THE ISRAELI ART STUDENTS AND MOVERS STORY
The Liberty State Park vantage
point the five Urban Moving Systems celebrants had
of lower Manhattan on the morning of September 11.
By Wayne Madsen
The presence in the United States of a number of young Israelis, most of whom had specialized military and intelligence backgrounds, in the months prior to 911 is a subject that has received inadequate attention from the major U.S. media and government investigators. The activities of the Israelis fell into two main areas: the casing of the offices and homes of Federal law enforcement officials, U.S. military bases, and other sensitive sites by Israeli “art students” during 2000 and 2001 and the unusual activities of Israeli “movers” around sensitive areas during and after 911. These incidents occurred in tandem with the suspiscious activities of other former Israeli military and intelligence officials in neighboring countries, including Canada and Mexico, after 911. In addition, a number of Israeli intelligence agents were apprehended abroad for passport violations and other illegal activities.
The possibility that the suspicious Israeli activity was linked to the movements of Al Qaeda cells cannot be brushed aside as merely coincidental. For example, a number of the Israelis arrested for suspicious activities involving selling bogus Israeli art and driving moving vans were concentrated in some of the same neighborhoods where a number of the 911 Saudi and other Arab hijackers lived and trained at flight schools.
Two internal U.S. government documents revealed that among the 120 Israeli “art students” who attempted to penetrate the security of dozens of Federal office buildings and who visited the homes of scores of U.S. law enforcement personnel during 2000 and 2001 were some who used addresses and mail drops in southern Florida and Texas near those used by a number of the 911 hijackers. The information came from a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Report drafted in June 2001 on the activities of the art students and a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) list of the hijackers and other terrorist suspects, accidentally released in early October 2001 on a Finnish government web site. The DEA memo specifically stated that the Israelis may have had ties to an “Islamic fundamentalist group.”
As a journalist, it has become increasingly difficult since the 911 terrorist attacks to cover the more secretive aspects of the U.S. intelligence and law enforcement communities. Many government officials have readopted the famous World War II missive of “Loose Lips Sink Ships,” in refusing comment on anything deemed sensitive. Journalists who rely on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to obtain copies of documents also face unprecedented challenges. After 911, Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a memorandum that states his Justice Department will use its enormous legal might to defend any refusal by any government agencies to withhold information requested under the FOIA.
Coming into possession of a sensitive Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) report on the activities of Israeli “art students” was, therefore, a welcome surprise. DEA, the chief agency that investigates drug cartels, dangerous work under any circumstance, is traditionally very secretive about its investigations. However, some members of the agency, frustrated that their concerns were not being taken seriously by senior officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Justice Department, apparently decided to leak the report. Their decision was supported by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), another agency involved with the DEA in the joint task force set up to investigate the Israeli “students.”
Being presented with a document such as the DEA report, titled “Suspicious Activities Involving Israeli Art Students at DEA Facilities,” posed unique problems in itself. For example, the document had to be verified as authentic and not a hoax. Many times, government agencies will merely state they “can neither confirm nor deny” the genuineness of leaked documents. However, in the case of the DEA report, confirmation of its genuineness came from the DEA in relatively quick fashion.
One amazing element of the story was the fact that a number of DEA, INS, and FBI agents had discovered, as had I, that several of the known addresses of the Israeli students were very close to those of the Al Qaeda terrorists and their supporters. These included addresses in Hollywood, Florida; Miami, Florida; and Irving, Texas. Speaking off-the-record, some of the agents told me that the fact that the Israelis and Al Qaeda were living in the same neighborhoods at the same time--January through May 2001--led the agents to believe the real mission of the Israelis was not to sell art at federal facilities but to spy on the Al Qaeda members.
As rock solid as the story about the true nature of the art students remains--it has had to face another, even more insurmountable problem than getting federal agents to talk. Immediately after the story appeared in Intelligence Online, Le Monde, and the Associated Press, the sizeable pro-Israeli lobby in the United States began to gear up for a counter punch. They had been through this in December 2001 when the Fox News Network, in a four part series by Carl Cameron, referred to Israelis being arrested and detained in the United States for espionage. Cameron also stated, “Evidence linking these Israelis to 911 is classified. I cannot tell you about evidence that has been gathered. It’s classified information.” No sooner had Fox put the story on its web site it was pulled down without explanation. A similar story on Houston’s CBS affiliate, KHOU-TV, provided the following introduction:
Federal agents in Dallas were also concerned that the Israeli art
students had other intentions. The office manager for a Plano physician reported
that after being told to leave, the Israelis kept returning to her building,
which had a no soliciting policy. Channel 8 in Dallas reported that a number of
Israelis were caught casing Federal buildings in Dallas and being involved in
suspicious behavior in north Texas.[3]
The author’s own colleagues reported that aggressive Israeli art students paid visits during late 2000 and early 2001 to the offices of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) in Washington, DC and the headquarters of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) in Arlington, Virginia.
Other suspected Israeli intelligence activity surrounding 911, including the
arrest by New Jersey police near Giants Stadium of five Israelis who were seen
celebrating, high-fiving, jumping up and down, and videotaping the collapse of
the World Trade Center, was reported by the media. A New Jersey apartment
resident named Maria, who declined to give her last name, told ABC News about
several Israelis she saw celebrating the attack on the Twin Towers in her
parking lot. The Israelis were later linked to an Israeli-owned office moving
company called Urban Moving Systems headquartered in Weehawken, New Jersey at 3
West 18th Street. Another Urban Moving office was located on West 50th
Street in Manhattan. Urban Moving’s owner, Dominik Otto Suter, fled to Israel
shortly before he was to be re-questioned by the FBI.
[4]
One of the five Israelis had a ticket for Bangkok and was due to fly out on
September 13.[5]
The New York Department of Transportation revoked Urban Moving Systems’ license
after it was discovered that its Manhattan business address was merely a post
office box.
At 3:31
P.M. the FBI issued a nationwide alert called “Be On Lookout” or “BOLO” for the
Israelis. Drafted by Special Agent Dave O’Brien, it read:
“Vehicle possibly related to New York terrorist attack. White, 2000
Chevrolet van with New Jersey registration (JYJ 13Y) with ‘Urban Moving Systems’
sign on back seen at Liberty State Park. Jersey City, NJ, at the time of the
first impact of jetliner into World Trade Center.”[6]
According to FBI sources, Urban Moving
Systems and the activities of its employees on 911 did not sit too well with one
member of the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, Special Agent Michael
Dick. He pursued the Israeli angle but soon found himself transferred to
Karachi, Pakistan to help rescue Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel
Pearl who had been kidnapped by Al Qaeda functionaries. There was one hitch. The
FBI was already aware that Pearl had been brutally murdered by his captors.
