Israel - By Paul Thompson
Transcribed From "The Terror Timeline" - Chapter 14

Jon Gold
10/30/2005

Earlier today, I had a thought. "Where is the Israeli 9/11 Truth Movement"? You would think the people of Israel are aware of the allegations towards their Government regarding 9/11. Aren't they curious as to why? After that thought, I, myself, wanted to see everything regarding Israel and 9/11. Aside from the "Dancing Israelis". So, I picked up Paul's book. I'm posting this so everyone has a clear understanding as to why Israel and 9/11 are often mentioned in the same breath.

Please remember that Israel is a country, and Judaism is a religion. If Israel had something to do with 9/11, that DOES NOT mean you blame ALL jews....We don't agree with the actions of our Government. I'm sure if the truth were told, the Israelis would not agree with the actions of theirs. This posting is NOT meant to be anti-semitic. I am Jewish, and respect the religion completely.

All of this is available online at www.cooperativeresearch.org, and since this book was published, there have been several updates in regards to Israel.

Israel

There is a large amount of evidence that fundamentalist Muslims played important roles in the 9/11 attacks, such as the many warnings and examples of foreknowledge coming out of Afghanistan. The U.S. and Israel have been al-Qaeda's prime targets. Indeed, U.S. support of Israel is a primary reason al-Qaeda purports to have targeted the U.S. So any theories indicating an active Israeli role in 9/11 seem utterly preposterous.

Yet there may be some connection between Israel and 9/11. Multiple reports and U.S. government documents have indicated that, at a minimum, in the months before and after 9/11, a peculiar group of Israelis were living in cities and towns across the U.S. Posing as art students, these individuals were observed conducting surveillance of multiple federal buildings in the U.S., and seeking contacts with agents from multiple federal agencies, including the DEA and FBI. Many of the "students" were active or former Israeli military personnel with intelligence expertise. At least some of these "students" lived down the street from hijacker Mohammed Atta and three of his associates in Florida prior to 9/11. More than 100 of these "students" were deported prior to 9/11, and up to 60 were deported afterward. Although the U.S. government has consistently maintained that these individuals were deported for routine visa violations, internal documents leaked to the press indicate that at least some in the government suspected the students were part of an Israeli spy ring. [Salon, 5/7/02]

The most common theory offered to explain this story is that the spies were assisting the U.S.'s counter-terrorism efforts, and that they actually warned the U.S. of the pending attack based on the intelligence they obtained, including names of some of the hijackers, in the weeks prior to 9/11.

Another theory is that the spies were in the U.S. for entirely different purposes, wholly unrelated to 9/11. [Salon, 5/7/02] Most controversially, some suggest that Israel knew about the 9/11 attacks but failed to warn the U.S., or even that Israel itself was behind the attacks. [REUTERS, 9/11/03; NEW JERSEY STAR-LEDGER, 12/29/03]

Although some news outlets have reported on this alleged Israeli "art student spy ring," such stories have generally failed to garner front-page coverage. The case of one Israeli spy in the U.S., Jonathan Pollard, probably generated more news coverage when he was arrested about 15 years earlier than the news coverage hundreds of "art student" spies combined have generated. Fox News gave into pressure and pulled its ground-breaking story on the spy ring from its website, and anonymous U.S. officials have warned that to speak of the topic could endanger their careers.

The actions of the Mossad, Israel's spy agency, are shrouded in secrecy and often hard to fathom. Ephraim Halevy, head of the Mossad at the time of 9/11, claims, "Not one big success of the Mossad has ever been made public." [CBS NEWS, 2/8/03] As with other issues related to 9/11, the purpose of this books is not to theorize, or speculate, but to compile the facts as they are known to date, based on what has been reported on this issue. The "art student spy ring" story remains one of the most baffling of the many 9/11 mysteries.

