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Mossad and 9-11 - Advance KnowledgeSunday 14 Apr 2002
author: The Phoenix (omegareport@mindspring.com)
summary
The untold story of Mossad's advance knowledge of 9-11, how it tried to warn the US, and evidence that a globalist conspiracy was directing the attack. From a forthcoming book by the author.
The unresolved role of Mossad in 9-11
© 2002 by Jim Moore, from the forthcoming book "Big Oil - Big War: The true
story of September 11, 2001 and the 'War on Terror' - Writer's Club Press:
San Jose, New York, Lincoln, Shanghai.
In the hours following the World Trade Center attack, millions of American
Jews were shocked and deeply hurt at accusations spreading around the world
like wildfire that Israel had been behind the attack, and had even warned
thousands of Jews working in the Twin Towers not to go to work that
morning.
The rumors were not restricted to wild-eyed terrorist sympathizers
overflowing with anti-Jewish hatred. Sheikh Muhammed Al-Gamei-a was, until
shortly after the attacks the US representative of Egypt's Al-Azhar
University in New York City - westernized, educated, seemingly rational. He
had also served as Imam of the Islamic Cultural Center and mosque in New
York, but he fled America after the attacks, claiming Muslim life in
America had become unbearable because of the "Zionist plot."
"I personally have suffered; my home was attacked, and my daughters were
harassed." He said he confronted a mob attacking his home and told them
what they were doing was uncivilized and also a two-fold crime in itself:
they were letting the true criminals go free and attacking the innocent.
"It became very clear to me that they knew very well that the Jews were
behind these ugly acts (9-11) while we, the Arabs, were innocent ."
"All the signs indicate that the Jews had the most to gain from an
explosion like that. They are the only ones capable of planning such acts.
"First of all, it was found that the automatic pilot was neutralized a few
minutes before the flight. . Second, the black boxes were found to contain
no information. . Third, America has the most powerful intelligence
apparatuses, the FBI and the CIA. . How did the [perpetrators] manage to
infiltrate America without their knowledge?"
"Fourth, Jews control decision-making in the airports and in the sensitive
centers in the White House and the Pentagon. Fifth, to date America has
presented no proof incriminating Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda."
Further, repeating the wildfire rumor, he claimed 4,000 Jews had skipped
work at the Twin Towers that morning. Even James Zogby, chairman of the
Arab American Institute, shook his head in sadness and denounced it as a
cruel and bizarre hoax.
Gamei-a insists that police "arrested a group of Jews rejoicing in the
street at the time of the incident. This news item was hushed up
immediately after it was broadcast. . The Jews who control the media acted
to hush it up. . If it became known to the American people, they would have
done to the Jews what Hitler did." (NewsMax.com - "A Muddled Muslim Mind"
by Reed Irvine, chairman of Accuracy in Media, 18 October 2001)
What the Israeli government knew about 9-11
While it is obviously a cruelty to blame Jews as a whole, it is a fair
question to ask if Israeli intelligence might have known in advance and,
further, if Mossad (the Israeli intelligence agency) might have had a hand
in advancing the act to deflect criticism against Israeli actions in
Palestine. One can't deny that it would have strengthened their hand in
dealing with their own terrorism problems.
Pravda, carrying the story a bit further but with some ambiguity, carried
an article written by Bill White, which claimed:
"When asked what he thought about the September 11 attacks on the
Pentagon and the World Trade Center, an Israeli minister told the
press that "this is very good." That day, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon renewed his attacks on Palestinian territories, killing nearly
a dozen Palestinians. Another Israeli government official gloated to
the press that it appeared America no longer cared if Israel shot
Palestinians dead in the streets. In the US, Israel's domestic lobby
almost celebrated the attacks - in fact, five Israeli nationalists
were arrested in New York after the FBI found them dancing in the
streets - and public support for US aid to Israel jumped from . around
40% to nearly 55% in a CNN opinion poll." (Pravda, "From Supporting
Israel to Opposing 'Hate'" by Bill White - 4 October 2001)
First, one has to consider the source and the agenda of that source. Pravda
has long been the official mouthpiece of Soviet propaganda. The "Israeli
minister" who made the statement "this is very good" is conveniently
unnamed. In fact, the quote may be accurate, but the story doesn't explain
just what the minister meant. One can see where it would be "very good" to
the Israeli position regarding Palestinian terrorist acts if it took some
of the pressure off Israeli responses. Note also the use of the word
"gloated" - obviously an emotional hot button, the kind of editorializing
one finds so much of in our own press, such as the New York Times. The only
individual identified is Ariel Sharon and, yes, he did take advantage of
the attack to go after those in his own back yard he considered
"terrorists", even though the Arab world considers them "freedom fighters."
Even the story about the five arrested Israelis could be true, though this
author has been unable to track down any confirmation. As for the CNN poll,
it probably was true.
What one needs to be aware of when reading or viewing any news story is the
subtlety of "hot button words," the use of certain adjectives to create an
emotional image that may or may not be true. The very thought of some Jew
"gloating" over thousands of innocent dead Americans is bound to awaken a
rage in the average American listener. A common psy-op ("psychological
operations") tactic is to mix information with disinformation in the hopes
the whole story will be swallowed, hook, line and sinker. There are
numerous examples of that throughout this book, where US officials have
told partial-lies, partial truths and complete lies to advance covert
political agendas the informed public would never support. But the US
certainly has no monopoly on the tried and tested propaganda ploy.
On the other hand, the shrill cry of "anti-Semitism" has been used and over-
used to stifle legitimate criticism and to strike fear in the hearts of
those who disagree with Israeli policies but are not anti-Semitic. Israeli
apologists have used the tactic for so long and with such over-kill that it
is bound to lose its effectiveness. Its misuse does not serve genuine
Israeli interests; too often Israelis demand that their policies and their
actions, no matter how barbaric, be accepted because of who they are, not
on the basis of what they are doing. It makes Israel an international
bully, no matter how small a nation it may be. It is akin to discussing
whether a color is blue or green. If an Israeli says it is blue, he must be
right because he is a Jew and even if it's bright red, he's right and you
are anti-Semitic to even think otherwise. The result is cruel and long-
lasting to all Jews, and yet it is to some extent self-inflicted.