Urban Moving Systems Weehawken, NJ bomb
making and
Moments after Maria felt the ground shake from the impact of the first plane into the World Trade Center and she received a phone call from a neighbor to look out her window at the southern Manhattan skyline, she noticed a white Chevy van parked in the lower parking lot with three of the five men in the van jumping on the roof of the vehicle and videotaping each other with the carnage in the background. Maria was also shocked that the men were celebrating the horrific scenes across the Hudson River. After writing down the license plate number of the van, Maria and her husband Pat phoned the police.[7]
Subsequently, Information Spectrum, Inc. (ISI) of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, a subsidiary of the Fairfax, Virginia-based defense contractor, Anteon, took over the operation of the Jersey City police computer system that handled all incoming emergency phone calls on September 11. The system had been maintained by Larimore Associates, a company that specializes in archiving police emergency calls. However, Larimore’s contract was abruptly canceled by Jersey City authorities and awarded to Information Spectrum after the sudden death from a heart attack of Jersey City’s first African-American mayor, Democrat, Glenn D. Cunningham, himself a former Jersey City police officer. According to Jersey City Police officials, after the emergency call system was changed from a Wang to a Windows environment, 8000 emergency 911 system calls registered on September 11 were scrubbed from the archives. In fact, archives dating back to 1989, including those dealing with the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, were similarly affected. Information Spectrum’s running of the computer system resulted in a number of server crashes. When Larimore volunteered to help recover the lost data, there was no response from the police department.[8] Some Jersey City police sources speculated the change from Larimore to ISI/Anteon was prompted by orders from Trenton and the administration of Governor James McGreevey. They termed the changeover as “political.” Governor McGreevey resigned in 2004 after it was discovered he had an alleged gay relationship with his chief of Homeland Security, Golan Cipel. An Israeli citizen, Cipel, a former diplomat assigned to Israel’s Consulate General in New York City, was thought by many intelligence experts to be a junior Mossad case officer who lured McGreevey into a “honey trap.”
Jersey City was a major base of operations for the 1993 World Trade Center attack. The Ryder van used in that attack was rented from a Jersey City rental agency. As for the 911 attacks on the World Trade Center, there were no records of a call by Maria or any other witness to the Israeli activity in Maria’s building parking lot or at Liberty State Park. The only call remaining in the system was a late night call on September 11 about a suspicious vagrant in a south Jersey City neighborhood.[9]
However, there was a call placed to the Jersey City Police Department that claimed “Palestinians” in Arab clothes were seen celebrating the attacks. Although the Jersey City Police discovered their 911 system tapes on September 11, 2001 disappeared from their servers and achives after ISI took over the contract, some tapes implicating “Arabs” found their way into the hands of WNBC-TV in New York in June 2002. WNBC played transcripts of 911 calls from the Jersey City Police:
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.[10]
It is clear that the Jersey City Police Department’s 911 call tapes were manipulated to delete any calls that might implicate the Israelis. The one call provided to WNBC was cleatly an attempt at a “false flag” operation implicating “Palestinians” wearing “sheik uniforms” as the culprits in at least one of the white vans driven by Israeli “movers” on the morning of September 11.
After the van was traced to the Israeli moving company, the BOLO went out for the arrest of the vehicle’s driver and passengers. An East Rutherford policeman directing traffic away from the closed Lincoln Tunnel on Route 3 East noticed the van was driving slowly on the service road towards the tunnel. The tag of the vehicle was only off by one letter from what was contained in the BOLO (JRJ 13Y) and the front New Jersey plate had been removed. It is very possible that to confuse the police, the Israelis were using NJ plate JRJ 13Y as the rear tag on two white vans – the one sighted in Liberty State Park and the other in Maria’s apartment building parking lot. In fact, local police reported a number of white van sightings during September 11, with a number of them phoned into the police. Maria told ABC News she phoned tag number JRJ 13Y to the Jersey City Police after seeing the Israelis driving in a white van celebrating the first plane’s impact, while Liberty State Park witnesses said the same tag number -- JRJ 13Y -- had been passed to the police and FBI after a white van with “celebrating Arabs” had been chased from the park by the park’s chief ranger after the first plane impact.[11] It was clear that officials of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection in Trenton, which has authority over the state’s parks, ordered Liberty State Park officials not to talk to the media about September 11 and the Israeli van.[12]
The East Rutherford Police report on the Israeli van states:
According to the ABC 20/20 report and echoing the East Rutherford police report, the van’s driver, Sivan Kurzburg, told DeCarlo, “We are Israeli. We are not your problem. Your problems are our problems. The Palestinians are the problem.”[17] The Israelis also reportedly told police they were tourists.[18] When the FBI developed the photos taken by the Israelis of the World Trade Center carnage, one photo depicted Kurzburg flicking a cigarette lighter in a celebratory manner with the burning buildings in the background.[19]
The
Liberty State Park vantage point the five Urban Moving Systems celebrants had
of lower Manhattan on the morning of September 11.
Another van carrying explosives was stopped by police on an approach ramp to the George Washington Bridge from the New Jersey side. Police suspected the perpetrators were trying to blow up the bridge.[22]
According to Jersey City police sources, another FBI
agent, Monica Patton, investigated the activities of Israeli “movers” and four
of the hijackers, Mohammed Atta, Marwan al Shehhi, and two Saudi brothers –
Waleed M. and Wail Al-Shehri -- at the same video rental store in Jersey City.
One of the videos the Saudi brothers rented was an HBO documentary on the 1993
bombing of the World Trade Center. Another video they rented was “The Towering
Inferno.” The video storeowner said his video rental records were later stolen
after the FBI interviewed him and he told them about the Saudis’ rental history.
The Al Shehri brothers also purchased phone cards from the video store for
special use in calling Dubai. The Jersey City intrigue does not stop with the
Saudis and Israelis. Jersey City Police also reported that the business card of
a Jersey City municipal government social worker had been found on Timothy
McVeigh after his arrest for the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in
Oklahoma City in 1995.[23]
After serving two and a half months in prison and after a barrage of official complaints from the Israeli government, the five Israeli “movers” (Kurzberg, his brother Paul Kurzberg, Yaron Shmuel, Oded Elner, and Omer Marmari) were released over the objections of the CIA and permitted to return home. However, when Jersey City police checked the Israelis’ van they found $4,700 hidden in a sock, two foreign passports and a Stanley-knife box cutter (the same brand used by the 911 hijackers). Paul Kurzberg, refused for ten weeks to take a polygraph and then flunked it when he did. His lawyer said his client once worked for Israeli intelligence in “another country.”[24] Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert interceded twice with his good friend New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to have the Israelis released. On September 14, 2004, the five “dancing Israelis” filed suit against the United States in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn for wrongful arrest and imprisonment.
In their complaint, Silvan Kurzberg, Paul Kurzberg, Yaron Shmuel, Omer Gavriel Marmari, and Oded Oz Elner cited the following defendants:
JOHN
ASHCROFT, Attorney General of the United States; JAMES W. ZIGLAR (Former
Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service); MICHAEL ZENK
(Warden of the
A number of interesting facts are stated in
the Israelis’ complaint. It states that some of the Israelis were classified as
being “of high interest” to the government’s terrorism
One intriguing complaint was that the U.S. government detained the
Israelis precisely because they were Jewish Israelis. The court filing states: “Defendants
and others have also engaged in racial, religious, ethnic, and/or national
origin profiling. Plaintiffs’ race, religion, ethnicity, and/or national origin
played a determinative role in Defendants’ decision to detain them initially, to
subject them to a blanket non-bond policy, to subject them to punishing and
dangerous conditions of confinement, and then to keep them detained beyond the
point at which removal or voluntary departure could have been effectuated . . .”
Silvan Kurzberg was
required to provide a blood sample while in prison, an indication that federal
authorities may have had some DNA evidence they wanted to match. At the time of
their arrest, all the Israelis had plane tickets back to Israel. When they were
first detained, the Israelis were not permitted to meet with a Rabbi. Later
access to a Rabbi was granted under “severely limited” circumstances. Prayer
books and a bible given to the Israelis by the Rabbi were inspected by prison
guards. During their first two weeks of detention, the FBI prohibited the
Israeli Consul in New York from meeting with the Israelis.
