(9/11 Israeli Spy Scandal - FOX NEWS 4 Part Series Dec. 2001)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAoe26Ma

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...&search=Search

Fox News, alone of all the media, actually ran the story as a four
part broadcast, and put the story up on its web site. Then, without
explanation, Fox News erased the story from their web site and have
never mentioned it again. So was it true, or just made up? If it were
true, why no investigation?, if False why no investigation?

December 12-15, 2001: News Reports Raises Israeli Spying Questions

Two stills from Carl Cameron's Fox News report on potential Israeli
spying in the US.Two stills from Carl Cameron's Fox News report on
potential Israeli spying in the US. [Source: Fox News] (click image to
enlarge)Fox News reports, "Investigators within the DEA, INS, and FBI
have all told Fox News that to pursue or even suggest Israeli
spying ... is considered career suicide." "A highly placed
investigator says there are 'tie-ins' between the spy ring and 9/11.
However, when asked for details, he flatly refuses 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.'" The report also reveals that Amdocs, an Israeli
company, is recording virtually every phone call in the US and could
be passing information on to the Israeli government (similar claims
were first raised in 2000 [Insight, 5/29/2000] ). Fox News suggests
that the position of this company might impede the 9/11 investigation.
[Fox News, 12/12/2001]

Entity Tags: Israel, Amdocs, Immigration and Naturalization Service,
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Agency

Category Tags: Israel

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December 16, 2001: Fox News Removes Controversial Story from Website,
but Story Nonetheless Makes an Impact

Fox News removes its series on the "art student spy ring" from its
website after only two days, in response to pressure from The Jewish
Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), the Anti-Defamation
League (ADL), the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in
America (CAMERA) and others. CAMERA suggests the reporter "has
something, personally, about Israel. ... Maybe he's very sympathetic
to the Arab side." [Salon, 5/7/2002] The head of the ADL calls the
report "sinister dangerous innuendo which fuels anti-
Semitism." [Forward, 12/21/2001] Yet there does not appear to be any
substance to these personal attacks (and Forward later reverses its
stance on the spy ring (see March 15, 2002)). Fox News also never
makes a formal repudiation or correction about the series. The
contents of the series continues to be generally ignored by the
mainstream media, but it makes a big impact inside the US government:
An internal DEA communiqué from December 18 mentions the Fox report by
name, and warns of security breaches in telecommunications as
described in the Fox report. [Salon, 5/7/2002]

Entity Tags: "Israeli art students", Anti-Defamation League (ADL),
Drug Enforcement Agency, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East
Reporting in America, The Jewish Institute for National Security
Affairs, Fox News

Category Tags: Israel, Media

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(6:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Two Hours Before Attacks, Israeli
Company Employees Receive Warnings

Odigo's logo.Odigo's logo. [Source: Odigo]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, 9/26/2001; Washington Post, 9/27/2001] 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,
9/28/2001] However, a later newspaper report claims that the message
declared "that some sort of attack was about to take place. The notes
ended with an anti-Semitic slur. 'The messages said something big was
going to happen in a certain amount of time, and it did-almost to the
minute,' said Alex Diamandis, vice president of sales for the high-
tech company... He said the employees did not know the person who sent
the message, but they traced it to a computer address and have given
that information to the FBI." [Washington Post, 10/4/2001] Odigo gave
the FBI the Internet address of the message's sender so the name of
the sender could be found. [Deutsche Presse-Agentur (Hamburg),
9/26/2001] Two months later, it is reported that the FBI is still
investigating the matter, but there have been no reports since.
[Courier Mail, 11/20/2001]

Entity Tags: World Trade Center, Odigo Inc., Israel, Federal Bureau of
Investigation

Category Tags: Israel, Warning Signs
Tew

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September 11, 2001: Five Israelis Arrested for Puzzling Behavior near
WTC

The white van used by five Israeli agents as they were leaving New
York on 9/11.The white van used by five Israeli agents as they were
leaving New York on 9/11.Five Israelis are arrested around 4:30 pm for
"puzzling behavior" related to the WTC attacks: filming the burning
WTC from the roof of their company's building near Liberty State Park,
New Jersey, then shouting in what was interpreted as cries of joy and
mockery. A neighbor spotted them and called the police and the FBI.
The police tracked them down in a van with the words "Urban Moving
Systems" written on the side. [Bergen Record, 9/12/2001; Ha'aretz,
9/17/2001] One man was found with $4,700 in cash hidden in his sock,
another had two passports on him, and a box cutter was found in the
van. [ABC News, 6/21/2002] Investigators say that "[t]here are maps of
the city in the car with certain places highlighted... It looked like
they're hooked in with this. It looked like they knew what was going
to happen." [Bergen Record, 9/12/2001] One of these Israelis later
says, "our purpose was to document the event." [ABC News, 6/21/2002]
The FBI later concludes at least two are Mossad agents and that all
were on a Mossad surveillance mission. The FBI interrogates them for
weeks. [Forward, 3/15/2002] They are held on immigration violation
charges, but are released 71 days later. [ABC News, 6/21/2002] Their
names are later identified as Sivan and Paul Kurzberg, Oded Ellner,
Omer Marmari, and Yaron Shmuel. [Forward, 3/15/2002]

