, 2001, The NJ Record, Bergen (New Jersey), Five men detained as suspected conspirators,
by Paulo Lima, Staff Writer,

ABOUT eight hours after terrorists struck Manhattan's tallest skyscrapers, police in Bergen County detained five men who they said were found carrying maps linking them to the blasts.The five men, who were in a van stopped on Route 3 in East Rutherford around 4:30 p.m., were being questioned by police but had not been charged with any crime late Tuesday. The Bergen County Police bomb squad X-rayed packages found inside the van but did not find any explosives, authorities said.
However, sources close to the investigation said they found other evidence linking the men to the bombing plot.

Sources also said that bomb-sniffing dogs reacted as if they had detected explosives, although officers were unable to find anything. The FBI seized the van for further testing, authorities said.

Sources said the van was stopped as it headed east on Route 3, between the Hackensack River bridge and the Sheraton hotel. As a precaution, police shut down Route 3 traffic in both directions after the stop and evacuated a small roadside motel near the Sheraton.

Sources close to the investigation said the men said they were Israeli tourists, but police had not been able to confirm their identities. Authorities would not release their names.

East Rutherford officers stopped the van after the FBI's Newark Field Office broadcast an alert asking surrounding police departments to look for a white Chevrolet van, police said.

"We got an alert to be on the lookout for a white Chevrolet van with New Jersey registration and writing on the side," said Bergen County Police Chief John Schmidig. "Three individuals were seen celebrating in Liberty State Park after the impact. They said three people were jumping up and down."

The East Rutherford officers summoned the county police bomb squad, New Jersey state troopers, and FBI agents, who waited alongside the van as prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office tried to obtain a warrant to search the van late Tuesday, Schmidig said.

By 10 p.m., members of the bomb squad were picking through the van and X-raying packages found inside, Schmidig said.

Sources said the FBI alert, known as a BOLO or "Be On Lookout," was sent out at 3:31 p.m.
It read:

"Three individuals with van were seen celebrating after initial impact and subsequent explosion. FBI Newark Field Office requests that, if the van is located, hold for prints and detain individuals."

FBI spokeswoman Sandra Carroll declined to comment on the incident late Tuesday.

State police Lt. Col. Barry W. Roberson confirmed the traffic stop at a late night news briefing at state police headquarters in Trenton. He would not elaborate, however.

Business records show an Urban Moving Systems with offices on West 50th Street in Manhattan and on West 18th Street in Weehawken. Telephone messages left at the businesses Tuesday evening were not immediately returned.

Business records show the owner as Dominik Suter of Fair Lawn. A woman answering the telephone at Suter's home acknowledged he owned the company but refused to comment further. She also declined to identify herself.

It was not clear Tuesday whether the van stopped by police is related to Suter's company.

A business traveler staying at the Homestead Studio Suites Hotel said she watched state troopers drive the suspects away in a procession of state police cars about 5 p.m.

The woman, who asked not to be identified, said the people detained appeared to be white men, but she could not give more details. About 5:30 p.m., police evacuated the hotel without offering guests an explanation.

"First, they told us we could hang out in the lobby, but then they told us we had to leave," the traveler said.

At 10 p.m., the hotel guest said she could see at least two police officers searching through the van while a crowd of other officers kept their distance. Except for police vehicles and a tow truck, the service road beside Route 3 was empty, she said.
Staff Writer Wendy Ruderman contributed to this report.

"There are maps of the city in the car with certain places highlighted," the source said. "It looked like they're hooked in with this. It looked like they knew what was going to happen when they were at Liberty State Park."

"Vehicle possibly related to New York terrorist attack. White, 2000 Chevrolet van with New Jersey registration with 'Urban Moving Systems' sign on back seen at Liberty State Park, Jersey City, NJ, at the time of first impact of jetliner into World Trade Center.

March 7, 2007, Counterpunch, High-Fivers and Art Student Spies: What Did Israel Know in Advance of the 9/11 Attacks?, by Christopher Ketchum,

On the afternoon of September 11, 2001, an FBI bulletin known as a BOLO - "be on lookout" -- was issued with regard to three suspicious men who that morning were seen leaving the New Jersey waterfront minutes after the first plane hit World Trade Center 1. Law enforcement officers across the New York-New Jersey area were warned in the radio dispatch to watch for a "vehicle possibly related to New York terrorist attack":

White, 2000 Chevrolet van with 'Urban Moving Systems' sign on back seen at Liberty State Park, Jersey City, NJ, at the time of first impact of jetliner into World Trade Center Three individuals with van were seen celebrating after initial impact and subsequent explosion. FBI Newark Field Office requests that, if the van is located, hold for prints and detain individuals.

At 3:56 p.m., twenty-five minutes after the issuance of the FBI BOLO, officers with the East Rutherford Police Department stopped the commercial moving van through a trace on the plates. According to the police report, Officer Scott DeCarlo and Sgt. Dennis Rivelli approached the stopped van, demanding that the driver exit the vehicle. The driver, 23-year-old Sivan Kurzberg, refused and "was asked several more times [but] appeared to be fumbling with a black leather fanny pouch type of bag". With guns drawn, the police then "physically removed" Kurzberg, while four other men - two more men had apparently joined the group since the morning - were also removed from the van, handcuffed, placed on the grass median and read their Miranda rights.

They had not been told the reasons for their arrest. Yet, according to DeCarlo's report, "this officer was told without question by the driver [Sivan Kurzberg],'We are Israeli. We are not your problem. Your problems are our problems. The Palestinians are the problem.'" Another of the five Israelis, again without prompting, told Officer DeCarlo - falsely - that "we were on the West Side Highway in New York City during the incident". From inside the vehicle the officers, who were quickly joined by agents from the FBI, retrieved multiple passports and $4,700 in cash stuffed in a sock. According to New Jersey's Bergen Record, which on September 12 reported the arrest of the five Israelis, an investigator high up in the Bergen County law enforcement hierarchy stated that officers had also discovered in the vehicle "maps of the city with certain places highlighted. It looked like they're hooked in with this", the source told the Record, referring to the 9/11 attacks. "It looked like they knew what was going to happen when they were at Liberty State Park."

The five men were indeed Israeli citizens. They claimed to be in the country working as movers for Urban Moving Systems Inc., which maintained a warehouse and office in Weehawken, New Jersey. They were held for 71 days in a federal detention center in Brooklyn, New York, during which time they were repeatedly interrogated by FBI and CIA counterterrorism teams, who referred to the men as the "high-fivers" for their celebratory behavior on the New Jersey waterfront. Some were placed in solitary confinement for at least forty days; some were given as many as seven lie detector tests. One of the Israelis, Paul Kurzberg, brother of Sivan, refused to take a lie-detector test for ten weeks. Then he failed it.

Meanwhile, two days after the men were picked up, the owner of Urban Moving Systems, Dominik Suter, a 31- year-old Israeli national, abandoned his business and fled the United States for Israel. Suter's departure was abrupt, leaving behind coffee cups, sandwiches, cell phones and computers strewn on office tables and thousands of dollars of goods in storage. Suter was later placed on the same FBI suspect list as 9/11 lead hijacker Mohammed Atta and other hijackers and suspected al Qaeda sympathizers, suggesting that U.S. authorities felt Suter may have known something about the attacks. The suspicion, as the investigation unfolded, was that the men working for Urban Moving Systems were spies. Who exactly was handling them, and who or what they were targeting, was as yet uncertain.