One of the most astounding claims of the Israelis was that the FBI,
Bureau of Prisons, and Immigration and Naturalization Service did not umderstand
the difference between Arab Muslims and Jewish Israelis. The complaint states:
“The plaintiffs are Jewish Israelis, not Moslems, but due to the similarity of
language and the geographical location of Israel in the Middle East, and the
ignorance or lack of understanding of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the fact
that Israel is an ally of the United States, the defendants mentally placed the
plaintiffs in the same category as Moslems, and discriminated against them the
same way.”[25]
At around noon on September 12, 2001, Roy Barak, a former Israeli paratrooper, and Motti Butbul, both employed by Urban Moving Systems as drivers, were stopped by police near York, Pennsylvania. They were en route from Chicago to New York City. Police discovered Barak had an expired visa and Butbul had no work permit. FBI agents were soon on the scene and grew suspicious when a box cutter was found inside the truck. The FBI polygraphed Barak and showed him a picture of his five colleagues arrested in New Jersey and asked him why they were smiling. Barak responded that they were not smiling. The FBI thought Barak was a possible terrorist and a Mossad spy. The FBI was particularly interested if someone sent Barak to the United States and if, at the time, he held a security clearance in the Israeli army. Barak spent his second week in solitary confinement without a television, radio, or any books.[26]
Vince Cannistraro, the former operations chief for counter-terrorism for the CIA, said that a search of the CIA’s national intelligence database turned up some of the names of Israelis arrested in New Jersey. He said a number of people in the U.S. intelligence community concluded that Urban Moving was a Mossad operation and the Israelis were pursuing Islamist radicals in the New Jersey-New York area and particularly in Patterson, New Jersey. Pauline Stepkovich, who lived across the street from Urban Moving, told ABC News that FBI agents removed about a dozen boxes and computers, enough to fill up two SUVs. Cannistraro told ABC News that the FBI was concerned that the Israeli movers had some advanced knowledge of the 911 attacks but failed to warn the United States. “The fear of some of the FBI investigators in this particular case was that this group had some advanced knowledge of what was going to happen on 911. And once they understood there was an Israeli connection--an Israeli intelligence connection--they became very disturbed, because the implication was that the Israelis may have had some advanced knowledge of the events of 911 and hadn’t told us,” Cannistraro said.[27] Israeli intelligence foreknowledge about the 911 attacks was confirmed by two senior-level intelligence officials at the CIA and FBI.[28]
In Washington, Israeli embassy spokesman, Mark Regev, dismissed the espionage charges, claiming the excitement of the Israelis seeing the World Trade Center collapse was due to “youthful foolishness.”[29] A lawyer for one of the Israelis said his client denied celebrating the terrorist attack on the Trade Center, however, after the FBI developed their film it clearly showed three of the Israelis on top of the van “smiling and clowning around” with the buildings burning in the background.[30] The evidence bolstered what Maria and Pat told the police and proved that the Israelis lied to the police when they claimed they were in Manhattan during the attack.
The Jewish weekly newspaper, The Forward, reported that a top U.S. government official told it, “The assessment was that Urban Moving Systems was a front for the Mossad and operatives employed by it… the conclusion of the FBI was that they were spying on local Arabs.”[31] ABC 20/20 host Barbara Walters commented on how the story of the Israeli movers was received in the Arab world, “The story is that Israel knew more than it would like to admit about the terrorist attack in this country. It's a rumor, but in some Arab countries--including Saudi Arabia, which I visited earlier this year--even educated people told me that they believe it is absolutely true.”[32]
Perhaps the young Israelis were only mirroring the feelings of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who when asked how the 911 attacks would affect U.S.-Israeli relations, said, “It’s very good… Well, it’s not good, but it will generate immediate sympathy for Israel from Americans.” Bergen County Police Chief John Schmidig was not as serene. He said, “We got an alert to be on the lookout for a white Chevrolet van with New Jersey registration and writing on the side. Three individuals were seen celebrating in Liberty State Park after the impact. They said three people were jumping up and down.”[33]
It is no coincidence that both Fox News and KHOU-TV had to pull down their web stories on the Israeli art students (based on the exposés in Intelligence Online and Le Monde, Fox began referring to its original December 2001 story on its web site). According to a number of Washington journalists, any time an article critical of Israel appears in the U.S. press, reporters and editors can expect to hear from a Boston-based group called the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America or “CAMERA.” The Kafkaesque group makes no secret of its aggressive intimidation methods. Its web site states: “CAMERA systematically monitors, documents, reviews and archives Middle East coverage. Staffers directly contact journalists and publishers concerning distorted or inaccurate coverage… CAMERA members are encouraged to write letters both to the publication or network, and to the sponsors or advertisers… If corrections and improved coverage are not forthcoming, we publicize the faulty reporting and the journalist’s refusal to admit error.”
As an example, CAMERA cited a Washington Post story that refuted the legitimacy of the DEA’s investigation and report on the Israeli art students. The story by reporters John Mintz and Dan Eggen questioned the motive behind the DEA’s report by claiming, without offering any proof, that the agent who wrote it was disgruntled. Moreover, there was more than one author of the report. Apparently, CAMERA’s “fact checkers” were only interested in checking out stories with which they disagreed or found embarrassing.
Neither the Washington Post or CAMERA seemed all that much interested in a warning about the Israeli “art students” and their “aggressive” visits to the offices and homes of U.S. federal agents that was circulated in March, 2001 by the White House Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive. The warning stated:
“In the past six weeks, employees in federal office buildings located throughout
the United States have reported suspicious activities connected with
individuals representing themselves as foreign students selling or
delivering artwork. Employees have observed both males and females attempting to
bypass facility security and enter federal buildings.
If challenged, the individuals state that they are delivering artwork from a
studio in Miami, Florida, called Universal Art, Inc., or that they are art
students and are looking for opinions regarding their work. These individuals
have been described as aggressive. They attempt to engage employees in
conversation rather than giving a sales pitch.
Federal police officers have arrested two of these individuals for
trespassing and discovered that the suspects possessed counterfeit work visasand
green cards. These individuals have also gone to the private residences of
senior federal officials under the guise of selling art.”[34]
The nature of reporting on Israeli espionage in the United States can result in sources drying up rapidly. In the case of the DEA, the spokesman who originally confirmed the veracity and validity of the DEA Report was suddenly sent away on “vacation.” Other DEA agents and employees of other Justice Department agencies began to seal their lips. Attorney General John Ashcroft refused on two occasions to comment on the DEA investigation. Congress was also unwilling to look into the matter. Asked why, a senior congressional staffer replied, “You’ve got to be kidding… This is an election year!” He was referring to the 2002 congressional elections.
Ashcroft was portrayed as “disinterested” in counterterrorism during the summer
of 2001, according to internal FBI memos written by Acting Director of the FBI
Thomas Pickard.[35]
Ashcroft’s “disinterest” in terrorism did not affect his looking out for his own
safety. At the end of July 2001, Ashcroft broke with precedence and flew in a
private G-3 Gulfstream to go on a fishing trip to Missouri. Ashcroft had
previously flown on commercial planes. When asked
why Ashcroft did not fly commercial, the Justice Department said that because of
a “threat assessment” by the FBI, Ashcroft would “travel only by private jet for
the remainder of his term.” Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department would
identify what the threat was, when it was detected or who made it. However, the
FBI security detail for Ashcroft determined that the threat was critical enough
for Ashcroft not to fly on commercial aircraft.[36]
The FBI ignored both the warnings about
The two groups’
The Israelis were described in the DEA Report and other security advisories as being part of an “organized intelligence gathering activity.” According to the FBI list, the Arab terrorist and suspect cells lived in the same neighborhoods as the Israeli cells in Irving, Texas and Hollywood and Miami, Florida from Dec. 2000 to April 2001. In the case of Irving, the Israeli cell used a rental mailbox in a shopping center just one block away from an Arab suspect’s apartment. In Hollywood, the terrorists, including lead hijacker Mohammad Atta, the Egyptian who piloted American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, used a rental mailbox drop two blocks from an apartment rented by an Israeli “art student” team leader.