That said - at the risk of being falsely branded an anti-Semite myself, can
one logically and rationally, based on fact, even discuss the possibility
of an Israeli role in 9-11?
Just days after the WTC attack, on September 20, former Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not exactly play the role of statesman when
he demanded of the US Congress that America must wage war not just on
Afghanistan, but must also attack all of Israel's enemies, real and
perceived, including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran. He was clearly
capitalizing on American heartbreak to further his own self-interest and
that of Israel's. Israeli apologists in the Bush government immediately
fell all over themselves in disgusting agreement. Under Secretary of
Defense Paul Wolfowitz demanded an attack on Iraq. Defense Policy Board
Chairman Richard Perle wanted us to start bombing Egypt. It was reminiscent
of the screams of one of the Columbine high school killers: "Kill 'em
all!!!!" It was a cynical ploy on Netanyahu's part, but intelligence
reports since then indicate he may get his way yet.
DoD warns about Mossad 'targeting US', framing Arabs
In 2001, even though the Bush administration said there were no active
plans to put American peacekeepers between Palestinians and Israelis, there
were contingency plans for such an action. Indeed, the Department of
Defense would have been negligent not to have had such contingency plans
that could be quickly activated if needed.
That 68-page contingency plan, calling for the introduction of three
heavily-armed US brigades, was prepared by the Army's School of Advanced
Military Studies (SAMS), an elite training ground and military think tank
at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. That report, obtained by the Washington Times,
contains some eye-opening assessments about Israel - assessments overlooked
in the more "newsworthy" angle of "20,000 US troops suggested for West
Bank."
The study was compiled by 60 officers (all second-year SAMS students)
called the "Jedi Knights." The goal of the study was to set out what could
be accomplished in the first 30 days of US involvement. In the past, SAMS
has done studies for the Joint Chiefs and Army chief of staff, and helped
plan the allied ground attack against Iraq.
That report calls the Israeli armed forces a "500-pound gorilla in Israel.
Well armed and trained. Operates in both Gaza [and the West Bank]. Known to
disregard international law to accomplish mission. (Emphasis added) Very
unlikely to fire on American forces."
Speaking more specifically of Mossad, the report continues: "Wildcard.
Ruthless and cunning. Has capability to target U.S. forces and make it look
like a Palestinian/Arab act." (Emphasis added; Source: The Washington
Times, "Army study suggests U.S. force of 20,000" by Rowan Scarborough, 5
April 2002)
The Odigo Warning: Israeli employees get e-mail warnings of 9-11
On October 3, 2001, Online Newsbytes published a report that "officials at
instant-messaging firm Odigo confirmed that two employees received text
messages warning of an attack on the World Trade Center two hours before
terrorists crashed planes into the New York landmarks." This was confirmed
by Alex Diamindis, vice president of sales and marketing, who said that
workers in the company's research and development and international sales
office in Israel did in fact receive such a warning from another Odigo user
about two hours before the first attack. "Diamandis said the sender of the
instant message was not personally known to the Odigo employees." Although
both the FBI and Israeli law enforcement agencies said they were "looking
into the matter," it dropped entirely off the radar screen and not another
word has been heard since. (NewsMax.com - "Instant Messages Warned of
Attacks" - 3 Oct. 2001)
More ominous is the military assessment above that Israel has the
capability and the willingness to do such a thing. US awareness of that
fact is considered a vital military factor in US strategic planning, and
carries more weight than the angry words of a young student or the vague
rumors floating around a mosque, or even the more concrete and confirmed e-
mails to Israeli workers at Odigo. One doesn't have to go too far back into
recent history to discover very real Israeli attacks on US military ships.
Sharon's screaming match with Shimon Peres
On October 4, 2001, a report aired on Col Yisrael radio of a screaming
match between Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister (and former Prime Minister)
Shimon Peres over the perceived decline of Israeli world status. "Don't
worry about American pressure on Israel," Sharon reportedly yelled at
Peres. "We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it."
Peres wasn't sure how long that would prove to be true.
Heavy Jewish influence on the Clinton administration, as on most others, is
far out of proportion to American Jewish population. Most of the world
denounces US bias toward Israel, no matter how violent or abhorrent her
actions. That has proven even more true in the recent escalation of West
Bank violence.
Mossad alert - warning or play?
There is no doubt that Mossad did have pretty detailed knowledge of a
forthcoming attack on the US. The London Telegraph reported on Sept. 17
that Mossad officials actually flew to Washington in August to try to
personally plead with the CIA and FBI to deal with a cell of 200 terrorists
planning a major operation - but both agencies refused to listen.
The Mossad officials specifically warned that "large-scale terrorist
attacks on highly visible targets on the American mainland were imminent."
While offering no specific target information, they pointed to Iraq and
Osama bin Laden. A US official told the Telegraph that it was "quite
credible" that the CIA did not heed the Mossad warning. "It has a history
of being over-cautious about Israeli information." But he added that "if
this is true, then the refusal to take it seriously will mean heads will
roll." But of course they didn't. CIA "over-caution" stems from the Mossad
too often crying wolf in order to get the US to do its dirty work for them.
It would seem self-defeating for Mossad to tell the CIA in advance about
such an attack if Mossad was itself involved, but Mossad could have been
playing an extremely clever card, knowing its warning would be ignored, and
thus covering its own butt by issuing the warning anyway. Sometimes the
best way to keep a secret is to "hide" it right out in the open, where no
one would think to look.