It was New York's venerable Jewish weekly The Forward that broke this story in the spring of 2002, after months of footwork. The Forward reported that the FBI had finally concluded that at least two of the men were agents working for the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, and that Urban Moving Systems, the ostensible employer of the five Israelis, was a front operation. Two former CIA officers confirmed this to me, noting that movers' vans are a common intelligence cover. The Forward also noted that the Israeli government itself admitted that the men were spies. A "former high-ranking American intelligence official", who said he was "regularly briefed on the investigation by two separate law enforcement officials", told reporter Marc Perelman that after American authorities confronted Jerusalem at the end of 2001, the Israeli government "acknowledged the operation and apologized for not coordinating it with Washington". Today, Perelman stands by his reporting. I asked him if his sources in the Mossad denied the story. "Nobody stopped talking to me", he said.

In June 2002, ABC News' 20/20 followed up with its own investigation into the matter, coming to the same conclusion as The Forward. Vincent Cannistraro, former chief of operations for counterterrorism with the CIA, told 20/20 that some of the names of the five men appeared as hits in searches of an FBI national intelligence database. Cannistraro told me that the question that most troubled FBI agents in the weeks and months after 9/11 was whether the Israelis had arrived at the site of their "celebration" with foreknowledge of the attack to come. From the beginning, "the FBI investigation operated on the premise that the Israelis had foreknowledge", according to Cannistraro. A second former CIA counterterrorism officer who closely followed the case, but who spoke on condition of anonymity, told me that investigators were pursuing two theories. "One story was that [the Israelis] appeared at Liberty State Park very quickly after the first plane hit. The other was that they were at the park location already". Either way, investigators wanted to know exactly what the men were expecting when they got there.

Before such issues had been fully explored, however, the investigation was shut down. Following what ABC News reported were "high-level negotiations between Israeli and U.S. government officials", a settlement was reached in the case of the five Urban Moving Systems suspects. Intense political pressure apparently had been brought to bear. The reputable Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported that by the last week of October 2001, some six weeks after the men had been detained, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and two unidentified "prominent New York congressmen" were lobbying heavily for their release. According to a source at ABC News close to the 20/20 report, high-profile criminal lawyer Alan Dershowitz also stepped in as a negotiator on behalf of the men to smooth out differences with the U.S. government. (Dershowitz declined to comment for this article.) And so, at the end of November 2001, for reasons that only noted they had been working in the country illegally as movers, in violation of their visas, the men were flown home to Israel.

Today, the crucial questions raised by this matter remain unanswered. There is sufficient reason - from news reports, statements by former intelligence officials, an array of circumstantial evidence, and the reported acknowledgment by the Israeli government - to believe that in the months before 9/11, Israel was running an active spy network inside the United States, with Muslim extremists as the target. Given Israel's concerns about Islamic terrorism as well as its long history of spying on U.S. soil, this does not come entirely as a shock. What's incendiary is the idea - supported, though not proven, by several pieces of evidence - that the Israelis did learn something about 9/11 in advance but failed to share all of what they knew with American officials. The questions are disturbing enough to warrant a Congressional investigation.

Yet none of this information found its way into Congress's joint committee report on the attacks, and it was not even tangentially referenced in the nearly 600 pages of the 9/11 Commission's final report. Nor would a single major media outlet track the revelations of The Forward and ABC News to investigate further. "There weren't even stories saying it was bull***", says The Forward's Perelman.

"Honestly, I was surprised". Instead, the story disappeared into the welter of anti-Israel 9/11 conspiracy theories.

It's no small boon to the U.S. government that the story of 9/11- related Israeli espionage has been thus relegated: the story doesn't fit in the clean lines of the official narrative of the attacks. It brings up concerns not only about Israel's obligation not to spy inside the borders of the United States, its major benefactor, but about its possible failure to have provided the U.S. adequate warning of an impending devastating attack on American soil. Furthermore, the available evidence undermines the carefully cultivated image of sanctity that defines the U.S.- Israel relationship. These are all factors that help explain the story's disappearance, and they are compelling reasons to revisit it now.

Torpedoing the FBI Probe

All five future hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which rammed the Pentagon, maintained addresses or were active within a six-mile radius of towns associated with the Israelis employed at Urban Moving Systems. Hudson and Bergen counties, the areas where the Israelis were allegedly conducting surveillance, were a central staging ground for the hijackers of Flight 77 and their fellow al-Qaeda operatives. Mohammed Atta maintained a mail-drop address and visited friends in northern New Jersey; his contacts there included Hani Hanjour, the suicide pilot for Flight 77, and Majed Moqed, one of the strongmen who backed Hanjour in the seizing of the plane. Could the Israelis, with or without knowledge of the terrorists' plans, have been tracking the men who were soon to hijack Flight 77?

In public statements, both the Israeli government and the FBI have denied that the Urban Moving Systems men were involved in an intelligence operation in the United States. "No evidence recovered suggested any of these Israelis had prior knowledge of the 9/11 attack, and these Israelis are not suspected of working for Mossad", FBI spokesman Jim Margolin told me. (The Israeli embassy did not respond to questions for this article.) According to the source at ABC News, FBI investigators chafed at the denials from their higher-ups. "There is a lot of frustration inside the bureau about this case", the source told me. "They feel the higher echelons torpedoed the investigation into the Israeli New Jersey cell. Leads were not fully investigated". Among those lost leads was the figure of Dominik Suter, whom the U.S. authorities apparently never attempted to contact. Intelligence expert and author James Bamford told me there was similar frustration within the CIA: "People I've talked to at the CIA were outraged at what was going on. They thought it was outrageous that there hadn't been a real investigation, that the facts were hanging out there without any conclusion."

However, what was "absolutely certain", according to Vincent Cannistraro, was that the five Israelis formed part of a surveillance network in the New York- New Jersey area. The network's purpose was to track radical Islamic extremists and/or supporters of militant Palestinian groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The former CIA counterterrorism officer who spoke anonymously told me that FBI investigators determined that the suspect Israelis were serving as Arabic-speaking linguists "running technical operations" in northern New Jersey's extensive Muslim communities. The former CIA officer said the operations included taps on telephones, placement of microphones in rooms and mobile surveillance. The source at ABC News agreed: "Our conclusion was that they were Arab linguists involved in monitoring operations, i.e., electronic surveillance. People at FBI concur with this". The ABC News source added, "What we heard was that the Israelis may have picked up chatter that something was going to happen on the morning of 9/11".

The former CIA counterterrorism officer told me: "There was no question but that [the order to close down the investigation] came from the White House. It was immediately assumed at CIA headquarters that this basically was going to be a cover-up so that the Israelis would not be implicated in any way in 9/11. Bear in mind that this was a political issue, not a law enforcement or intelligence issue. If somebody says we don't want the Israelis implicated in this - we know that they've been spying the hell out of us, we know that they possibly had information in advance of the attacks, but this would be a political nightmare to deal with."

The Israeli "Art Student" Spies

There is a second piece of evidence that suggests Israeli operatives were spying on al-Qaeda in the United States. It is writ in the peculiar tale of the Israeli "art students", detailed by this reporter for Salon.com in 2002, following the leaking of an internal memo circulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration's Office of Security Programs. The June 2001 memo, issued three months before the 9/11 attacks, reported that more than 120 young Israeli citizens, posing as art students and peddling cheap paintings, had been repeatedly - and seemingly inexplicably - attempting to penetrate DEA offices and other law enforcement and Defense Department offices across the country. The DEA report stated that the Israelis may have been engaged in "an organized intelligence gathering activity", but to what end, U.S. investigators, in June 2001, could not determine. The memo briefly floated the possibility that the Israelis were engaged in trafficking the drug ecstasy. According to the memo, "the most activity [was] reported in the state of Florida" during the first half of 2001, where the town of Hollywood appeared to be "a central point for these individuals with several having addresses in this area".