If the Israelis were stalking
the hijackers, they would have also likely known about their interest in the
World Trade Center. Speaking at a press conference in Washington, DC on March
22, 2004, William Rodriguez, the President of the Hispanic Victims Group and a
20-year veteran employee of the World Trade Center, revealed that he spotted
Mohand Al-Shehri (alias Mohammed al Shehhi), one of the terrorist hijackers of
United Flight 175 that crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center,
two and a half months before September 11. Rodriguez said he saw Al-Shehri, a
Saudi citizen, casing the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Rodriguez’s
comments were part of the press conference partly organized by family members of
911 victims. The family members were calling for a full accounting by members of
both the Clinton and Bush administrations about what they knew about the Al
Qaeda threat to hijack planes prior to 911.
Rodriguez was a building manager for the World Trade Center and he
held the master key for the North Tower. He was the last survivor pulled by
rescue workers from the rubble of the building after it collapsed.
Rodriguez said Al-Shehri asked him how many public bathrooms were in
the building and, in retrospect, Rodriguez believed the terrorist was looking
for ways to place additional explosives in the building prior to the airplane
attack. Rodriguez also said as he was climbing the stairs to help rescue people
after American Airlines Flight 11 struck his building he heard heavy equipment
being moved around on the 34th floor, which was closed and locked for
renovation. In the chaos, Rodriguez did not have time to open the doors to the
34th floor to find out who was there but he believed there might have
been additional explosives placed inside the building. Rodriguez also claimed
that while assisting evacuees he heard non-aircraft-related explosions coming
from floors below his location on the 33rd floor. The former chief
economist for the Bush Labor Department, Morgan Reynolds, believed the Bush
administration’s story about the World Trade Center collapse was “bogus.”
Reynolds, who was the director of the Criminal
Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas and later
professor emeritus at Texas A&M University,
opined that “if
demolition destroyed three steel skyscrapers [the Twin Towers and Building 7] at
the World Trade Center on 9/11, then the case for an ‘inside job’ and a
government attack on America would be compelling.” Reynolds added, “The
government’s collapse theory is highly vulnerable on its own terms. Only
professional demolition appears to account for the full range of facts
associated with the collapse of the three buildings.”[37]
Moreover, Rodriguez passed along several of
his tips about pre-911 surveillance of the World Trade Center to the FBI but he
said the agency never bothered to talk to him. However, according to the August
6, 2001 President’s Daily Brief, the FBI was aware that suspected terrorists
were conducting surveillance of buildings in New York. The White House revealed
that prior to 911, the FBI interviewed two Yemenis it detained for taking
photographs of buildings in Federal Plaza in New York City. The FBI released
them after determining the Yemenis were “tourists.”[38]
Yemen is the birthplace of Osama bin Laden and a number of Al Qaeda operatives
hail from Yemen.
Of course, not everyone within the FBI was
asleep at the wheel. Minneapolis Special Agent Coleen Rowley tried in vain to
get a wiretap on Zacarias Moussaoui. Phoenix Special Agent Kenneth J. Williams
reported flight training by Arab students connected to Bin Laden. John P.
O’Neill, the FBI’s top counterterrorism agent, constantly raised the problem of
Saudi support for Al Qaeda, only to be rebuffed, and eventually, hounded out of
the bureau by his superiors.
The internal DEA report from June 2001 dealt with attempts by teams of Israeli “art students” to penetrate the security of various Federal buildings and offices throughout the United States. The DEA refused to officially comment on the report but a high-level source within the agency reports that it was the product of a larger investigation conducted jointly by a DEA and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Operational Task Force set up in 2000 specifically to investigate the Israelis.
A number of the art students, who claimed they were from either Bezalel University in Jerusalem or the University of Jerusalem, said they answered ads in Israeli newspapers but could not give details of the identities of their bosses when interviewed by Federal agents. A number of the male and female art students, who were mainly in their early to mid 20s, had recently served in Israeli military and intelligence service, according to the report. Their activities were concentrated during the February-March 2001 time frame. More important, there was no University of Jerusalem and Bezalel said it had no record of any of the students having ever been enrolled there.
The DEA compiled an extensive list of the Isreali art students as an appendix (Indexing Section) to its report [LNU means “last name unknown”]:
1. BLAIN, Gat NADDIS
negative, occupation: Israeli art student, sold painting to DEA employee in
Dallas, TX on 01/04/2001 (Identified in paragraph 22)
2. FREIDMAN, Shabar
NADDIS - Negative driver’s license (#6728447), ID (#033056433)
3. AVRAHAM, Gerzon
Ofir NADDIS - Negative. DOB (08/12177), Israel passport (#6315574), Israeli
Ministries of Transport ID (#034193615)
4. L.N.U., Shahar
NADDIS - Negative
5. BARAM, Lior NADDIS
- Negative. Florida driver's license (#B650-520-76-047-0), 10733 Cleary Blvd.,
#206, Plantation, Florida, 33324-0000, (DOB 02/07/76), 5'9", dark eyes and black
hair
6, COHEN, Hammutal
NADDIS - Negative DOB (01/29/62), Israeli passport (#6077838), Immigration
departure (#41060016307 02/12/01), 5'8", 145 lbs.
7. RUBINSTEIN, Itay
NADDIS - Negative DOB (01/17/79), US, visa (#39127358), date of entry 12/23/00,
Israeli passport (#39127358) [sic, see visa], 6'0", 165 lbs.
8. AHARON, Ohad NADDIS
- Negative
9. SEGAL, Yafit NADDIS
- Negative
10. TOV, Yaniv Sheni
NADDIS - Negative DOE (06/02/74) NADDIS negative
11. DOR, Sahlev NADDIS
- Negative DOB (08/08/77) NADDIS negative
12. GROSS, Hagit
NADDIS - Negative DOB (09/30/78), Israeli passport (#5111696)
13. SHLOMO, Rony
NADDIS - Negative approximately 21 yoa
14. KOCHAVI, Inbar
NADDIS - Negative Israeli passport (#7674731)
15. DRORE, Rani NADDIS
- Negative approximately 27 yoa
16. YOCHAI, Legurn
NADDIS - Negative 13 753 SO 90th Ave., Mami, Florida 33176
17. MEYTAL, Cohen
NADDIS - Negative. Address: c/o Calmanovic, 3575 N. Beltline Rd,, P.0, Box 316,
Irving, Texas 75062. Addressed used by Michael Calmanovic, identified below
18. SISSO, Rosie
NADDIS - Negative.
19. BURKHOLDER, Seth
Thomas NADDIS - Negative. 3329 Bartlett Rd., Orlando, Florida, 1995 white Nissan
pickup bearing Florida license plate D36-TTQ.
20. L.N.U., Elsa
NADDIS - Negative.
21. SMITH, Travis
Wayne NADDIS - Negative. white male, DOB (11/09/74), FBI No. 530083DBS (Assault
- Domestic Violence) address: 615 S. Hardy, 4210, Tempe, Arizona
22. ESTRADA, Ramon
Hispanic male, NADDIS - Negative. DOB (07/26/63), arrested 12/82 “processing
marijuana for sale,” 5/95 “transport/sell narcotics,” 7/95 “transport/sell
narcotics, adult giving minor narcotics, “ 8/95 “domestic violence.” FBI No.