There is always the possibility the CIA and Mossad may have even worked
together to smooth the way for the New York attack, without having a direct
hand in it. After all, the CIA supplied the explosives used in the first
World Trade Center bombing in 1993. That is confirmed by sworn court
testimony from the CIA itself; its agents "didn't really believe the
terrorist cell it had infiltrated would actually use the explosives." But
they did, and so the CIA has to share the blame for 1,000 injuries and six
deaths.
Arab charges of Mossad-CIA plot
Lebanon's Druze leader Walid Jumblatt is bitterly anti-Syrian, but he
believes both the CIA and Mossad worked together to remove any roadblocks
the bin Laden group might have encountered. In fact, he goes further and
says he believes both agencies were more actively involved than just
"smoothing the way."
"There are a number of questions on the authors of the attacks in America,"
he said. "I think they (the attacks) were a great coup carried out by the
secret services. The CIA and the Mossad could be behind (the attacks) to
provoke a new war and impoverish and occupy the Middle East."
He believes bin Laden is an "American agent," a belief that can be pretty
well backed up by a mountain of evidence covering several years, as
presented in this book.
"Who is bin Laden who has become the number one (enemy) of western
civilizations? He is an invention of the American secret services who chose
to fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan with US backing," said
Jumblatt, who had close ties to the Soviet Union until its collapse in
1991.
"It's an enormous scandal," he was quoted as saying in the Sydney
(Australia) Morning Herald Sept. 16, 2001, "because in 1994, the CIA
pointed the finger at bin Laden as a very dangerous man. It is also
surprising that a great state which has a military budget of $US 350
billion was not able to thwart these attacks."
"One should find out whether the American (secret) services are implicated
in starting a merciless war between America and the racist West against
Arabs and the Muslims." He expressed concern that the "war on terrorism"
could develop into "a huge massacre of Palestinians." And so it has, but
there has also been a "huge massacre" of innocent Israeli civilians by
Palestinian suicide bombers, some of them no more than 16-year-old girls.
"Under the pretext of fighting bin Laden, the Zionists may commit a huge
massacre in Palestine to push through an exodus of its Arab residents and
give the green light to Sharon to carry out a huge massacre." The events of
the first quarter of 2002 indicate he could well be correct.
He gave the interview in the Shouf mountains southeast of Beirut, where he
was presiding over a local ceremony. During that ceremony he called on the
audience to observe one minute of silence in memory of "the innocent
(people) killed in the World Trade Center" and also in memory of the "Arabs
killed in Palestine, in south Lebanon, in Syria, Jordan and Iraq in the war
against Israel."
In March and April of 2002, Ariel Sharon expanded his columns of tanks and
his aerial firepower back into Lebanon itself, threatening to engulf the
whole area in nuclear war. While one must remember Jumblatt's affinity for
the Soviet Union and the distinct possibility he is simply parroting the
Russian line, he has nonetheless made some very valid points. Things are
not always as they seem.
While it's been fashionable in recent years, especially during the Clinton
years, to blame "the extreme right wing conspiracy" for everything wrong in
America, and to specifically blame "racist militia movements" and "right-
wing talk radio" for our ills, few Americans are aware that the largest and
one of the most violence-prone militias in America is Jewish - the Jewish
Defense League, which Mossad has used quite often. We are afraid to even
discuss it for fear of being called "anti-Semitic." Even the "respected"
Anti-Defamation League has engaged in illegal and wholesale spying on
American citizens who have done nothing wrong whatsoever - except dare to
listen to those who disagree with militant Jewish policies.
The Jewish Defense League bombing plot
Islamists are not the only "extremist terror groups" in the United States.
One of the oldest is the Jewish Defense League (JDL), which has a troubled
history as the nation's largest - and one of its most violent - militias,
yet few Americans would ever think "Jewish" when they hear the word
"militia." It has been labeled a "terrorist organization" by the FBI since
the 1970s.
Late on the night of Dec. 11, 2001, Irv Ruben, 56, and Earl Krugel, 59,
were kicked back in Krugel's Los Angeles home waiting for the final
component of bombs (explosive powder) that would be used to blow up a Los
Angeles (Culver City) mosque (King Fahg Mosque) and the office of Arab-
American Congressman Darrell Issa, a Republican and the grandson of
Lebanese immigrants. Rubin is chairman of the JDL. Just minutes later, as
their informant delivered the material, federal agents moved in and
arrested the two, along with several weapons and bomb components.
The plot was hatched because Arabs "need a wakeup call," Krugel allegedly
said at one point. The original target was to be the Muslim Public Affairs
Council in Los Angeles, but for some unknown reason was changed just the
weekend before.
The JDL was originally formed to mount armed response to anti-Semitic acts
in New York, and gained notoriety for several bombings and arsons aimed at
Soviet targets in retaliation for Soviet mistreatment of Russian Jews.
Kahane left the JDL in the 1980s, sparking a bitter power struggle, and was
assassinated in New York in 1990. El Sayyid Nosair, a 36-year-old Egyptian-
born Muslim was convicted for the murder.
Rubin, by his own count, has been arrested more than 40 times and, in 1980
was acquitted of soliciting the murder of US Nazis after he held a press
conference offering $500 to anyone who killed or maimed a member of the
American Nazi Party. With slogans such "For every Jew a .22" and "Keep Jews
alive with a .45", he views America as strongly anti-Semitic and insists
that only the spilling of Gentile lood can protect American Jews.
In 1985, an Arab-American activist, Alex Odeh, was assassinated by bomb.
While Irvin denied the killing, he said Odeh "got what he deserved." At one
point, according to ABC News (March 19, 2002), JDL member Baruch Goldstein
shot and killed 29 Muslims in a Hebron mosque and wounded 125, but the JDL
refused to repudiate his actions.
"We feel that Goldstein took a preventative measure against yet another
Arab attack on Jews. We understand his motivation, his grief and his
actions," claims the JDL web site. "And we are not ashamed to say that
Goldstein was a charter member of the Jewish Defense League."
The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State
University in San Bernardino classified it as a hate group, as does the
Southern Poverty Law Center (itself somewhat suspect for several reasons)
and the Anti-Defamation League.