In retrospect, the fact that a large number of "art students" operated out of Hollywood is intriguing, to say the least. During 2001, the city, just north of Miami, was a hotbed of al-Qaeda activity and served as one of the chief staging grounds for the hijacking of the World Trade Center planes and the Pennsylvania plane; it was home to fifteen of the nineteen future hijackers, nine in Hollywood and six in the surrounding area. Among the 120 suspected Israeli spies posing as art students, more than thirty lived in the Hollywood area, ten in Hollywood proper. As noted in the DEA report, many of these young men and women had training as intelligence and electronic intercept officers in the Israeli military--training and experience far beyond the compulsory service mandated by Israeli law. Their "traveling in the U.S. selling art seem[ed] not to fit their background", according to the DEA report.

One "art student" was a former Israeli military intelligence officer named Hanan Serfaty, who rented two Hollywood apartments close to the mail drop and apartment of Mohammed Atta and four other hijackers. Serfaty was moving large amounts of cash: he carried bank slips showing more than $100,000 deposited from December 2000 through the first quarter of 2001; other bank slips showed withdrawals for about $80,000 during the same period. Serfaty's apartments, serving as crash pads for at least two other "art students", were located at 4220 Sheridan Street and 701 South 21st Avenue. Lead hijacker Mohammed Atta's mail drop was at 3389 Sheridan Street--approximately 2,700 feet from Serfaty's Sheridan Street apartment. Both Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, the suicide pilot on United Airlines Flight 175, which smashed into World Trade Center 2, lived in a rented apartment at 1818 Jackson Street, some 1,800 feet from Serfaty's South 21st Avenue apartment.

In fact, an improbable series of coincidences emerges from a close reading of the 2001 DEA memo, the 9/11 Commission's staff statements and final report, FBI and Justice Department watch lists, hijacker timelines compiled by major media and statements by local, state and federal law enforcement personnel. In at least six urban centers, suspected Israeli spies and 9/11 hijackers and/or al-Qaeda connected suspects lived and operated near one another, in some cases less than half a mile apart, for various periods during 2001 in the run-up to the attacks. In addition to northern New Jersey and Hollywood, Florida, these centers included Arlington and Fredericksburg, Virginia; Atlanta; Oklahoma City; Los Angeles; and San Diego.

Israeli "art students" also lived close to terror suspects in and around Dallas, Texas. A 25-year-old "art student" named Michael Calmanovic, arrested and questioned by Texas-based DEA officers in April 2001, maintained a mail drop at 3575 North Beltline Road, less than a thousand feet from the 4045 North Beltline Road apartment of Ahmed Khalefa, an FBI terror suspect. Dallas and its environs, especially the town of Richardson, Texas, throbbed with "art student" activity. Richardson is notable as the home of the Holy Land Foundation, an Islamic charity designated as a terrorist funder by the European Union and U.S. government in December 2001. Sources in 2002 told The Forward, in a report unrelated to the question of the "art students", that "Israeli intelligence played a key role in helping the Bush administration to crack down on Islamic charities suspected of funneling money to terrorist groups, most notably the Richardson, Texas-based Holy Land Foundation, last December [2001]". It's plausible that the intelligence prompting the shutdown of the Holy Land Foundation came from "art student" spies in the Richardson area.

Others among the "art students" had specific backgrounds in electronic surveillance or military intelligence, or were associated with Israeli wiretapping and surveillance firms, which prompted further concerns among U.S. investigators. DEA agents described Michael Calmanovic, for example, as "a recently discharged electronic intercept operator for the Israeli military". Lior Baram, questioned near Hollywood, Fla., in January 2001, said he had served two years in Israeli intelligence "working with classified information". Hanan Serfaty, who maintained the Hollywood apartments near Atta and his cohorts, served in the Israeli military between the ages of 18 and 21. Serfaty refused to disclose his activities between the ages of 21 and 24, including his activities since arriving in the U.S.A. in 2000. The French daily Le Monde meanwhile reported that six "art students" were apparently using cell phones that had been purchased by a former Israeli vice consul in the U.S.A.

Suspected Israeli spy Tomer Ben Dor, questioned at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport in May 2001, worked for the Israeli wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping company NICE Systems Ltd. (NICE Systems' American subsidiary, NICE Systems Inc., is located in Rutherford, New Jersey, not far from the East Rutherford site where the five Israeli "movers" were arrested on the afternoon of September 11.) Ben Dor carried in his luggage a print-out of a computer file that referred to "DEA Groups". How he acquired information about so-called "DEA Groups" - via, for example, his own employment with an Israeli wiretapping company - was never determined, according to DEA documents.

"Art student" Michal Gal, arrested by DEA investigators in Irving, Texas, in the spring of 2001, was released on a $10,000 cash bond posted by Ophir Baer, an employee of the Israeli telecommunications software company Amdocs Inc., which provides phone-billing technology to clients that include some of the largest phone companies in the United States as well as U.S. government agencies. Amdocs, whose executive board has been heavily stocked with retired and current members of the Israeli government and military, has been investigated at least twice in the last decade by U.S. authorities on charges of espionage-related leaks of data that the company assured was secure. (The company strenuously denies any wrong-doing.)

According to the former CIA counterterrorism officer with knowledge of investigations into 9/11-related Israeli espionage, when law enforcement officials examined the "art students" phenomenon, they came to the tentative conclusion that "the Israelis likely had a huge spy operation in the U.S. and that they had succeeded in identifying a number of the hijackers". The German daily Die Zeit reached the same conclusion in 2002, reporting that "Mossad agents in the U.S. were in all probability surveilling at least four of the 19 hijackers". The Fox News Channel also reported that U.S. investigators suspected that Israelis were spying on Muslim militants in the United States. "There is no indication that the Israelis were involved in the 9/11 attacks, but investigators suspect that the Israelis may have gathered intelligence about the attacks in advance, and not shared it", Fox correspondent Carl Cameron reported in a December 2001 series that was the first major exposé of allegations of 9/11-related Israeli espionage. "A highly placed investigator said there are 'tie-ins'. But when asked for details, he flatly refused to describe them, saying, 'evidence linking these Israelis to 9/11 is classified. I cannot tell you about evidence that has been gathered. It's classified information.'"

One element of the allegations has never been clearly understood: if the "art students" were indeed spies targeting Muslim extremists that included al-Qaeda, why would they also be surveilling DEA agents in such a compromising manner? Why, in other words, would foreign spies bumble into federal offices by the scores and risk exposing their operation? An explanation is that a number of the art students were, in fact, young Israelis engaged in a mere art scam and unknowingly provided cover for real spies. Investigative journalist John Sugg, who as senior editor for the Creative Loafing newspaper chain reported on the "art students" in 2002, told me that investigators he spoke to within FBI felt the "art student" ring functioned as a wide-ranging cover that was counterintuitive in its obviousness. DEA investigators, for example, uncovered evidence connecting the Israeli "art students" to known ecstasy trafficking operations in New York and Florida. This was, according to Sugg, planted information. "The explanation was that when our FBI guys started getting interested in these folks [the art students] - when they got too close to what the real purpose was - the Israelis threw in an ecstasy angle", Sugg told me. "The argument being that if our guys thought the Israelis were involved in a smuggling ring, then they wouldn't see the real purpose of the operation". Sugg, who is writing a book that explores the tale of the "art students", told me that several sources within the FBI, and at least one source formerly with Israeli intelligence, suggested that "the bumbling aspect of the art student thing was intentional."