Entity Tags: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Yaron Shmuel, Israel
Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks, Omer Marmari, World
Trade Center, Oded Ellner, Paul Kurzberg

Category Tags: Israel

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October 10, 2001: Two Israelis Are Detained in Mexican Legislature
Building after Behaving Suspiciously and Found To Be Carrying Arms

Two Israelis, Salvador Gersson Smike, 34, and Sar Ben Zui, 27, are
arrested in the Mexican Congress Building in Mexico City. Smike is
carrying a plastic 9 mm sophisticated Glock 9 mm pistol tucked into
his underwear in his lower back. Glock pistols are made with a special
plastic material and are very easy to smuggle. [Correo, 10/11/2001; El
Heraldo de Mexico (Mexico City), 10/11/2001; Cronica de Hoy (Mexico
City), 10/12/2001] He also has with him a briefcase reported to
contain 58 bullets, bomb-making materials, three detonators, and nine
grenades. [El Heraldo de Mexico (Mexico City), 10/11/2001] The two
were apprehended after ex-sugarcane workers, who were waiting for a
congressional hearing, saw the two Israelis behaving strangely at
around 4:00 p.m. They were reportedly photographing the workers below
the belt. When the workers demanded that the two men identify
themselves, the Israelis said they were press photographers. The
workers dismissed their claims, overcame them, and then discovered
they were armed with pistols and other high caliber arms. The two men
had apparently also been seen the day before taking pictures. [Cronica
de Hoy (Mexico City), 10/12/2001] Security guards soon arrived,
disarmed the men, and took them to the security office. At around 6:00
p.m., it is learned that the two men are Israelis and that one of
them, Salvador Gersson, is a former colonel of the Israeli Special
Forces. [Correo, 10/11/2001; Diario de Mexico (Mexico City),
10/11/2001 pdf file] Soon after, a man claiming to be a supervisor
from the company, Desarrollo de Sistemas de Seguridad Privada (Private
Security Systems Development), says the two men are employees at the
firm and that they were taking pictures because they are
"vacationing." The journalists who are present scoff at the claim.
[Correo, 10/11/2001; El Heraldo de Mexico (Mexico City), 10/11/2001]
After October 13, no additional information is reported about the
incident.

Entity Tags: Salvador Gersson Smike, Sar Ben Zui, Private Security
Systems Development

Category Tags: Israel

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October 16, 2001: Several Arrested for Curious Sears Tower
Surveillance

Two men, Moshe Elmakias and Ron Katar, are arrested after being found
with a detailed video of the Sears Tower in Chicago. In addition, a
woman named Ayelet Reisler is found with them, carrying conflicting
identification information. They are arrested for illegal dumping,
using a van with the name Moving Systems Incorporated. The video
contains extensive zoom in shots of the Sears Tower; it is not known
when the video was filmed. [Mercury (Philadelphia), 10/17/2001]

Entity Tags: Ayelet Reisler, Sears Tower, Ron Katar, Moshe Elmakias

Category Tags: Israel

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November 20, 2001: Israelis Who Videotaped WTC Attack Are Released,
Deported

The five Israelis arrested on 9/11 for videotaping the WTC attack and
then cheering about it (see September 11, 2001) are released and
deported to Israel. Some of the men's names had appeared in a US
national intelligence database, and the FBI has concluded that at
least two of the men were working for the Mossad, according to ABC
News. However, the FBI says that none of the Israelis had any advanced
knowledge of the 9/11 attacks, and they were released as part of a
deal between the US and the Israeli government. After their release,
they claim to have been tortured. [Forward, 3/15/2002; ABC News,
6/21/2002]

Entity Tags: Israel Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks, Paul
Kurzberg, Yaron Shmuel, Omer Marmari, Oded Ellner, Israel, Federal
Bureau of Investigation

Category Tags: Israel

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November 23, 2001: More Israelis Arrested in Wake of 9/11

The Washington Post reports that "[a]t least 60 young Israeli Jews
have been arrested and detained around the country on immigration
charges since the September 11 attacks, many of them held on US
government officials' invocation of national security." An INS
official who requested anonymity says the use of the term "special
interest" for Israelis being held in Cleveland, St. Louis, and other
places means the case in question is "related to the investigation of
September 11th." [Washington Post, 11/23/2001] Most of them are
deported. However, Intelligence Online claims that "For the
overwhelming majority of the ring's members expelled, there was no
problem at all with visas, and in the lists we only found a few minor
cases of expired visas."" [Agence France-Presse, 3/6/2002]

Entity Tags: Immigration and Naturalization Service

Category Tags: Israel