In May 1999, the FBI closed a 31-month investigation into reported death
threats the JDL made against rappers Tupac Shakur and Eric "Easy-E" Wright,
unable to corroborate evidence provided independently by two different FBI
informants. The investigation was launched just weeks after Shakur's murder
in September 1996. The informants described a JDL "extortion racket of
various rap music stars via death threats." Wright died of AIDS in March
1995. (Associated Press - Dec. 12, 2001; ABCNews.com - March 19, 2002; and
The Smoking Gun web site).
The Anti-Defamation spy scandal
Yet even the Anti-Defamation League, which condemns the JDL, has secrets of
its own to hide. In December 1992, the story broke that the ADL was engaged
in a massive spying operation on American citizens, targeting critics of
Israeli and South African policy so that Mossad and South African hit
squads could eliminate them.
While claiming to be the nation's leading defender against prejudice and
bigotry, the ADL followed people whose "crime" was to attend public
meetings at which Israel was criticized. San Francisco cop Tom Gerard (who
had tutored the El Salvadoran death squads on the fine arts of torture)
teamed up with a South African spy, Tom Bullock, and sneaked around the
parking lots where meetings were held, copying down license plate numbers,
which Gerard then ran through police department computers to reveal names
and addresses. It was part of an operation that targeted more than 12,000
individuals and 600 organizations in northern California alone. ADL's spin
doctors managed to keep the story from receiving major national news
coverage.
Police retrieved ten boxes of files from the ADL's San Francisco office
and, when 19 pro-Palestinians sued in 1993, the ADL managed to keep the
case dragging on for years by refusing to allow potentially embarrassing
depositions taken by the plaintiff's lawyer (ex-Congressman Paul "Pete"
McCloskey) to be made public. Through manipulation of the judges, the ADL
managed to beat back a Court of Appeals decision forcing those files to be
released. The manipulated court said the ADL was within its rights as "a
journalist organization" to keep their files secret.
What triggered the police raid was a tip from the FBI, whose office had
been broken into and files stolen on the Nation of Islam. Gerard was
accused of the theft and arrested. On his computer, they found files on
more than 7,000 individuals on anyone Gerard felt was "pinko." In his
locker they found a black executioner's hood, several photos of dark-
skinned men who had been bound and blindfolded, CIA manuals, secret
documents on interrogation techniques - stamped "secret" and referring to
El Salvador, and various false passports and IDs bearing Gerard's photo.
The FBI discovered the operation had been ongoing since 1954 and had spied
on 12,000 individuals, 77 Arab-American groups, 29 anti-apartheid groups,
more than 600 "pinko" groups, 20 Bay Area labor unions, 612 right-wing
organizations and 27 skinhead groups. SF police inspector Ron Roth said 75%
of their contents was non-public information illegally obtained directly
from government agencies. That information was being covertly turned over
to Israel and South Africa to be used for "neutralization" purposes.
Bullock admitted he was being paid by both the ADL and South African
intelligence. Just ten days before he was assassinated in South Africa upon
his return home, Chris Hani, widely regarded as the successor to the
African National Congress' Nelson Mandela, had visited California, where he
had come under Bullock's surveillance. Bullock turned the information over
to the ADL and South African intelligence and Hani was promptly murdered.
The ADL's defense was that, like South African intelligence, it was
fighting a "terrorist" and "communist" organization. At the time, Israel
was furnishing arms to the apartheid government to help keep it in power.
SF District Attorney Arlo Smith made 700 pages of documents available to
public for copying costs implicating the ADL in a nationwide spy operation
based out of New York and run by Irwin Saull, since deceased, who was the
ADL's "spymaster." Oddly, Smith then dropped charges in 1994 saying it
would be too "expensive and time-consuming."
Two years later, in 1996, the ADL was hit with another spying lawsuit. It,
too, was quietly resolved on favorable terms to the ADL and the case was
swept under the rug. All it cost the ADL was a $25,000 check and the
promise "not to do it again."
Former Congressman McClockey was himself a victim of ADL attacks and his
wife, Helen, was one of the plaintiffs. Inexplicably, the number of
plaintiffs shrank when two veteran journalists, Colin Edwards and George
Green, suddenly showed up dead. McClockey was able to get the case revived
on the basis of new evidence and the case was scheduled for hearing in
March 2002 - but all news of it has vanished from the American press, amid
reports of a huge cash settlement to hush the matter up once and for all.
It was clearly a classic example of how US government and local police
agencies get around the law by "sub-contracting" out surveillance work they
themselves are prohibited by law from conducting. The ADL, which claims
federal non-profit status as an "education organization", was desperate to
avoid a public trial in which far broader illegal activities would be
exposed. Those in the press who covered the case at all revealed only the
tip of the iceberg. (CounterPunch - "The ADL Snoops: Were the Spies
'Journalists'?" and "The ADL Spying Case Is Over, But the Struggle
Continues" - 25 February 2002)
The FBI has, without a scintilla of evidence, blamed the post-9-11 anthrax
attacks on "domestic right-wing extremists" (Washington Post - "FBI and CIA
Suspect Domestic Extremists; Officials Doubt Any Links to bin Laden" - by
Bob Woodward and Dan Eggen, 27 Oct. 2001) while hiding evidence that points
to a much more direct involvement by a party or parties deep within the
catacombs of government itself. While it may be "politically correct" to
smear a whole class of people so long as they're "right-wing," that does
not make it ethically right, any more than to paint all Jews with a broad
brush of blame. Have we learned nothing since the Third Reich and the
infamous Reichstag hoax?
The 125 phony Israeli 'art students' and the 9-11 hijackers
The case for CIA or Mossad involvement is only circumstantial, and it seems
to implicate US agencies more than Israeli. The extent of Israel's
relentless espionage assault against the US cannot be denied. Remember
Jonathan Pollard (1986)? Nor can the extent of Israel's double-dealing in
which it sells secret and sensitive US technology to China.