When I reported on the matter for Salon.com in 2002, a veteran U.S. intelligence operative with experience subcontracting both for the CIA and the NSA suggested a similar possibility. "It was a noisy operation", the veteran intelligence operative said. The operative referred me to the film Victor, Victoria. "It was about a woman playing a man playing a woman. Perhaps you should think about this from that aspect and ask yourself if you wanted to have something that was in your face, that didn't make sense, that couldn't possibly be them". The intelligence operative added, "Think of it this way: how could the experts think this could actually be something of any value? Wouldn't they dismiss what they were seeing?" U.S. and Israeli officials, dismissing charges of espionage as an "urban myth", have publicly claimed that the Israeli "art students" were guilty only of working on U.S. soil without proper credentials. The stern denials issued by the Justice Department were widely publicized in the Washington Post and elsewhere, and the endnote from officialdom and in establishment media by the spring of 2002 was that the "art students" had been rounded up and deported simply because of harmless visa violations. The FBI, for its part, refused to confirm or deny the "art students" espionage story. "Regarding FBI investigations into Israeli art students", spokesman Jim Margolin told me, "the FBI cannot comment on any of those investigations." As with the New Jersey Israelis, the investigation into the Israeli "art students" appears to have been halted by orders from on high. The veteran CIA/NSA intelligence operative told me in 2002 that there was "a great press to discredit the story, discredit the connections, prevent [investigators] from going any further. People were told to stand down. You name the agency, they were told to stand down". The operative added, "People who were perceived to be gumshoes on [this matter] suddenly found themselves hammered from all different directions. The interest from the middle bureaucracy was not that there had been a security breach but that someone had bothered to investigate the breach. That was where the terror was".

Choking off the press coverage

There was similar pressure brought against the media venues that ventured to report out the allegations of 9/11- related Israeli espionage. A former ABC News employee high up in the network newsroom told me that when ABC News ran its June 2002 exposé on the celebratory New Jersey Israelis, "Enormous pressure was brought to bear by pro- Israeli organizations"--and this pressure began months before the piece was even close to airing. The source said that ABC News colleagues wondered, "how they [the pro-Israel organizations] found out we were doing the story. Pro-Israeli people were calling the president of ABC News. Barbara Walters was getting bombarded by calls.
The story was a hard sell but ABC News came through the management insulated [reporters] from the pressure".

The experience of Carl Cameron, chief Washington correspondent at Fox News Channel and the first mainstream U.S. reporter to present the allegations of Israeli surveillance of the 9/11 hijackers, was perhaps more typical, both in its particulars and aftermath. The attack against Cameron and Fox News was spearheaded by a pro-Israel lobby group called the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), which operated in tandem with the two most highly visible powerhouse Israel lobbyists, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (itself currently embroiled in a spy scandal connected to the Defense Department and Israeli Embassy). "CAMERA pep- pered the *** out of us", Carl Cameron told me in 2002, referring to an e-mail bombardment that eventually crashed the Fox News.com servers. Cameron himself received 700 pages of almost identical e-mail messages from hundreds of citizens (though he suspected these were spam identities). CAMERA spokesman Alex Safian later told me that Cameron's upbringing in Iran, where his father traveled as an archeologist, had rendered the reporter "very sympathetic to the Arab side". Safian added, "I think Cameron, personally, has a thing about Israel"--coded language implying that Cameron was an anti-Semite. Cameron was outraged at the accusation.

According to a source at Fox News Channel, the president of the ADL, Abraham Foxman, telephoned executives at Fox News' parent, News Corp., to demand a sit-down in the wake of the Cameron reportage. The source said that Foxman told the News Corp. executives, "Look, you guys have generally been pretty fair to Israel. What are you doing putting this stuff out there? You're killing us". The Fox News source continued, "As good old boys will do over coffee in Manhattan, it was like, well, what can we do about this? Finally, Fox News said, 'Stop the e- mailing. Stop slamming us. Stop being in our face, and we'll stop being in your face--by way of taking our story down off the web. We will not retract it; we will not disavow it; we stand by it. But we will at least take it off the web.'" Following this meeting, within four days of the posting of Cameron's series on Fox News.com, the transcripts disappeared, replaced by the message, "This story no longer exists".

What did Mossad know and tell the U.S.?

Whether or not Israeli spies had detailed foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks, the Israeli authorities knew enough to warn the U.S. government in the summer of 2001 that an attack was on the horizon.

The British Sunday Telegraph reported on September 16, 2001, that two senior agents with the Mossad were dispatched to Washington in August 2001 "to alert the CIA and FBI to the existence of a cell of as many as 200 terrorists said to be preparing a big operation". The Telegraph quoted a "senior Israeli security official" as saying the Mossad experts had "no specific information about what was being planned". Still, the official told the Telegraph, the Mossad contacts had "linked the plot to Osama bin Laden". Likewise, Die Zeit correspondent Oliver Schröm reported that on August 23, 2001, the Mossad "handed its American counterpart a list of names of terrorists who were staying in the U.S. and were presumably planning to launch an attack in the foreseeable future". Fox News' Carl Cameron, in May 2002, also reported warnings by Israel: "Based on its own intelligence, the Israeli government provided 'general' information to the United States in the second week of August that an al-Qaeda attack was imminent". The U.S. government later claimed these warnings were not specific enough to allow any mitigating action to be taken. Mossad expert Gordon Thomas, author of Gideon's Spies, says German intelligence sources told him that as late as August 2001 Israeli spies in the United States had made surveillance contacts with "known supporters of bin Laden in the U.S.A. It was those surveillance contacts that later raised the question: how much prior knowledge did Mossad have and at what stage?"

According to Die Zeit, the Mossad did provide the U.S. government with the names of suspected terrorists Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, who would eventually hijack the Pentagon plane. It is worth noting that Mihdhar and Hazmi were among the hijackers who operated in close proximity to Israeli "art students" in Hollywood, Florida, and to the Urban Moving Systems Israelis in northern New Jersey. Moreover, Hazmi and at least three "art students" visited Oklahoma City on almost the same dates, from April 1 through April 4, 2001. On August 24, 2001, a day after the Mossad's briefing, Mihdhar and Hazmi were placed by the CIA on a terrorist watch list; additionally, it was only after the Mossad warning, as reported by Die Zeit, that the CIA, on August 27, informed the FBI of the presence of the two terrorists. But by then the cell was already in hiding, preparing for attack.

The CIA, along with the 9/11 Commission in its adoption of the CIA story, claims that Mihdhar and Hazmi were placed on the watch list solely due to the agency's own efforts, with no help from Mossad. Their explanation of how the pair came to be placed on the watch list, however, is far from credible and may have served as a cover story to obscure the Mossad briefing [See Ketcham's sidebar story -- "The Kuala Lumpur Deceit"]. This brings up the possibility that the CIA may have known about the existence of the alleged Israeli agents and their mission, but sought, naturally, to keep it quiet. A second, more troubling scenario, is that the CIA may have subcontracted to Mossad, given that the agency was both prohibited by law from conducting intelligence operations on U.S. soil, and lacked a pool of competent Arabic-fluent field officers. In such a scenario, the CIA would either have worked actively with the Israelis or quietly abetted an independent operation on U.S. soil. In his 9/11 investigative book, The Looming Tower, author Lawrence Wright notes that FBI counterterrorism agents, infuriated at the CIA's failure to fully share information about Mihdhar and Hazmi, speculated that "the agency was shielding Mihdhar and Hazmi because it hoped to recruit them". The two al-Qaeda men, Wright notes, "must have seemed like attractive opportunities; however, once they entered the United States they were the province of the FBI..." Wright further observes that the CIA's reticence to share its information was due to a fear "that prosecutions resulting from specific intelligence might compromise its relationship with foreign services". When in the spring of 2002 the scenario of CIA's domestic subcontracting to foreign intelligence was posed to the veteran CIA/NSA intelligence operative, with whom I spoke extensively, the operative didn't reject it out of hand. The operative noted that in recent years the CIA's human intelligence assets, known as "humint" - spooks on the ground who conduct surveillances, make contacts, and infiltrate the enemy - had been "eviscerated" in favor of the NSA's far less perilous "sigint", or signals intelligence program, the remote interception of electronic communications. As a result, "U.S. intelligence finds itself going back to sources that you may not necessarily like to go back to, but are required to", the veteran intelligence operative said. "We don't like the fact, but our humint structures are gone. Israeli intel's humint is as strong as ever. If you have an intel gap, those gaps are not closed overnight. It takes years and years of diligent work, a high degree of security, talented and dedicated people, willing management and a steady hand. It is not a fun business, and it's certainly not one without its dangers. If you lose that capability, well organizations find themselves having to make a pact with the devil. The problem [in U.S. intel] is very great".