January 2000: Israeli Spy Ring Begins Penetrating US
A DEA government document later leaked to the press [DEA report, 6/01] suggests that a large Israeli spy ring starts penetrating the US from at least this time, if not earlier. This ring, which will later become popularly known as the “art student spy ring,” is later shown to have strange connections to the events of 9/11. [Insight, 3/11/02]

February 6, 2000: Apparent Mossad Attempt to Infiltrate al-Qaeda Thwarted
India's largest Newsweekly reports that it appears a recent Mossad attempt to infiltrate al-Qaeda failed when undercover agents were stopped on their way to Bangladesh by Indian customs officials. These 11 men appeared to be from Afghanistan, but had Israeli passports. One expert states, “It is not unlikely for Mossad to recruit 11 Afghans in Iran and grant them Israeli citizenship to penetrate a network such as bin Laden's. They would begin by infiltrating them into an Islamic radical group in an unlikely place like Bangladesh.” [The Week, 2/6/00]

April 19, 2000: Reports Indicate Israeli Organized Crime Units Dominate Ecstasy Distribution
USA Today reports that “Israeli crime groups ... dominate distribution” of Ecstasy. [USA Today, 4/19/00] The DEA also states that most of the Ecstasy sold in the US is “controlled by organized crime figures in Western Europe, Russia, and Israel.” [UPI, 10/25/01] According to DEA documents, the Israeli “art student spy ring” “has been linked to several ongoing DEA [Ecstasy] investigations in Florida, California, Texas, and New York now being closely coordinated by DEA headquarters.” [Insight, 3/11/02]

December 2000-April 2001: Israeli Investigators Deported After Identifying Two Hijackers
According to later German reports, “a whole horde of Israeli counter-terror investigators, posing as students, [follow] the trails of Arab terrorists and their cells in the United States. ... In the town of Hollywood, Florida, they [identify] ... Atta and Marwan Alshehhi as possible terrorists. Agents [live] in the vicinity of the apartment of the two seemingly normal flight school students, observing them around the clock.” Supposedly, around April, the Israeli agents are discovered and deported, terminating the investigation. [Der Spiegel, 10/1/02]

March 23, 2001: DEA Issues Alert to Look Out for Israeli Spies
The Office of National Drug Control Policy issues a National Security Alert describing “apparent attempts by Israeli nationals to learn about government personnel and office layouts.” This later becomes known through a leaked DEA document called “Suspicious Activities Involving Israeli Art Students at DEA Facilities.” A crackdown ensues and by June, around 120 Israelis are apprehended. More are apprehended later. [DEA report, 6/01]

June 2001: DEA Draws Up Report on Israeli Spies
The DEA's Office of Security Programs prepares a 60-page internal memo on the Israeli “art student spy ring.” [DEA report, 6/01] The Memo is a compilation of dozens of field reports, and was meant only for the eyes of senior officials at the Justice Department (of which the DEA is adjunct), but it is leaked to the press around December 2001. The report connects the spies to efforts to foil investigations into Israeli organized crime activity involving the importation of the drug Ecstasy. The spies also appear to be snooping on top-secret military bases. For instance, on April 30, 2001, an Air Force alert was issued from Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City concerning “possible intelligence collection being conducted by Israeli art students.” Tinker AFB houses AWACS surveillance craft and Stealth bombers. By the time of the report, the US has “apprehended or expelled close to 120 Israeli nationals” but many remain at large. [Le Monde, 3/5/02; Salon, 5/7/02] An additional 20 or so Israeli spies are apprehended between June and 9/11. [Fox News, 12/12/01]

August 8-15, 2001: Israel Reportedly Warns of Major Assault on the US
At some point between these dates, Israel warns the US that an al-Qaeda attack is imminent. [Fox News, 5/17/02] Reportedly, two high-ranking agents from the Mossad come to Washington and warn the FBI and CIA that from 50 to 200 terrorists have slipped into the US and are planning “a major assault on the United States.” They say indications point to a “large scale target,” and that Americans would be “very vulnerable.” They add there could be Iraqi connections to the al-Qaeda attack. [Daily Telegraph, 9/16/01; Los Angeles Times, 9/20/01; Ottawa Citizen, 9/17/01] The Los Angeles Times later retracts its story after a CIA spokesperson says, “There was no such warning. Allegations that there was are complete and utter nonsense.” [Los Angeles Times, 9/21/01 (B)] Other newspapers do not retract it.