While the activities of the JDL and ADL cannot be specifically linked to
the terror of 9-11, there is another case - also hushed up - which is.
"In January 2001, the DEA's security office began a dossier on 125
youthful Israeli visitors, after a few showed up at DEA offices
selling landscapes and abstract paintings." (AP - "Gov't tracks
Israeli art students" by Connie Cass)
In March, 2001, the National Counterintelligence Center (NCIC) warned in a
report that "in the past six weeks, employees in federal office buildings
have reported suspicious activities concerning individuals representing
themselves as foreign students selling artwork." The report noted concern
that they were acting suspiciously and might even be Islamic
fundamentalists posing as Israelis. In fact, they were Israelis.
In April 2001, months before the World Trade Center attack, a large group
of 125 Jewish "art students" apparently knew about the planned al-Qaeda
attack and were following the hijackers around the country, according to a
61-page DEA federal task force report. These "students" gained access to
sensitive federal office buildings and even the homes of government
employees. A draft report from the DEA characterized the operation as
possible espionage, saying it "may well be an organized intelligence-
gathering activity."
These "art students" were arrested in cities throughout the US from
Arkansas to California to Texas to Florida, amid US intelligence warnings
about "suspicious activities" by people posing as Israeli "art students"
and "attempting to bypass facility security and enter federal buildings."
The classified DEA report said a majority of the "students" questioned
acknowledged having served in military intelligence, electronic signals
interception or explosive ordinance units of Israel (emphasis added). One
person was the son of a two-star Israeli general, one had served in a
Patriot missile unit, and another had been a bodyguard to the head of the
Israeli army. The report noted that all of the women were "very
attractive," an asset useful in intelligence and blackmail operations. The
group was made up of 20 cells of between four and eight members each, ages
22-30. "Each cell was under the control of a local chief, who planned and
dovetailed operations [with the other cells]. The team in Irving, Texas,
for example, "answered to Michael Calmanovic, who was arrested last April
4, while the Hollywood, Florida cell was run by Hanan Serfaty. The Miami
operation was run by Legum Yochai."
"In addition the "art students" cultivated contacts with Israeli
information technology companies based in the US and serving as regular
suppliers to various U.S. federal agencies, such as Amdocs, Nice or
Retalix. For instance, Marine Glikman, an Israeli intelligence officer, was
a programmer at Retalix Raanana."
DEA officials were shocked and angered to discover that the group had
targeted Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City (home to AWACs surveillance
planes and where many of the Stealth B-1 bombers are repaired). Also, one
female "art student" had gained entrance to the home of an Environmental
Protection Agency worker "to sell paintings" and then returned later to
photograph the home. Alarmed, the agency documented "sales calls" to the
DEA offices as well as agents' homes in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago,
Atlanta, New Orleans, Miami and other cities. The "students" claimed to be
selling paintings ranging in price from $50 to $200; others claimed they
were simply showing the works to promote Israeli art. Their activities
"might well be an organized intelligence-gathering activity," the
classified report notes, listing mostly people selling overpriced paintings
door to door.
"That these people are now traveling in the U.S. selling art seems not to
fit their background," the report said. One cell leader, according to an AP
report, described buying the paintings for $8 to $10 in Florida, then
reselling them for $50 or more. Some of the art came from Universal Art
Inc. in Sunrise, Fla. Repeated calls to the company were not answered. Was
it an Israeli front?
More shocking, a dozen members of this mysterious team, including the
surveillance leader, had been based in Hollywood, Florida between January
and June of 2001, near where some of the 9-11 hijackers had been living.
The report outlined that another dozen people had been arrested "suspected
of being tasked with the logistics of preparing the September 11 attacks."
(emphasis added)
In a rather convoluted bit of "newspeak" reminiscent of Bill Clinton's
definition of the word "is," the Bush administration at first covered up
the story for nearly a year, then sent out a flurry of government officials
to deny the report, and then - when that failed - said the report couldn't
be true because no Israeli has been charged with spying in the incident.
That is true. They were quickly and quietly deported with no charges being
filed.
No one would have ever known until an unhappy DEA agent leaked the report,
apparently to French intelligence. French intelligence then alerted an
online French intelligence web site (www.intelligenceonline.com) and
provided direct Internet access to the DEA report sitting on government
computers. The site announced in February that it had "exclusive access" to
a US Justice Department report that showed "a huge Israeli spy ring
operating in the United States was rolled up by the Justice Department's
counter-espionage service" last year.
Bill Carter, an FBI spokesman, said "The issue of an Israeli spying network
is not an issue. No Israeli has been charged with espionage by the FBI or
the Justice Department in this matter." True, but disassembling.
A group of Israeli students, he said, "allegedly were involved in activity
outside of their visas and they were removed from the US based on that
fact." He then repeated that none of them had been charged with espionage.
Justice Department spokeswoman Susan Dryden went further, saying "This
seems to be an urban myth that has been circulating for months. The
department has no information at this time to substantiate these widespread
rumors about Israeli art students involved in espionage." The FBI (which as
documented elsewhere was ordered to back off the bin Laden investigation
long before 9-11) and the CIA (who employed bin Laden) claimed a
"disgruntled" DEA employee was simply upset because the FBI and CIA didn't
agree with his report, and leaked a memo he himself wrote. Another FBI
spokesman told Reuters the story was "simply not true", while Israeli
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Yaffa Ben-Ari said it was "nonsense." Yet
another Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Irit Stopper, confirmed that "a few"
Israelis posing as art students had been expelled from the US for not
having work permits.
Yet Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman Russell Bergeron must
not have been fully clued in on the proper response. He confirmed that
"several dozen" Israelis "in their twenties" had been arrested and deported
in the first nine months (up to September) of 2001 for being employed
without proper INS work papers. He refused to tell just how many "students"
were arrested. Another law enforcement agent said some were investigated
for possible fraud charges.