If such an understanding did exist between CIA and Mossad with regard to al-Qaeda's U.S. operatives, the complicity would explain a number of oddities: it would explain the CIA's nearly incoherent, and perhaps purposely deceptive, reconstruction of events as to how Mihdhar and Hazmi joined the watch list; it might even explain the apparent brazenness of the Israeli New Jersey cell celebrating on the morning of 9/11 (protected under the CIA wing, they were free to behave as they pleased). It would also explain the assertion in one of the leading Israeli dailies, Yedioth Ahronoth, that in the months prior to 9/11, when the Israeli "art students" were being identified and rounded up, the CIA "actively promoted their expulsion". The implication in the Yedioth Ahronoth article was that the CIA was simply being careless, not trying to spirit the Israelis safely out of the country. At this point we cannot be certain.

Israeli spying against the U.S. is of course hotly denied by both governments. In 2002, responding to my own questions about the "art students", Israeli embassy spokesman Mark Regev issued a blanket denial. "Israel does not spy on the United States", Regev told me. The pronouncements from officialdom are strictly pro forma, as it is no secret that spying by Israel on the United States has been wide-ranging and unabashed. A 1996 General Accounting Office report, for example, found that Israel "conducts the most aggressive espionage operation against the United States of any U.S. ally". More recently, a former intelligence official told the Los Angeles Times in 2004 that "[t]here is a huge, aggressive, ongoing set of Israeli activities directed against the United States". It is also routine that Israeli spying is ignored or downplayed by the U.S. government (the case of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, sentenced to life in prison in 1986, is a dramatic exception). According to the American Prospect, over the last 20 years at least six sealed indictments have been issued against individuals allegedly spying "on Israel's behalf", but the cases were resolved "through diplomatic and intelligence channels" rather than a public airing in the courts. Career Justice Department and intelligence officials who track Israeli espionage told the Prospect of "long-standing frustration among investigators and prosecutors who feel that cases that could have been made successfully against Israeli spies were never brought to trial, or that the investigations were shut down prematurely".

The Questions That Await Answers

Remarkably, the Urban Moving Systems Israelis, when interrogated by the FBI, explained their motives for "celebration" on the New Jersey waterfront a celebration that consisted of cheering, smiling, shooting film with still and video cameras and, according to the FBI, "high- fiving" - in the Machiavellian light of geopolitics. "Their explanation of why they were happy", FBI spokesman Margolin told me, "was that the United States would now have to commit itself to fighting [Middle East] terrorism, that Americans would have an understanding and empathy for Israel's circumstances, and that the attacks were ultimately a good thing for Israel". When reporters on the morning of 9/11 asked former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the effect the attacks would have on Israeli-American relations, he responded with a similar gut analysis: "It's very good", he remarked. Then he amended the statement: "Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy [for Israel from Americans]".

What is perhaps most damning is that the Israelis' celebration on the New Jersey waterfront occurred in the first sixteen minutes after the initial crash, when no one was aware this was a terrorist attack. In other words, from the time the first plane hit the north tower, at 8:46 a.m., to the time the second plane hit the south tower, at 9:02 a.m., the overwhelming assumption of news outlets and government officials was that the plane's impact was simply a terrible accident. It was only after the second plane hit that suspicions were aroused. Yet if the men were cheering for political reasons, as they reportedly told the FBI, they obviously believed they were witnessing a terrorist act, and not an accident.

After returning safely to Israel in the late autumn of 2001, three of the five New Jersey Israelis spoke on a national talk show that winter. Oded Ellner, who on the afternoon of September 11 had, like his compatriots, protested to arresting officer Sgt. Dennis Rivelli that "we're Israeli", admitted to the interviewer: "We are coming from a country that experiences terror daily. Our purpose was to document the event". By his own admission, then, Ellner stood on the New Jersey waterfront documenting with film and video a terrorist act before anyone knew it was a terrorist act.

One obvious question among many comes to mind: If these men were trained as professional spies, why did they exhibit such outright oafishness at the moment of truth on the waterfront? The ABC network source close to the 20/20 report noted one of the more disturbing explanations proffered by counterintelligence investigators at the FBI: "The Israelis felt that in some way their intelligence had worked out - i.e., they were celebrating their own acumen and ability as intelligence agents".

The questions abound: Did the Urban Moving Systems Israelis, ready to "document the event", arrive at the waterfront before the first plane came in from the north? And if they arrived right after, why did they believe it was a terrorist attack? What about the strange tale of the "art students"? Could they have been mere hustlers, as they claimed, who ended up repeatedly crossing paths with federal agents and living next door to most of the 9/11 hijackers by coincidence? Did the Israeli authorities find out more about the impending attacks than they shared with their U.S. counterparts? Or did the Israeli spies on the ground only intercept vague chatter that, in their view, did not warrant breaking cover to share the information? On the other hand, did the U.S. government receive more advance information about the attacks from Israeli authorities than it is willing to admit? What about the 9/11 Commission's eliding of reported Israeli warnings that may have led to the watch- listing of Mihdhar and Hazmi? Were the Israeli warnings purposely washed from the historical record? Did the CIA know more about pre-9/11 Israeli spying than it has admitted?

The unfortunate fact is that the truth may never be uncovered, not by officialdom, and certainly not by a passive press. James Bamford, who in a coup of reporting during the 1980s revealed the inner workings of the NSA in The Puzzle Palace, points to the "key problem": "The Israelis were all sent out of the country", he says. "There's no nexus left. The FBI just can't go knocking on doors in Israel. They need to work with the State Department. They need letters rogatory, where you ask a government of a foreign country to get answers from citizens in that country". The Israeli government will not likely comply. So any investigation "is now that much more complicated", says Bamford. He recalls a story he produced for ABC News concerning two murder suspects -- U.S. citizens - who fled to Israel and fought extradition for ten years. "The Israelis did nothing about it until I went to Israel, knocking on doors, and finally found the two suspects. I think it'd be a great idea to go over and knock on their doors", says Bamford.

The suspects are gone. The trail is cold. Yet many of the key facts and promising leads sit freely on the web, in the archives, safe in the news-morgues at 20/20 and The Forward and Die Zeit. An investigator close to the matter says it reminds him of the Antonioni film "Blow-Up", a movie about a photographer who discovers the evidence of a covered-up murder hidden before his very eyes in the frame of an enlarged photograph. It's a mystery that no one appears eager to solve.

And the Dancing Palestinians

What Did They Know Page [MakeThemAccountable]

September 16, 2001, The Washington Post,"Palestinians Suppress Coverage of Crowds Celebrating Attacks; Journalists Are Threatened; Officials Contend Images Present a Distorted View of Public Opinion." by Lee Hockstader,

Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority is trying to suppress broadcast images and photos of Palestinians glorifying the terrorist attacks on the United States and hailing their suspected mastermind, exiled Saudi financier Osama bin Laden.

Palestinian officials have told local representatives of foreign news agencies and television stations on several occasions that their employees' safety could be jeopardized if videotapes showing Palestinians celebrating the attacks were aired. Broadcast news organizations operating in the Palestinian-ruled portions of the West Bank and Gaza Strip have complied.

The suppression of the images is part of a concerted campaign by Arafat and his lieutenants to avoid being perceived in the West as part of the international terrorist scourge. Having sided with Iraq during the Persian Gulf War, the Palestinians are eager to avoid a similar political blunder this time, analysts say.

Palestinian officials acknowledge suppressing the images, arguing that they distorted actual public opinion and would be used by Israel to mount a smear campaign against Arafat and his government.