7643 5FAG, CASID No. CA07401218, WASID No. WA17692473
23. GILOR, Yaniv
Zacoravich NADDIS - Negative. registered owner of a 1997 Chevy van in San Diego,
CA
24. MENDEL, Leviella
NADDIS - Negative. 83 77 Tamar Drive, #37, Columbia, Maryland, DOB 10/29/75,
Maryland driver's license #M-534-514-009-032, 5'7", 150 lbs. Additional
inquiries revealed MENDEL has a new residential address, 4733 Haskell Ave., #46,
Encino, California.
25. SILVER, Danny
NADDIS - Negative. (NFI)
The Tampa, Fforida
District Office identified the following individuals (#26-942):
26. BENDALAK, Orit:
NADDIS negative, DOB 10-28-78, WF, POB Israel, 5'7", 140 lbs., brown hair, brown
eyes.
27. BEZALEL
ACADEMY OF ARTS AND DESIGN: NADDIS negative, Jerusalem, 011-972-2-589-3333,
www.bezalel.ac.il.
28. COHEN, Eli: NADDIS
negative, 701 S. 21 Ave. #207, Hollywood, FL 33020, DOB 11/04/1977, FL DL
C500-200-77-404-0, State of Israel Ministry of Transport card number 03379722
29. HARARI, Ilana:
NADDIS negative, W/F, DOB 4-29-79, 9-29-79, 2-9-79, 14 Jerico Itolon Israel,
attends University of Jerusalem, 5'3", 90 lbs., brown hair, blue eyes, tattoo of
sun on right foot.
30. KENDEL, Rachel:
NADDIS negative, White/Female, State of Israel Ministry of Transport card number
7095201 and 034807727, Israeli passport number 6614254.
3 1, KUZNITZ, Keren:
NADDIS - Negative. 1818 E. Oakland Park Blvd. #98, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33306,
DOB 02/09/1979, 5'5"; FL driver's license: K253-500-79-549-0, State of Israel
Ministry of Transport card number 7121535 and 035721844.
32. L.N.U, Nadav
NADDIS - (NFI)
33. L.N.U., Tom NADDIS
- Negative. White, male. Address: Hollywood/Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Reportedly
sells artwork to Israeli art students.
34. MARZIANO, Assaf or
Asaf NADDIS negative, DOB 2-4-78, state of Israel Ministry of Transport #
034086959, passport #552306S, POB Israel, WM, 5'7", 150 lbs,
35. MATATIA, Keren:
NADDIS negative (NFI)
36. OSHRA, Sussie:
NADDIS negative. (NFI)
37. SASSOON, Sarah
Minna: NADDIS negative, 2916 Pierce St., 94, Hollywood, FL 33020, DOB 11/8/1978,
FL DL# S250-793-79-908-0.
38. SELLA, Livnet:
NADDIS necgative, DOB 12/24/1978, State of Israel Ministry of Transport number
7023400 and 036208023, International Student Idenitity card number
S972-204-776-601.
39. SERFATY, Hanan,
aka Hanane SARFATI: NADDIS negative, 4220 Sheridan St., #303, Hollywood, FL
33.021, and 701 S. 21 Ave., Hollywood, FL, DOB 06/03/1977, 6', FL DL
S613-320-77-203-0, registered owner of red mini-van FL tag # U71 DLD, phone
number (954) 478-1006, cellular phone number (954) 478-0961.
40, SIMON, Michael:
NADDIS negative, w/m, 11-23-78, Aliebenliezel 82, Jerusalem, telephone number
97226768256, Israeli passport no. 8660008, POB Jerusalem, 6'1", 180 lbs., black
hair, brown eyes.
41. VAKSHI, Inbal:
NADDIS negative aka Bella POLLCSON, State of Israel Miriistry of Transport
License number 7098663 and 036444842, International Student Identity Card number
S972-204-775-487, DOB 02/03/1979.
42. ZAGURI, Oshirt:
NADDIS negative, 701 S. 21 Ave., 4205, Hollywood, FL 33020, DOB 07/11/1977,
5'6", FL DL #Z260-640-77-75 1 -0..
43. WEISFELNER, Odfd
NADDIS - Negative. (NFI)
44. KEDEM, Guy. NADDIS
-Negative. This female left a business card stating EAG-Guy Kedem, European Art
Group, Oil Paintings; phone number (720) 581-7076; Fax number (303) 336-7006.
The (720) number is unlisted and the (303) number is a fax number for Heritage
Creek Apartments, 650 South Dahlia Circle, Denver, Colorado. (NFI)
45. MEIRAV, Zwaig,
NADDIS - Negative. w/f, thin build, short long dark hair, DOB: 2/9/76, US VISA
control # 20003205620012, Israeli passport 97831088
46. MACHBUBI, Hilda,
NADDIS - Negative. w/f DOB: 5/4/79, US VISA control # 2000397210011, Israeli
passport # 6530284, FL ID #M211-320-79-664-0
47. SIMKIN, Nimrod,
NADDIS - Negative. w/m, over 6' tall, curly hair, DOB: 9/2/77, FL DL#
S525-620-77-3220
48, KEREN, Inbal,
NADDIS - Negative. w/f, DOB: 7/17/79, US VISA control # 20001710300009, Israeli
passport # 6082073
49. KEDEM, Eran,
NADDIS - Negative. w/m, Israel, dob 10/15/75, 5'11", 1601bs., 12990 SW 74th St.,
Pine Crest, FL, Israeli ID 4031820079, Israeli driver's license #651007
50. PERLAS, Limor
NADDIS - Negative. (NFI)
51. ASE, Shiri NADDIS
- Negative. (NFI).
52. KEMETCH, Omit,
a.k.a. KIMCHY, Ornit, NADDIS - Negative. w/f, dob 02/04/74, passport 96814521
53. MER, Shmrt NADDIS
- Negative. (NFI)
54. BOUZAGLO, Kobi,
NADDIS - Negative. cellular telephone 1-888-321-6213 (NFI)
55. VALANSI, Marcelo,
NADDIS - Negative. dob 11/24/77, Argentina passport #26316660, 901 S.E. 1st
Ave., #2, Gainesville, FL., 617 E. University Ave., Gainesville, FL., 1436
Washington Ave., Miami, FL., registered owner of 1984 GMC Custom Van, Florida
tag T11YZX., Argentina DNI26316660 card 4190961, speaks English and Spanish, Tel
# (352)378-1485 (Identified in Paragraph 6)
56. VALANSI, Roberto,
NADDIS - Negative. father of Marcelo VALANSI. Salguero 2468, Apartment 15,
Buenos Aires (NFI) (Identified in Paragraph 10)
57. VALANSI, Graziela,
NADDIS - Negative. mother of Marcelo VALANSI, Salguero 2468, Apartment 15,
Buenos Aires (NFI) (Identified in Paragraph 10)
58. SAGES, Ester,
NADDIS - Negative. dob 9/30/77, Israeli passport 96470399, Attornet 161, New
York City, NY., Hotel Carlton, New York City, NY (Identified in Paragraph 6)
59. SAGES, Elyahu
NADDIS - Negative. (deceased), father of Ester SAGES, (NFI) (Identified in
Paragraph 9)
60. SAGES, Marjalit,
NADDIS - Negative. Mother of Ester SAGES (NFI) (Identified in Paragraph 8)
61. DARDIC, Vanina
Erika, NADDIS - Negative. dob 3/5/78, Argentina passport #10581811, 901 S.E. 1st
Ave., Gainesville, FL. . Argentina DN126473227 card #J8557, speaks English,
Hebrew, and Spanish, girlfriend of VALANSI, citizen of Argentina and Israel
(Identified in Paragraph 4)
62. DARDIC, Mario,
NADDIS Negative. father of Vanina DARDIC (NFI) (Identified in Paragraph 9)
63. COHEN, Judith
(maiden name) NADDIS - Negative. mother of Vanina DARDIC (NFI) (Identified in
Paragraph 9)
64. GAVISH, Yael
NADDIS - Negative. W/F Brown hair, Brown eyes, DOB: Oct 03, 1978. Citz: Israel
Passport Number: 5013766 issued 12-03-92, expires 3-12-2002 US Visa number
20001818940002 Class B-1/B-2 issued July 05, 2000 Expires June 28, 2010.
65. BALHAMS, Meirav
NADDIS - Negative. W/F Brown hair, Brown eyes, 5'03" DOB: 10-03-78 Citz: Israel.