August 23, 2001: Mossad Reportedly Gives CIA List of Terrorist Living in US; at Least Four 9/11 Hijackers Named
According to German newspapers, the Mossad gives the CIA a list of 19 terrorists living in the US and say that they appear to be planning to carry out an attack in the near future. It is unknown if these are the 19 9/11 hijackers or if the number is a coincidence. However, four names on the list are known, and these four will be 9/11 hijackers: Nawaf Alhazmi, Khalid Almihdhar, Marwan Alshehhi, and Mohamed Atta. [Die Zeit, 10/1/02; Der Spiegel, 10/1/02; BBC, 10/2/02; Ha'aretz, 10/3/02] The Mossad appears to have learned about this through its “art student spy ring.” Yet apparently, this warning and list are not treated as particularly urgent by the CIA and the information is not passed on to the FBI. It is unclear whether this warning influenced the decision to add Alhazmi and Almihdhar to a terrorism watch list on this same day, and if so, why only those two. [Der Spiegel, 10/1/02] Israel has denied that there were any Mossad agents in the US. [Ha'aretz, 10/3/02]

September 4, 2001: Mossad Gives Another Warning of Major, Imminent Attack
“On or around” this day, the Mossad give their “latest” warning to the US of a major, imminent attack by al-Qaeda, according to sources close to Mossad. One former Mossad agent says, “My understanding is that the warning was not specific. No target was identified. But it should have resulted in an increased state of security.” US intelligence claims this never happened. [Sunday Mail, 9/16/01]

September 4, 2001: Israeli Company Moves Out of WTC
The Zim-American Israeli Shipping Co. moves their North American headquarters from the 16th floor of the WTC to Norfolk, Virginia, one week before the 9/11 attacks. The Israeli government owns 49 percent of the company. [Virginian-Pilot, 9/4/01] Zim announced the move and its date six months earlier. [Virginian-Pilot, 4/3/01] More than 200 workers had just been moved out; about ten are still in the building making final moving arrangements on 9/11, but escape. [Jerusalem Post, 9/13/01; Journal of Commerce, 10/18/01] The move leaves only one Israeli company, ClearForest, with 18 employees, in the WTC on 9/11. The four or five employees in the building at the time manage to escape. [Jerusalem Post, 9/13/01] One year later, a Zim ship is impounded while attempting to ship Israeli military equipment to Iran; it is speculated that this is done with the knowledge of Israel. [Agence France-Presse, 8/29/02 (B)]

September 11, 2001: Two Hours Before Attacks, Israeli Company Employees Receive Warnings
Two employees of Odigo, Inc., an Israeli company, receive warnings of an imminent attack in New York City about two hours before the first plane hits the WTC. Odigo, one of the world's largest instant messaging companies, has its headquarters two blocks from the WTC. The Odigo Research and Development offices where the warnings were received are located in Herzliyya, a suburb of Tel Aviv. Israeli security and the FBI were notified immediately after the 9/11 attacks began. The two employees claim not to know who sent the warnings. “Odigo service includes a feature called People Finder that allows users to seek out and contact others based on certain interests or demographics. [Alex] Diamandis [Odigo vice president of sales and marketing] said it was possible that the attack warning was broadcast to other Odigo members, but the company has not received reports of other recipients of the message.” [Ha'aretz, 9/26/01; Washington Post, 9/27/01 (C)] Odigo claims the warning did not specifically mention the WTC, but the company refuses to divulge what was specified, claiming, “Providing more details would only lead to more conjecture.” [Washington Post, 9/28/01] Odigo gave the FBI the Internet address of the message's sender so the name of the sender could be found. [Deutsche Presse-Agenteur, 9/26/01] Two months later, it is reported that the FBI is still investigating the matter, but there have been no reports since. [Courier Mail, 11/20/01]

End Part I