"These measures were not against the freedom of the press but in order to ensure our national security and our national interest," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, the Palestinian information minister. "We will not permit a few kids here or there to smear the real face of the Palestinians. This is a real insult to our people and our nation."

Meanwhile, Arafat was filmed donating blood for the victims of the attacks in Washington and New York, and he seemed suddenly more receptive to negotiations with the Israelis. Palestinian schoolchildren were made to stand in silence to commemorate the American victims, Palestinian officials and journalists signed a petition of sympathy and the Palestinian Legislative Council met in a special session to express its grief. Palestinians also held a candlelight vigil outside the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem.

Still, many Palestinians deeply resent the United States for supporting Israel and supplying it with weapons that have been used against them in the past year's Middle East violence. On several occasions since Tuesday, those anti-American sentiments have burst into public view.

Hours after the attacks Tuesday, Associated Press Television videotaped a small group of Palestinians, some of them children, rejoicing in East Jerusalem. That footage infuriated Americans and alarmed Palestinian officials, who moved swiftly to block the release of similar images elsewhere.

The same day, Palestinian police stopped photographers from covering a celebratory rally in the West Bank town of Nablus. Drivers honked their car horns, gunmen fired into the air and revelers handed out sweets, according to journalists at the scene.

Shortly thereafter, a Palestinian militia member threatened an Associated Press cameraman who managed to videotape the rally, demanding that the tape not be released. A high-ranking Palestinian official, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, told the AP bureau chief in Jerusalem, Dan Perry, that the cameraman's safety could not be ensured if the footage were released. AP decided not to release the footage, said Jack Stokes, a spokesman for the news agency in New York.

The Foreign Press Association in Israel, which Perry chairs, condemned the "direct threats" and "harassment" of journalists by the Palestinian authorities and gunmen.

On Friday, Palestinian police arrested five journalists in the Gaza Strip who were covering a rally of the militant Hamas organization in memory of an Israeli Arab suicide bomber who killed himself and three Israeli Jews. At least one person at the rally held up a poster of bin Laden.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces fired missiles on Palestinian security buildings and, combined with a pair of shooting incidents, three Palestinians were killed and more than 30 injured today, according to news agency reports. The strikes came as Israeli officials said talks tentatively planned for Sunday in Gaza between Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres would not take place.

[Early Sunday, Israeli tanks thrust into the center of the West Bank city of Ramallah, firing rounds while helicopters launched missiles, Palestinian witnesses told news services. The Israeli army declined to comment.

[A Palestinian military intelligence officer was killed in the incursion, and 15 people were wounded. The tanks began to withdraw from the area about four hours later.]

September 12, 2001, The Washington Post, "As Mideast Officials Offer Condolences, Some Arabs Rejoice." by Howard Schneider and Lee Hockstader,

With the World Trade Center and Pentagon in flames, Arab governments expressed condolences to the United States today and condemned such attacks on civilian lives. But some of their citizens celebrated in the streets over a comeuppance they feel the world's sole remaining superpower deserved for its support of Israel.

Thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip cheered the attack, distributing candy and firing weapons in a show of glee over what they described as a retaliatory blow against U.S. cooperation with Israel. Palestinians in refugee camps in Lebanon fired weapons into the air in celebration.

"The people here are gloating over the American grief," said Emad Salameh, a 29-year-old taxi driver in Gaza. "Apache helicopters, tanks and all kinds of destructive weapons have been killing Palestinian infants and women...Palestinians have been crying and suffering, and now it is time for Americans to cry and suffer."

"This is revenge from Allah," said Khaled Saada, a 25-year-old clothing store owner in Gaza City.

The reaction in Israel was starkly different. Many Israelis said they felt as if the attacks had occurred in Israel itself and expressed hope that now Americans will better understand Israel's tough tactics toward Palestinians.

The outpouring among Arabs contrasted sharply with official condemnations issued by several Arab leaders, including the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.

"I send my condolences, the condolences of the Palestinian people to American President Bush and his government and to the American people for this terrible act," Arafat told reporters in Gaza. "We completely condemn this serious operation. . . . We were completely shocked."

Mubarak called the attacks in New York and Washington "horrific" and added in a televised statement: "Egypt firmly and strongly condemns such attacks on civilians and soldiers that led to the deaths of a large number of innocent victims."

But the street reactions in Lebanon and Palestinian-run areas of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank reflected a popular sentiment expressed often by Arabs frustrated over U.S. policy and, to some extent, by their leaders.

Arab leaders and citizens have expressed growing anger over U.S. political support and military aid for Israel, regarding Washington as implicated in the violence that has claimed 700 lives over the last year, most of them Palestinians. Islamic fundamentalist groups, including Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda, are also offended by the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, while U.S.-led economic sanctions and airstrikes against Iraq have become increasingly unpopular among Arabs.

An editorial this week in the Saudi daily al-Jazirah, for instance, cautioned that "latent Arab forces" might lash out against U.S. interests in ways that Arab states would not.

"Of course, we are sad that so many innocent people have to die, but the Americans need to come down from their tower and see the reaction to what their government does," said Mahmoud Hassanein, a shop owner in Maadi section of Cairo.

"It is all related" to U.S. support for Israel, said Bakir Haisam, owner of textile shop in the upscale Amman neighborhood of Shmeisani. "Here, most of the people will appreciate such a thing. In a way I think it is a good thing. Perhaps it is a little improper...but it is complicated."

Although there was no proof, many Israelis assumed the culprits in the attacks on U.S. soil came from the Islamic world. Now, they said, Americans would finally understand Israel's predicament and think twice before condemning Israel's assassinations of Palestinian leaders and other attacks on Islamic militants involved in the year- old uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Partly in sympathy, partly in relief, many Israelis said the long-standing political, military, personal and psychological bonds between the two countries would grow tighter than ever.

"I feel sad because now the Americans will be like us -- scared, angry, not safe," said Ilanit Amsalem, 36, a teacher in Jerusalem. "I always thought of the U.S. as some sort of a Disneyland, innocent, naive and childlike, a place that didn't have all the scars that we have. Now they'll be cynical like us and they'll start looking for revenge, like we do."

"Now the Americans won't judge us," said Shuki Barkan, a student in Jerusalem. "Now they'll get it -- that these terrorists, all of them, aren't human beings. They'll do anything. And so maybe [the United States] won't be so quick to condemn us. It was easy for them to be so super-righteous when [terror] didn't affect them."

The official Israeli reaction was to assume a defensive crouch nearly as broad as America's own, assuming that the coordinated attacks in the United States might presage attacks on the Jewish state. Israeli airspace was closed to all flights originating overseas unless they had Israeli security guards on board, as do flights on El Al, the national carrier. Israel evacuated its embassy and consulates in the United States, leaving only key personnel.

The air force went on high alert for any unauthorized planes heading toward Israeli airspace. Extra security was added at Ben- Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem. Israel, well rehearsed in public disasters, offered to send rescue teams to the United States.

Hockstader reported from Jerusalem.

September 20, 2001, CNN News, CNN statement about false claim it used old video, Brazilian university statement says no fact to original claim, Posted: 4:02 PM EDT (2002 GMT)

(CNN asks that you copy and e-mail this statement to whomever asks about it.)

There is absolutely no truth to the information that is now distributed on the Internet that CNN used 10-year-old video when showing the celebrating of some Palestinians in East Jerusalem after the terror attacks in the U.S. The video was shot that day by a Reuters camera crew. CNN is a client of Reuters and like other clients, received the video and broadcast it. Reuters officials have publicly made the facts clear as well.

The allegation is false. The source of the allegation has withdrawn it and apologized. It was started by a Brazilian student who now says he immediately posted a correction once he knew the information was not true. This is the statement by his university -- UNICAMP -- Universidad Estatal de Campinas-Brasil.

Again, please read this -- and copy it -- and send it to anyone you know who may have the false information. Thank you.