New York ED Card 4 140-614-039. Address: 354 Paterson Plank Road #1, Jersey
City, NJ 07650
66. SEGALOVITZ, Peer -
NADDIS Negative, White, male, Nationality: Israeli, DOB: 03-16-1974, POB Israel,
Address: 8187 N. University Drive Apt. 4129, Tamarac, FL, entered the U.S. on
B-2 class visa on January 17, 2001. Former officer in Israeli Special Forces 605
Battalion. Israeli Military ED # 5087989. Encountered May 3, 2001 at the Orlando
D.O. Occupation: Israeli Art Vendor/Student. (Identified in Paragraph 96)
67. SEGALOVITZ, Dror -
NADDIS - Negative. White, Male, Brother of Peer Segalovitz. ADD: Address 8187 N.
University Drive, Apt. Nationality: Israel. Identified in Paragraph 98)
68. SABGUNDJIAN, Kathy
- NADDIS: Negative. (626) 358-6453 (626) 256-1027
69. SAGIV, Akyuz
Shmuel - NADDIS: Negative. White, Male, Israeli Passport # 8710426; DOB:
09-27-1976; POB: Maaloot, Israel; Entered US In New York; PN: 954712-2126.
Associate of Peer Segalovitz and Dror Segalovitz. (Identified in paragraph #99).
70. WATERMANN, Tsvi
NADDIS - Negative, AKA: Watermann, Zvi; white, male, DOB: June 7, 1979; Address:
Pri Megadim 36 Mevaseret Zion, Isreal; Israeli Passport # 5728101 expiration
date July 20, 2002; U.S. visa class B1/B2 expiration date March 20, 2011;
Israeli Ministry of Transport driver's license, number 7046942.
71. KANTOR, Gal Kal
NADDIS - Negative. white, male, DOB: Sep 08, 1975, Address: Kibbuts Eilon NO
Western Galilee, Israel 22845; Israeli Passport 8261507 expiration date of Oct
20, 2004; U.S. B1/B2 visa, control number 19993358160012, expiration date of Nov
30, 2009.
The following were
identifed at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma:
72. OHANA, Yaron
NADDIS - Negative. DOB: 02-04-78; POB: Haifa, Israel; Passport Number: 8421721
U.S. Visa Number:42252049.
73. KALFON, Ronen
NADDIS - Negative. DOB: 04-13-76; POB: Haifa, Israel Passport Number :8168262;
U.S. Visa Number: 3 5966019.
74. COHEN, Zeev NADDIS
- Negative. DOB: 03-26-78; POB: Haifa, Israel, Passport Number: 5524033: U.S.
Visa Number: 33331965.
75. TOPAZ, Naor NADDIS
- Negative DOB: 06-08-77; POB: Haif, Israel Passport Number: 8081705; U.S. Visa
Number: 33306515.
76. LIFSHITZ, Gilad,
NADDIS - Negative. W/M, DOB'09/17/1978
77. YANAY, Betzalel,
NADDIS - Negative. W/M, DOB 09/04/1978
78. BITON, MoriN
Miryam, NADDIS - Negative. W/F; DOB 07/14/1980
79. SASSON, Dana,
NADDIS - Negative. W/F, DOB 08/10/1980
80. TOUYZ, Keren,
NADDIS - Negative. W/F, DOB 08/20/1978
81. TZOR, Noam, NADDIS
- Negative. previous owner of 1GAHG39K5SF112662, a 1995 Chev/Spt owned by Gilad
LIFSHITZ of 7535 N. Beltline Rd, APt 316, Irving, Texas 75062.
82. ROTEM, Sharon,
NADDIS - Negative. described as a white male, DOB 03 -12-77, Israeli passport
number 7948317, street address: 6023 Moshe Dayan, Holon, Israel.
83. MAIMON, Maya,
NADDIS - Negative. Nationality: Israel. Israeli passport number as 5467894, US
B1/B2 visa, DOB 26Dec1978, Issue Date: 18Oct2000, Expiration Date: 15Oct2010.
84.BADIHI, Nofar,
NADDIS - Negative. Nationality Israel. Israeli passport number 5640993, DOB
21/03/1979 (sic), Place of Birth: Israel, date of issue: 05/12/1993, date of
expiry (sic): 04/12/1995; US Visa B I/B2, issue date: 05Jul 1996, Expiry Date:
02JUL2006.
85. MARABOTTO, Marco
NADDIS - Negative. Airline tickets were found reflecting the travel of Maya
MAIMON and Marco MARABOTTO from DFW airport to Albuquerque, NM via Delta flight
2238 on March 24, 2001. Each ticket also reflected Delta flight 1944 from Las
Vegas to DFW on April 1, 2001.
86. FERNANDEZS, Marco,
NADDIS - Negative a.k.a. Marco Antonio FERNANDEZ De Castro Marabotto, DOB
13Apr1977, passport number 99390039611, Issuing State: Mexico; place of birth:
Mexico, date of issue: 16Jul1999, expiration date: l6Jul2000.
87. REGEV, Gadi,
NADDIS - Negative described as DOB: 17Dec1975, Nationality: Israel, passport
number 5454338, visa type: B1/B2, issuing post: Tel Aviv, issue date: 05Nov1998,
expiration date: 04Nov2008
88. ARTZI, Eyal,
NADDIS - Negative Texas DL 19554509, and an expiration date of 06-27-07.
address: 10334 Sandra Lynn Dr., Dallas, TX 75228. DOB 05-27-1977, commercial
database shows that ARTZI is the owner of a 1993 Plymouth Acclaim, Texas plate:
J75FYB, date registered 08/21/2000, expiration date: 07/31/2001
89, SUSI, David,
NADDIS Negative DOB 01/09/1975, boyfriend of Maya MAIMON
90. ELDAD, Dahan,
NADDIS - Negative. W/M Israeli, add: Oak IEH Apts. 1913 Estrada Parkway, #228,
Irving, TX. Arrested by I&NS March 26 2001. (Identified in paragraph 39)
91. AFRICANO-Leon,
Elsa Beatriz, NADDIS - Negative. W/F Nationality: Colombia Add: Oak Hill Apts.
1913 Estrada Parkway, #228, Irving, TX. Arrested by I&NS March 26, 2001.
(Identified in paragraph 39)
92. LIVNI, Eran,
NADDIS - Negative. W/M Israeli Add: Oak Hill Apts. 1913 Estrada Parkway, #228,
Irving, TX Arrested by I&NS March 26, 2001. (Identified in paragraph 40)
93. OFEK, Aran, NADDIS
- Negative. W/M Israeli, ADD: Oak Hill Apts. 1913 Estrada Parkway, #259, Irving,
TX., father is 2-star general in Israeli Army. Arrested by I&NS March 26, 200 1.