A little-noticed AP report March 9, 2002 revealed that, according to the
classified report, several of the Israelis - like the accused Muslim
hijackers - had never bothered to enroll in the art colleges they claimed
to attend in Israel. Several of those questioned said they were students
from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, but a spokeswoman for the
Israeli school, Pnina Calpen, said no one named in the report had been a
student there going back at least ten years.
"These were routine, normal cases," Bergeron said. "I have no knowledge of
any espionage-related issues with these people." Well, what about terrorism-
related charges?
Faced with more detailed revelations from France, DEA spokeswoman Rogene
Waite confirmed the 61-page DEA document as genuine, according to Tampa Bay
Online and AP (5 Mar. 2002). Another FBI spokesman, on the condition of
anonymity, repeated the statement that no espionage charges had been filed
against anyone. He was asked, "But was there espionage activity?" He would
only repeat his original statement, and refused to answer that specific
question. Another Justice Department official, also asking not to be
identified, said they had been aware of "some alleged linkage" between the
group and "alleged" espionage activities since early 2001, with arrests in
Dallas, Chicago, San Diego and south Florida. The DEA report shows the
"students" were active in several states, including Tennessee. Justice
Department spokesman Bryan Sierra said no one in the Justice Department had
"been concerned" about any alleged espionage. Deputy US Attorney General
Larry Thompson refused to even discuss the matter at all.
Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL - see story
above) shrugged it off, saying "It's become almost a tradition that once
you finish [[Israeli] military service you take a world tour, and then you
face life for real."
Clearly, the Bush administration was caught off guard by the revelations
and in its haste to bring in the spin-doctors, many conflicting accounts
were given to the news media. What was not revealed was that in March 2001,
the US Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, a federal
agency, sent out a public warning urging employees to report any contacts
with people describing themselves as Israeli art students.
"These individuals have been described as aggressive," the warning said.
"They attempt to engage employees in conversation rather than giving a
sales pitch." The group's activities encompassed far more states than the
administration would admit.
The task force carrying out the original investigation, it has been
learned, included not just DEA investigators but those from the INS, the
FBI and the US Air Force investigation unit, due to the broad national
scope of the Israeli operation. However, it was the DEA's in-house security
unit, the Office of Security Programs, that sparked the probe.
Some of the operatives were already well-known in the Israeli intelligence
community, for example: Peer Segalovitz (military registration number
508798) and Aran Ofek (son the two-star Israeli general). Last year, on May
16, 2001, the US Air Force Office of Special Investigation sent a letter to
the Justice Department asking for assistance in an "espionage" case against
four of the "students": Yaro Ohana, Ronen Kalfon, Zeev Cohen and Naor
Topaz.
One of the striking aspects of the document was its suggestion that
the ring had infiltrated federal justice department buildings, and
computer companies also of Israeli origin, which operate in the U.S.
and sell equipment to U.S. government departments.
Intelligence Online has a copy of a memorandum dated March 4, 2002 and
signed by Robert Diegelman, assistant attorney general for
administration. It was addressed to officials in charge of the justice
department's information systems. For security reasons, it called on
them to forbid information system access to all non-U.S. citizens and
no longer use foreign-supplied computer and communication gear. It
referred specifically to an initial warning entitled Department of
Justice Order 2640.2D Information Technology Security and sent out on
last July 12 which cautioned in vaguer terms against using information
technology sold by foreign firms. The July 12 warning confirmed that
the DEA's report, completed in June 2001, was being borne in mind at
the highest level.
The role played by the DEA in the case takes on a wider dimension
because of the fact that in September, 1997 it purchased $25 million
worth of interception equipment from a number of Israeli companies
which were named in the report. In assigning so many resources to the
inquiry (all DEA offices were asked to contribute) the agency was
clearly worried that its own systems might have been compromised.
We've also obtained an internal document from the US Coast Guard, an
Intelligence Bulletin dated Jan. 17, 2002. Reserved for security
bosses in America's biggest companies, the bulletin regularly tracks
all attempts to penetrate protected sites recorded by the US Coast
Guard. The Jan. 17 issue described the case of a man and woman "of
Middle East origin" taking pictures of a refinery. When questioned
they said they were "art students" even though they were able to
discuss technical details concerning refineries. The Intelligence
Bulletin said it had recorded several other cases of suspicious
activity in the past. (Intelligence Online, "Israeli Spy Operation
Confirmed, 14 March 2002)
On March 13, a Justice Department official told Intelligence Online that
the DEA report had been handed over to the department's Joint Terrorism
Task Force. The same day, DEA Administrator Asa Hutchison, at a press
conference, said simply that he had passed the document along to "other
agencies."
Earlier, on February 28, 2002, Intelligence Online reported that some
officials had been hoping for six months that the case would end up in
court, but that "the Bush administration appeared intent on hushing it up."
So much so that when Fox News aired a four-part series by reporter Carl
Cameron, the administration pressured Fox News to remove the series from
its library. Fox News had originally been alerted by federal investigators
who were outraged over the Bush cover-up. Cameron had raised their concerns
that the Israelis had been more deeply involved with the 9-11 hijackers
than the public was being told.
"Indeed, the addresses of Israeli agents mentioned in the report we
obtained are very close to former, known residents of the terrorists,"
Intelligence Online reported (2 Feb. 2002), adding "For the moment,
however, there's nothing to say that wasn't pure coincidence." Of the 19
accused hijackers, five of them lived in Hollywood: Mohamed Atta (alleged
ringleader), Waleed M. Alshehri, Wail M. Alshehri, Abdulaziz Alomari and
Marwan Al-Shehhi. Six others lived in nearby Del Ray Beach: Ahmed Alnami,
Ahmed Ibrahim A. al Haznawi, Saeed Alghamdi, Mohand Alshehri, Hamzi Aghamdi
and Fayez Rashid Ahmed Hassan al Qadi Banihammad. That accounts for 11 of
the 19 accused killers.