September 17, 2001, CNN News, OFFICIAL STATEMENT by Universidad de Campinas-Brasil,

UNICAMP (Universidad Estatal de Campinas-Brasil) would like to announce that it has no knowledge of a videotape from 1991, whose images supposedly aired on CNN showing Palestinians celebrating the terrorist attacks in the U.S. The tape was supposedly from 1991, and there were rumors that the images were passed off as current.

This information was later denied, as soon as it proved false, by Márcio A. V. Carvalho, a student at UNICAMP. He approached the administration today, 17.09.2001, to clarify the following:

-- the information he got, verbally, was that a professor from another institution (not from UNICAMP) had the tape;

-- he sent the information to a discussion group e-mail list;

-- many people from this list were interested in the subject and requested more details;

-- he again contacted the person who first gave him the information and the person denied having the tape;

-- the student immediately sent out a note clarifying what happened to the people from his e-mail list.

The original message, however, was distributed all over the world, often with many distortions, including a falsified by-line article from the student. He affirms that a hacker attacked his domain. Several E-mails have been sent on his behalf and those dating from 15.09.2001 should be ignored.

Among the distortions is the fact that UNICAMP would be analyzing the tape, which is absolutely false. The administration considers this alert definitive and will be careful to avoid new rumors.

September 20, 2001, CNN News, Reuters statement on false claim it used old video, Posted: 4:04 PM EDT (2004 GMT)

Reuters rejects as utterly baseless an allegation being circulated by e-mail and the Internet claiming that it circulated 10-year-old videotape to illustrate Palestinians celebrating in the wake of the September 11 tragedies in the United States.

Reuters welcomes a statement by the Universidad Estatal de Campinas-Brasil (UNICAMP), one of whose students was the author of the original e-mail, setting the record straight.

The videotape in question was shot in East Jerusalem by a Reuters camera crew on September 11 in the immediate aftermath of the attacks on the United States. The footage was broadcast by CNN and other subscribers to the Reuters video news service.

September 21, 2001, Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, Urban legends running rampant, heightening fears of public, by Marian Liu,

SAN JOSE, Calif.--They came pouring in immediately after the terrorist attacks:

The World Trade Center destruction fulfilled a prophecy by 16th century French seer Michel Nostradamus.

CNN footage of Palestinianscelebrating was actually filed 10 years earlier.

An e-mail urged people to light candles at a specific time for a satellite photo.

All are false.

Urban legends are a part of everyday life, but in the days following the life-changing attacks of Sept. 11, these rumors are spreading at lightning speed. Although many of them are untrue, they have caused confusion and heightened fear in people who already in deep shock from horrificattacks.

"I don't know what to believe or what to trust," said Nicole Wasowski, a 16-year-old from Santa Clara's Wilcox High School.

Since the terrorist events, e-mails to Barbara Mikkelson's rumor debunking site, http://www.snopes2.com/info/rumors.htm, have increased by ten-fold and she's been contacted by people who are petrified by certain rumors.

"There have been so many rumors that have sprung up and struck cord with people," said Mikkelson, who has been exposing myths for the past eight years. "These rumors give voice to a fear lurking in so many that we are shivering on the brink of World War III."

She said the most popular rumor stems from a supposed Nostradamus prediction of the World Trade Center destruction. It said, "Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb, The third big war will begin when the big city is burning _ Nostradamus 1654."

But Nostradamus died in 1566 and after searching through different Nostradamus web sites, she could find no match to the e-mailed verse.

David Emery, a Bay Area rumor debunker, has received 200 to 250 e-mails a day, many are from teachers relieved to finally know the truth.

"Spreading rumors for human beings has always been done," said Emery, whose site is http://urbanlegends.miningco.com. "It's an aspect of human nature, to tell stories, and also to share the feeling of grief, and outrage in a moment of catastrophe. It's kind of like a shadow news to compliment the news."

Such e-mails have included numerology adding the different flights to spell out 911 or linking United Airlines and American Airlines to make United States of America.

People are snapping up copies of Ricardo Arjona's song, "Mesas" (Messiah), which says the "Magnate of the Big Apple has committed suicide." Record representatives said the timing is pure coincidence.

Another e-mail making the rounds asks people to boycott soft drinks because Osama bin Laden is financing his attacks with investments in the gum arabic trade. But Emery said neither U.S. State Department nor the National Soft Drink Association has found any evidence to support that.

"People are trying to make sense of something so large and so hard for us to comprehend, and sometimes people do that through numerology, cosmology of different kinds," said Misha Klein, a University of California-Berkeley anthropology senior graduate student.

Even news organizations have come under fire. Some people say an Associated Press altered a photo that some say shows a devil face in the smoking World Trade Center.

"AP has a strict policy against digital manipulation and I am exactly the same," said Mark D. Phillips, who has been inundated by mail and calls concerning his photo. "My job is to show what really happened and what was really there. Doctoring an image was the last thing that came into my mind."

"If you walk out your door, and look at a cloud, you may even see Jesus' face," Phillips said. "But, we need to keep thinking about the people who died and not whether there is or not a message in the photograph."

Responding to accusations CNN used old footage of Palestinianscheering, CNN spokesman Dwight Murphy said a Reuters TV crew shot the scene Sept. 11 in East Jerusalem.

UC Berkeley anthropology professor, Laura Nader, said Americans' ignorance about world events helps spawn these rumors.

"We need to start thinking about this rather than just emotionally responding," Nader said.

But, a big part of the problem is that not only are these rumors emotionally charged, but they also spread quickly via the Internet.

Stanford communications professor Clifford Nass, said there is a general distrust of experts, beginning with the Monica Lewinsky incident, where mainstream media was scooped by alternative media. He also said it's difficult to determine who is a credible expert on the Internet and that web sites may falsely attribute a story to a respected, mainstream company such as the New York Times.

In order to combat this, he suggests, using Internet search engines to check the rumors.

"Then," Nass said, "you can use the rumor producer as a rumor killer."

(San Jose Mercury News staff writer Edwin Garcia also contributed to this report.)

October 4, 2001, The Beacon News - Aurora (IL) Believe it or not, 911 rumors run rampant, by Denise Crosby,

She left a voice mail, nervous, breathless, urgent: "I think I've got a story for you.

Call me back as soon as possible.

This is very important."

Ace reporter I am, I immediately set down my coffee, spit out my gum and punched in the seven-digit local number.

The line was busy.

No doubt she was passing the story on to someone else.

Hopefully not to another newspaper's reporter.

I dialed again.

And again.

Finally, a real voice with a real concern.

According to the caller, she'd heard that sponges, saturated with a deadly virus, are being mailed randomly in blue envelopes by terrorist extremists.

Was it true? she wondered.

Was she in danger? Was this a story we needed to warn others about?

No. No. And, well, sort of.

This was, as it turns out, one more example of the dozens of rumors, conspiracy theories and half-truths spread through the Internet after Sept. 11.

Experts say the terrorist attack is the first major world event where the Net is being used on such a massive scale to pass along information.

According to a wire story that recently crossed by desk, conspiracy theories and dubiously sourced "eyewitness accounts" are no surprise -- but the volume of these e- legends surprises even professional myth debunkers and Internet experts.

"Our site is getting absolutely hammered," said Californian Barbara Mikkelson, who runs the Urban Legends References Pages on the Web.

Among the bogus stories is a Nostradamus prophecy about World War III being brought on by the fall of two brothers (supposedly represented by the World Trade Towers), and a report that CNN used old footage to falsely depictPalestinians celebrating after the attack.

Other false rumors include:

* An image, supposedly recovered from the ruins, that purports to be a snapshot taken on the World Trade Center observation deck with the approaching hijacked jet in view.

* A nationwide call to light a candle at a specified time for a satellite photo.