(Identified in paragraph 40)
94, GAL, Michal,
NADDIS - Negative. W/F, Israeli, DOB 08/10/1979, POB Afula, Israel, INS A
75-894-941, ADD: Oak Hill Apts. 1913 Estrada Parkway, 4259, Irving, TX, Alt
add.: 22 Palisade Terrace, Edgewater, NJ 01020 Tel: (201)224-0797 Arrested by
I&NS March 26, 2001. (Identified in paragraph 40)
95. GAVRIEL, Noam,
NADDIS - Negative. Nationality: Israel (Identified in paraggraph 40)
96. KRITZMAN, Netta,
NADDIS - Negative. Nationality: US Citizen (Identified in paragraph 40)
97. BAER, Ophir,
NADDIS - Negative. W/K DOB 11/11/1956, Nationality: Israel, employed by AMDOCS,
Ltd., add: 7845 La Cabeza Drive, Dallas, TX 75248, former add: 1125 East
Campbell Rd., Richardson, TX, Tel: (972) 392-0473 & (214) 576-5741, SSN:
627-70-0979- (Identified in paragraph 42)
98. AMDOCS, Limited.,
NADDIS - Negative. add: 1390 Timberlake Manor Parkway, Chesterfield, MO, Tel:
(314) 821-3242 (Identified in paragraph 43)
99. DOTAN, Boaz,
NADDIS - Negative. 23 Abba Hillel, St. Ranat Gan, Israel, TX president of
AMDOCS, Ltd. (Identified in paragraph 43)
100. WHITMAN, Beverly
A., NADDIS - Negative. SSN: 400-88-4097, Treasurer of AMDOCS, Ltd. (Identified
in paragraph 43)
101. CHRISTOFFEL,
Gregory, NADDIS - Negative. SSN: 389-52-850, Secretary of AMDOCS, Ltd.
(Identified in paragraph 43)
102. MOSHE, Eran,
NADDIS - Negative. Israeli, I&NS A 75-894-459, averted by I&N on 03/26/2001,
occup. Israeli art student (Identified in paragrph 44)
103. VAINSHTEIN,
Julia, NADDIS - Negative. W/F Israeli, DOB 11/12/1978, POB: Russia, arrived DFW
on 03/27/2001, Assoc: Michael CALMANOVIC (Identified in paragraph 46)
104. BORENSTEIN, Dilka,
NADDIS - Negative. Israeli, DOB 03/15/1979, POB: Israel, former Israeli Military
Intelligence Officer, Assoc: Michael CALMANOVIC (Identified in paragraph 46)
105. NAVAR, Ofir,
NADDIS - Negative. Israeli, DOB 09/02/1979, POB: Israel, former Israeli Military
Demolition/Explosive ordnance specialist (Identified in paragraph 46)
106. CALMANOVIC,
Michael, NADDIS - Negative. W/M, Israeli, DOB 09/06/1-975, POB: Israel,
registered owner of TX: L44-CVD, add: 3575 N. Beltline Rd., Apt. 316, Irving,
TX., alt. add: 312 Rochelle Rd., Irving, TX, alt. add: 1103 Hidden Ridge #3018,
Irving, TX alt. Add: 1913 Estrada Parkway, Irving, TX 75061, alt. add: 11012
Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA 91604 Tel: (214)882-5196, alt, add: 319 S. 177
Place, 4201, Seattle, WA 98148 Tel: (206) 244-7705, Tel: (214) 882-5196 / (214)
837-3574 / (469)446-1248 (214) 837-5996 (214) 876-1235 (217) 837-2056 former
Israeli electronic intercept officer. Arrested by I&NS on April 4th, 2001,
Posted $50K bond, (Identified in paragraph 46)
107. SIMON, Itay,
NADDIS - Negative. W/M, Israeli, DOB 02/27/1978, POB: Israel, former Israeli
military, add: 1103 Hidden Ridge #3018, Irving, TX, alt add: California
Associate of Michael Calmanovic. Arrested by I&NS April 4, 2001 for violation of
status, posted $50,000 bond. (Identified in paragraph 50)
108. LNU, Gilad,
NADDIS - Negative. Tel: (214) 882-5196 (214) 876-1235 (Identified in paragraph
50)
109. LNU, Roy,
NADDIS - Negative. Tel: (214) 837-3574 (Identified in paragraph 50)[39]
110. LNU, Mosh, NADDIS
- Negative. Tel: (469) 446-1248 (Identified in paragraph 50)
111. LNU, Gil, NADDIS
- Negative. Tel: (214) 837-5996 (Identified in paragraph 50)
112. LNU, Gasaf,
NADDIS - Negative. Tel: (217) 837-2056 (Identified in paragraph 50)
113. ENGEL, Yoni,
NADDIS - Negative. W/K DOB 09/14/1979, POB: Israeli Citzen, Israel, former
company commader in Israeli military, arrived DFW on 03/28/2001, arrested by
I&NS, St. Louis, MO on April 4th, 2001 (Identified in paragraph 51)
114. DAGAI, Yotam,
NADDIS - Negative. DOB 04/06/1978, POB: Israeli Citzen, Israel, arrested by
I&NS, St. Louis, MO on April 4th, 2001, arrived DFW on 03/28/2001. (Identified
in paragraph 51)
115. ALROEI, Or, W/M
DOB 08/08/1978, POB: Israeli Citizen, Israel, visited DEA St. Louis on
04/04/2001, Had Tel: (214) 882-5196 in his possession, Associate of Michael
CALMANOVIC & Gil LNU. (Identified in paragraph 51)
116. RABINOVITZ, Eli,
NADDIS - Negative. W/M, DOB 03/27/1979, U.S. passport E3701329518, 5'6", 175
lbs., brown hair (Identified in paragraph 51)
17. ADESA Golden Gate,
NADDIS - Negative. add: 6700 Stevenson Blvd., Fremont, CA, registered owner of
CA: 3LVAO1P (Identified in paragraph 51)
118. SADAN, Ben,
NADDIS - Negative, W/M Israeli, approx. 24 yoa, Tel: (214) 562-1110, driver of
Israeli art students encountered April 4, 2001 in St. Louis, MO.
119. BEN DOR, Tomer,
NADDIS - Negative. W/M Israeli,'DOB 08/24/1975, occup: Computer software
engineer, employer: NICE, former Israeli military officer for patriot missile
defense (Identified in paragraph 55)
120. GLIKMAN, Marina,
NADDIS - Negative. W/F Nationality: Israel, DOB 12/15/1972 (Identified in
paragraph 53)
121. AKIVA, Ronen,
associate of Marina GLIKMAN, occup: computer programm employer: RETALIX, former
Israeli military officer (Identified in paragraph 55)
122.
RETALIX, USA,
NADDIS - Negative. add: 8081 Royal Ridge Parkway, Irving, TX, formerly known as
Point of Sale, Limited. (Identified in paragraph 55).
123. DOR, Hillel,
NADDIS - Negative. W/M Israeli, DOB 04/06/1971. Associate of Marina GLIKMAN
(Identified in paragraph 55)
124. MILLER, Zeev,
NADDIS - Negative. W/M Israeli, DOB 09/04/1971, occup: student/software
engineer, employer: RETALIX Israel (Identified in paragraph 55).
125. SHAKED, Barry, NADDIS - Negative, CEO of RETALIX (Identified in paragraph 55).
The Israeli students operated in groups of between 4 to 8 individuals led by “Team Leaders.” The team leaders controlled the teams’ visits, drove the vehicles, and often had in their vehicles cameras and recording equipment. A number of the students had significant Israeli military experience in demolitions, explosives, and signals intelligence.