"In politics, nothing happens by coincidence." - Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Intelligence Online literally caught hell for the story, which briefly
spread like wildfire around the world, receiving coverage in Arab
newspapers such as Arabia.com (online news) March 5, 2002, in Haaretz
Daily, as well as the Washington Post (March 6), and Tampa Bay Online
(April 8), and Le Monde (France), Associated Press (March 9) and Reuters..
"Indeed, most of the negative comment aimed at discrediting the document
[already officially admitted to be genuine] came from commentators who had
never read it," Intelligence Online noted on March 12.
Why Israeli soldiers don't trust their own government
There is little doubt that Israel has become mired down in its own
"Vietnam" in its war against the Palestinians. It is a war that seems to
drag on forever and one in which an increasing number of Israelis are
refusing to serve. Even a growing number of Israeli troops are refusing
duty in Gaza and the West Bank ("Israelis who won't join the fight" MSNBC,
3 April 2002), creating a "public unity" nightmare for Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon, whose government is deeply split and who must work alongside his
old nemesis Shimon Peres, for whom he has no lost love. It is not
incomparable to the growing hatred that existed between US President Lyndon
Johnson and his Vice President Hubert Humphrey, as Humphrey sought to
distance himself from Johnson in a failed effort to win the 1968 election.
Sharon is facing increasing world isolation, even demands that he be tried
as a war criminal. He is facing a rapid deterioration of support at home
both from the press and from the Israeli population. Israel has gone in a
time machine back to the 1960s experienced by the US, with the country
becoming internally polarized and, ironically, weaker than ever to a true
external threat.
Although aware of this growing crisis of confidence, I was nonetheless
surprised to hear from Israeli military that many of them are "more afraid
of Mossad than of Arafat." They actually believe they are being targeted by
their own government in a desparate attempt to sway public and world
opinion - again, much like Johnson did from the very beginning of the
Vietnam War.
"Do you know the Stern Gang?" one asked me. No, I didn't. "It is an Israeli
operation. They bombed Pacha's Disco in June 2001. The government and the
media lied about it, claiming it was done by a Palestinian suicide bomber.
It wasn't. I was there. They blew up the Jerusalem Ben Yhudah Mall the
following December. Abu Nidal - he was Mossad for 17 years. The al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigade? It is Mossad. Many of these attacks are carried out by
Mossad terrorists, not Arafat - and that is why we refuse to kill
Palestinians. In Vietnam, you had - what you call - friendly fire? Here,
too! In early March, you had 11 Israeli soldiers killed by some crazy old
man with an old bolt-action rifle, so they say. Not so!! It was Mossad. We
came under attack from our own government, just so Sharon can tell the
world what bad guys we are fighting. It is not true. I send you proof."
"Well, what's behind it?" I asked. "What would Sharon want with the damned
West Bank anyway? It's a piece of desert shit!"
"Do you know Operation Pluto?" came the quiet, calm voice - more and more a
question in reply to a question.
"No."
"You Americans don't read your own history very well, do you? We do. We
have to survive. Especially military history. Remember - Operation Pluto.
And I give you one more word - Operation Shekhinah." I had to get him to
spell it. "I can say no more. It would be dangerous for me. Good luck with
your book, you will probably not talk to me again."
"Why?" I asked. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No," he laughed. "I am being sent somewhere, and I may not come back. I
may not even go. I may go to prison instead. That will be my choice. I
can't say any more. Goodbye and good luck."
I looked again at the MSNBC story as I hung up the phone and said a silent
prayer for the friend I had never met face to face. We had met through
music - the blues, actually - through a mutual friend from one of the
former Soviet Republics. He loved the blues. Now, I thought, he's about to
be singing them.
"Why should I go to kill and to be killed - for what?" says Ron, one
of about 400 Israeli soldiers refusing to join the fight in the West
Bank and Gaza. "This is a war we have no chance to win." (MSNBC, ibid)
Lt. Itai Ryb got his call to serve on Friday, March 29. He packed, but for
jail, not war.
"This war is not acceptable to me. I can't take part in it. It's
occupation, it's illegal; mostly it harms the well-being of Israel.
The sooner we end the occupation, the sooner we're going to have peace
in this country." (MSNBC, ibid)
Will my friend be one of these, I wondered.
I found it very hard to believe, even coming from an Israeli. And yet, I
could not forget the US Army report: "[Mossad] has capability to target
U.S. forces and make it look like a Palestinian/Arab act." (Emphasis added;
Source: The Washington Times, "Army study suggests U.S. force of 20,000" by
Rowan Scarborough, 5 April 2002) If they could do it to us, surely they
could do it their own or to the Palestinians with ease. If it is true, then
it must be exposed, and it should not be taken as a blanket indictment of
the Jewish people or the Israeli population any more than the US deception
of Vietnam should be grounds for a blanket indictment of millions of
Americans who either didn't know what was going on or, in fact, were
strongly opposed.
My God, I wondered as I looked over the photographs and news stories
provided me, what kind of insane reality are we slipping into? I
increasingly was feeling more like a participant, a combatant, not just
some researcher safe within his American home. The more leads I found, the
more they in turned led to, and I began to see that my own quest was
dangerous, though certainly not as deadly as the one my fellow humans were
facing in Israel and Afghanistan.
Female Jewish Bomber Murders 12 in Jerusalem
"Girl in Red" in Bomb Horror
Jerusalem, Thursday
Forty minutes after a telephoned warning, the Jerusalem Railway
Station was blown up yesterday. Agency reports say that at least
twelve people are missing, and the station will not be able to be used
for a week.
A young Jewess described as the "Girl in Red" slipped past Arab
police, held up the railway clerk at pistol point, and planted three
suitcases, containing bombs, in the waiting room.
Troops and police were rushed to the station to try and locate the
bombs and a constable managed to remove one. A second exploded in his
hands while he was trying to get it out of the building, wrecking the
loading room and the waiting room. The police constable was killed
instantly.