* A claim that people can aid the search for Osama bin Laden by donating money to a group of Estonian computer hackers.

* The account of a man who was trapped high in one of the collapsing World Trade Center towers and rode the falling debris to safety.

Wait a minute...

You mean that wasn't true?

I could swear I heard Dan or Tom or Katie or Diane or Ted talking about that miraculous survivor not long after the collapse of the twin towers.

In fact, I've passed that particular story along to no less than a dozen people, including my 14-year-old son, who dared to argue its validity.

"It's the truth, all right," I countered in my most-profound, I-know- better-than-you, parental tone.

"He rode that thing all the way to the bottom . . . ended up with only a broken leg."

Oh, how we want to believe.

According to the wire story, experts say these false tales are usually started (and spread?) by people who feel helpless but want to do something to assist.

Those passing along the rumors often e-mail recipients with the words, "I never forward these, but..."

That's certainly the kind of phrasing I used when I passed along an e- mail that showed up over and over and over again in my own computer here at work.

Titled "America, the Good Neighbor," the feisty essay staunchly defended our country and was supposedly written in response to the terrorist attack.

We soon learned, however, the guy who penned it, Canadian broadcaster Gordon Sinclair, died in 1984. He'd written the speech nearly 30 years ago during the Vietnam War.

Richard Davis, a Toronto psychologist and Internet behavior expert, says recipients of e-mails should be prepared for misinformation.

Unlike Desert Storm, this war won't be followed on television, but will happen out of view.

The two things most responsible for starting rumors, Davis says, are lack of information and fear.

He's the expert, so he should know.

But I'd like to think there's a more specific reason this attack has generated so many believable rumors.

Because the act itself was so unbelievable.

If hijackers can kill almost 6,000 people by taking over four commercial jets with nothing more than box cutters, what's so hard to believe about a deadly virus passed along in the mail?

If a half-dozen New York firefighters, and the elderly woman they were helping, survived the collapse of a 110 story building because they were trapped in a stairwell "air pocket," why couldn't a single man ride down the wreckage, landing only with a broken leg?

If a young husband and father could calmly recite the Lord's Prayer to a perfect stranger over the phone before mounting a last-minute desperate attack against evil, why shouldn't we cling to a dead Canadian's words that defend the integrity of our country?

Believe it or not, Sept. 11 rewrote the book on the unbelievable.

From here on out, anything goes.

August 21, 2011, The London Times,

FBI Fury As Men With Nuke Plans, Valid Israeli Passports Escape, by Katty Kay,

WASHINGTON - With America on top security alert, the FBI was hunting yesterday for six men of Middle Eastern appearance carrying plans of a nuclear power plant and the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline who were picked up by police in the Midwest over the weekend but then released.

The incident is thought to be connected with the latest FBI alert and senior intelligence officials are furious that the men were set free before they could be fully questioned.

The men were travelling in two groups of three in white saloon cars when they were pulled over by police officers in the Midwest, according to the Knight Ridder News Service. Security officials have refused to disclose further details.

The men were searched and questioned and the state officers discovered detailed plans and photographs of a nuclear power plant in Florida, along with box cutters-the weapons used in the September 11 attacks- and other equipment.

The men, who appeared to be of Middle Eastern origin and held Israeli passports, were then interviewed by immigration officials. When their passports and visas were found to be in order the officers, who were not aware of the country's imminent security alert, let the men go without first calling in the FBI to question them more thoroughly.

It is not clear why the men were pulled over in the first place nor why intelligence officers were not given a chance to interview them. Agents suspect that the men will by now have switched cars and tried to flee the country, possibly to Canada.

Intelligence officials were especially concerned about the nuclear plant details. America's nuclear facilities received special attention in the latest FBI alert. The men were also carrying plans of the 800-mile Trans-Alaska pipeline, which delivers 17 per cent of America's oil.

There are three nuclear facilities in Florida, which have now been advised to step up security. One of the plants has called in local police as an extra security precaution.

The news came as the US banned private flights near US nuclear facilities for the next ten days, in connection with the warning of another terrorist attack, and National Guard troops were deployed at nuclear power plants in three southern states. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission ordered the nation's 103 nuclear power plants to increase security.

At a time when police have unprecedented powers to arrest and detain people who are merely suspected of having links to terrorist activities, the release of these six men has infuriated the FBI.

The incident suggests a dangerous lack of co-ordination between different law enforcement bodies. Under America's new anti-terrorist laws, police can hold someone almost indefinitely on charges of being a "material witness" to terrorism. Canada announced that it had given the US important intelligence about another possible imminent terrorist attack. Canadian secret services intercepted telephone calls and e-mails from al-Qaeda operatives in Canada that referred to a major event taking place "down south" this week.

Law enforcement officials said that the US military intercepted numerous other calls leading up to the alert, which all used the same coded phrases. The FBI received intelligence about the new threat on Monday.

NBC News 4 New York,
GROUND ZERO: THE FINAL DAYS
WTC Attack: Eyewitness View
Recovery End Difficult For Many
EXCLUSIVE: 911 TAPES
Video:
NewsChannel 4's Brian Thompson Reports
9/11 Tapes:
People Trapped On WTC's 39th Floor
9/11 Tapes: Jersey City Citizens Report Attack
9/11 Tapes:Jersey City Fire Dispatch
9/11 Tapes:Officers Report Tower One Collapse
9/11 Tapes:Officers Clear Spectactors
Exclusive: 911 Tapes Tell Horror Of 9/11 (Part 1)
Exclusive: 911 Tapes Tell Horror Of 9/11 (Part 2)
Exclusive: 911 Tapes Chronicle Panicked Evacuation (Part 3)

MULTIMEDIA
More On Afghanistan
More On Special Forces
WTC Memorial
WTC Map
How Worried Are You About Another Terrorist Attack?
Attack Timeline
Download & Print American Flag
Patriotic E-Cards
360-degree View Of The Towers Of Light
IMAGES
Pictures Of Hijackers
WTC Explosion--Other Footage
New Terror Suspects Shown By FBI
Attack On The Pentagon
Woman Captures Horror
WTC: Pre-Attack Panoramic View

More Images
INFORMATION AND LINKS
List Of Victims
Hotlines And Services
Donation Information
Tower of Lights
Downtown Alliance
The September 11th Fund
Friends Of Rockville Centre 911
GROUND ZERO: THE FINAL DAYS
WTC Attack: Eyewitness View
Recovery End Difficult For Many
EXCLUSIVE: 911 TAPES
Video: NewsChannel 4's Brian Thompson Reports
9/11 Tapes: People Trapped On WTC's 39th Floor
9/11 Tapes: Jersey City Citizens Report Attack
9/11 Tapes: Jersey City Fire Dispatch

9/11 Tapes: Officers Report Tower One Collapse
9/11 Tapes: Officers Clear Spectactors
Exclusive: 911 Tapes Tell Horror Of 9/11 (Part 1)
Exclusive: 911 Tapes Tell Horror Of 9/11 (Part 2)
Exclusive: 911 Tapes Chronicle Panicked Evacuation (Part 3)
MULTIMEDIA
More On Afghanistan
More On Special Forces
WTC Memorial
WTC Map
How Worried Are You About Another Terrorist Attack?
Attack Timeline
Download & Print American Flag
Patriotic E-Cards
360-degree View Of The Towers Of Light
IMAGES
Pictures Of Hijackers
WTC Explosion -- Other Footage
New Terror Suspects Shown By FBI
Attack On The Pentagon
Woman Captures Horror
WTC: Pre-Attack Panoramic View
More Images
INFORMATION AND LINKS
List Of Victims
Hotlines And Services
Donation Information
Tower of Lights
Downtown Alliance
The September 11th Fund
Friends Of Rockville Centre 911

StevenWarRan

Friday, May 18, 2012

The Dancing Israelis, or the Dancing Palestinians?

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