In the meanwhile, the "Girl in Red" leapt into a taxi, which tore off
through a hail of fire from police. In an attempt to break through
the police cordon drawn around the city, the taxi roared through
twisting lanes in the Jewish slum quarters.
It is thought that the taxi must have stopped briefly to let the girl
out, because when it was finally cornered near the walls of the Old
City, she was not in it. The only occupants were three Jews, two of
whom were wounded. There was a quantity of explosives and hand-
grenades under the flooring of the taxi.
Police took in charge the bullet riddled, bloodstained taxi, scoured
the adjacent Montefiore quarter, and arrested another Jew who was
found wounded in a nearby house. They also held ten other suspects
including a girl dressed in red, who is being questioned in an attempt
to establish the identity of the girl who planted the bombs.
Although earlier agency reports mentioned at least 12 missing, the
only fatality so far mentioned in the official version is the police
officer. He was a demolition expert. Reuters in Jerusalem says that
police and troops last night were still searching the debris at the
station for further casualties.
After the explosion, an Irgun Zvai Leumi (terrorist) spokesman,
broadcasting over the secret radio "Voice of Fighting Zion", said:
"The Jews are at war. Only arms will decide Palestine's future, not an
election."
Final death toll is 12, with 11 injured. The Female Jewish terrorist
has been identified as Sima Fleishhaker-Hoizman (Source: The Daily
New, Perth, Western Australia, 31 October 1946)
Only at the end, did I realize this wasn't an event that had just happened;
it had taken place in 1946 - more than 50 years ago! How long, I wondered,
had such things been going on? I never considered myself someone who had
"just fallen off the turnip truck." As a journalist, as a political advisor
to presidential campaigns, even as someone who had had his own experiences
working with intelligence agencies (or, more properly their "cutouts"), I
thought I was pretty well-informed. But I realized I had been so busy
concentrating on US-focused events that unless they were linked, I hadn't
paid enough attention to foreign deceptions.
Knowing virtually nothing about the specific terrorist attacks my source
had mentioned - except for what I had skimmed over in the press - I read on
through the other information, accompanied by perhaps half a dozen damning
photos.
The "suicide bombing" in the Beit Israel district of Jerusalem March 2,
2002 had killed 10 and wounded 57. Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy said
a suicide bomber with a shrapnel bomb strapped to his waist had simply
walked up to a group of people and blown himself up. The bomber "got to the
center of the neighborhood, approached a group of people (and detonated) a
large explosive on his body," he said. Initially, the London Independent
claimed the bomber was a Mohammed Daragmeh. BBC, meanwhile, claimed it was
a Mohammed al-Chouhani, working for the al-Aqsa Martyers Brigade, an off-
shoot of Arafat's al-Fatah.
The photos clearly showed something entirely different - a car bomb. The
first local press reports, before they were re-written by Jerusalem's
mayor, claimed: "Burial society volunteers picked up body parts amid debris
slick with motor oil and blood. A truck ferried off the charred husk of a
car . Fierce flames from the destroyed car rose into the night sky off the
street where the blast ripped through the Beit Israel district of this city
just as worshippers were emerging from synagogues ."
"Now do you think an Arab is going to be able to drive a car into this
neighborhood on a Saturday night and park it right next to our synagogue
and walk away?" my Israeli friend asked. "He'd be shot on sight. He
wouldn't have a chance. This neighborhood is one of the most radical and
Orthodox in all of Jerusalem. If you think that, you're living in fantasy!
No, my friend, this is Mossad. This is Ariel Sharon. He is a known man of
massacre. What he did at the Lebanon refugee camp years ago, he is now
doing to our own people."
The other information, dated March 3, was taken from the website of Joe
Vialls, an author whose work about a very strange Australian massacre I had
recalled reading. A friend had sent me the book from Australia, insisting I
read it.
It claimed "Taking aim from a hilltop, a sniper killed 11 soldiers and
civilians at a checkpoint Sunday in the deadliest of a two-day string of
Palestinian attacks that killed 21 Israelis."
"Early Sunday a Palestinian sniper apparently using an old Carbine took pot
shots at soldiers and civilians who were at a roadblock about a mile from
the settlement of Ofra northeast of Ramallah, military sources and
eyewitnesses said.
"The gunman who was on a hill overlooking a valley with the roadblock
killed three civilians, two army officers and three soldiers before
reinforcements arrived, returned fire and hit the Carbine.
"Apparently the hills surrounding the valley caused an echo so single shots
sounded like bursts of fire and it was difficult to detect its source. The
attacker disappeared." (http://geocities.com/joevialls/Rambo.html)
Suddenly, my mind's eye fogged then re-opened in Dallas, Texas, Nov. 22,
1963, where a "lone gunman" was supposedly firing off more rounds, more
accurately than the FBI's best snipers could ever replicate. His name was
Lee Harvey Oswald. Perhaps this time, "Oswald" had escaped, evading 120-mm
tank shells and more than 1,000 rounds of returning rifle fire. Or had the
Israelis simply stood around in the open, being picked off one by one?
Where were the Cobra gunships with their Hellfire missiles and Gatling
cannon, thermal imagery, IR guidance and all the other luxuries paid for
with American tax dollars?
As Vialls notes in his website, Rambo would have been proud:
"You can almost hear the distant voice of Colonel Troutman on the
radio. "Come in John Rambo. Come in John. This is Colonel Troutman.
You've done some bad things, John, some very bad things, but we can
sort it out. I've come to take you home to Fort Bragg."
"But they drew first blood, Sir, they drew first blood!"
(http://geocities.com/joevialls/Rambo.html)
I gazed down at the words I had scribbled - Operation Pluto, Shekhinah.
What did it mean? Through a cyberspace journey that took me to Norway,
again to Israel, to Australia and back to the US, I found just how deeply
the tentacles of Big Oil were attached to everything that is going on
around us - and I began to grow even more concerned about my own safety.