The team active in the Irving, Texas area (near Dallas-Fort Worth Airport) had links to the Chesterfield, Missouri-based Israeli communications software firm AMDOCS, which has an outsourcing agreement with Nextel; RETALIX, an Israeli company involved in software for the retail food industry; and NICE, an Israeli software engineering firm. The report cites Michael Calmanovic as the leader of the Irving group and states he “was a recently discharged electronic intercept operator for Israeli military.” Calmanovic and his Israeli supervisor from California were arrested on April 4, 2001 in Irving, Texas, while vacating their apartment. The DEA report states Calmanovic used a mailbox drop at Mailboxes, Etc. located at 3575 N. Beltline Rd. Apt. 316, Irving,Texas. The FBI list dated 3 Oct. 2001, which was sent to national financial control authorities to freeze the accounts of the Saudi hijackers and their associates, states the address for suspect Ahmed Khalifa, also known as Almad Khafefa, as 4045 N. Beltline Rd. Apt. 314, Irving, Texas (Marbletree Apartments), just a few blocks from the Israeli mail drop.
There are a number of possible explanations about why the Israeli art students were living so close to the hijackers, especially in Florida where much of the terrorists’ flight training occured. One is that the Israelis had penetrated Al Qaeda with two cells comprising six Egyptian- and Yemeni-born Jews and that some of these agents posed as Israeli art students and were shadowing the Al Qaeda cells inside the United States and reporting their movements back to Mossad or a “cut out” intelligence unit in Ariel Sharon’s office. Another explanation is that, like the Israeli “movers” in the New York-New Jersey area, the art students were providing an operational decoy and even material support to the hijackers. This theory arose when several Israeli art students in Canada were arrested for selling bogus Chinese art that they were passing off as Israeli. Two Canadian newspapers reported that U.S. counter-intelligence officials had warned Canadian authorities that the Israeli art students were funneling proceeds from the art sales to Islamist radical groups.[40] If the Florida and Texas Israeli art rings discovered prior to 911 were providing such financial support to the hijackers, it would explain why they closely located their mail drops so close to one another.
The involvement of the Israeli cells with communications companies raised serious concerns at the DEA and Justice Department, which were both using Israeli communications intercept software in their field operations. The DEA used a T2S2 intercept system provided by Comverse and JSI, two Israeli companies. Comverse was very close to the Israeli government, which reimbursed it up to 50 percent for its research and development costs. The FBI’s Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) Implementation Office in Chantilly, Virginia was extremely concerned about the threat posed by Comverse’s intercept system. But the worries of the Chantilly office and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) were overridden by the FBI’s engineering office in Quantico, Virginia, which was supported by such contractors as Booz Allen Hamilton.[41] The nexus of art students, intelligence surveillance, and possible involvement in Ecstasy trafficking set off alarm bells at the highest levels of the DEA about the “art students.” The reason was simple. T2S2 systems were used in what the DEA, Coast Guard, Customs, and other counter narcotics agencies called High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTAs) and associated wiretap centers and surveillance teams (STs).
The following internal DEA memo points to the worries about the Israeli systems:
Sent: (DELETED]
To: [DELETED]
Subject: [DELETED]
From: Raffanello, Heidi M.
Sent: Tuesday, December
18, 2001 3:04 PM
To: Zeisset, Dale M.
Cc: Newton, Otis L;
Howard, JP
Subject: Comverse
As you may have heard Security Program is briefing the
Administrator[42]
tomorrow morning on the Israeli students investigation to include T2S2 Comverse
and JSI. This was a result of the Fox network expose on Israeli
counterintelligence activities. In our discussions about remote maintenance for
JSI and Comverse, we realized that Comverse remote maintenance for field systems
was not addressed in the C & A process. We will approach it in the similar
fashion as we did in the JSI issue, however the foreign national factor doesn’t
apply. It remains unclear if Comverse personnel are security cleared and if so,
who are they and what type of clearances are on record. If you have names, I can
run their status in Personnel Security. If not, we will need to have Comverse
and ST identify a short list of personnel that will require clearances.
Obviously, if they have existing clearances with other agencies, this will
facilitate the process. Due to the fact that at the time that we conducted the
original interim CA for Comverse, the requirements differed than 2640.2D. Bottom
line we should have caught it. Please let me know what the status of Comverse
remote maintenance past efforts and what direction we need to go to resolve this
for CA process. I will have Otis reach out to you to work this out. In light of
the Administrator’s concern for vulnerabilities to out T2S2 systems, we want to
resolve this in time for the January 25th deadline for the review of
the conditional.
As of this date, ISI is waiting for the
Comverse equipment to arrive at ST so that a C-2 compliance test can be done.
Any idea when ST will be in a position to have this done?
Small teams of Mossad agents found with eavesdropping equipment are nothing new to European or American law enforcement. In February 1998, five Israelis, three men and two women, were arrested in an apartment in the suburbs of Berne, Switzerland. The Israeli team managed to convince the police that they did not break and enter into the apartment but were there legally. The apartment was the residence of an Islamic activist. Four of the Israelis, two men and two women, were released. However, the fifth Israeli was later discovered with sophisticated surveillance equipment and a number of false passports. He was arrested, detained, and held for 65 days until Israel paid 3 million Swiss francs for his release with a promise he would return from Israel to stand trial. In July 2000, Isaac Bental, the cover name under which the Mossad allowed the Swiss to prosecute their agent, stood trial for espionage before the Swiss Federal Court. It was the first time a Mossad agent had gone on trial outside Israel.[43]
In December 1998, Cypriot police arrested two Israeli agents, Uri Argov and Yisrael Damari, for the illegal possession of communications intercept equipment and espionage. In March 1998, three Mossad agents aborted a wiretapping operation in London after they were tipped off to the police. The Mossad had operated illegally in London since 1987. That year, a furious Margaret Thatcher ordered Israel to close its Palace Green, Kensington Mossad station after its role in the assassination of a Palestinian cartoonist on a South Kensington street was revealed.[44]
In 1999, Shalom Shaphyr, an Israeli national having residences in Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon was arrested by the FBI in Alexandria, Virginia for trying to buy computer intercept equipment from undercover FBI and Customs Service agents. Shaphyr was accused of trying to illegally export the equipment to Vietnam. Shaphyr possessed a business visa that permitted him to enter and leave the United States at will.[45]
On May 31, 2005, it was announced in Israel that Israeli
police and Interpol discovered a huge computer espionage ring involving a number
of former Israeli intelligence officers and Israeli companies, including AMDOCS.
Israeli police questioned AMDOCS computer security manager Eitan Shiron in the
investigation that surrounded the use by over a dozen Israeli companies of a
sophisticated hacking software program, called a Trojan horse, which bypassed
the security controls on targeted computer systems.[46]
The Israeli investigation also focused on four major Israeli telecommunications
companies – Cellcom, Israel’s largest mobile phone company; two subsidiaries of
the largest telecommunications company Bezeq Israel Telecom; mobile phone
company Pelephone; and satellite television company Yes.[47]
Scotland Yard also participated in the take down of the Israeli espionage ring,
arresting dual Israeli-German citizen Michael Haephrati and his wife Ruth Brier-Haephrati
in London on an Israeli extradition warrant. The Israeli couple was charged
with”unauthorized modification of the contents of a computer” between December
12, 2004 and February 28, 2005.” Police said they wrote the Trojan horse
computer program and provided it to a middleman. The Trojan horse in question
was believed to be a derivative of the PROMIS software program illegally
procured from Inslaw, Inc. in Washington, DC in the early 1980s and
re-engineered by a number of intelligence agencies, including Israel’s, to
perform computer espionage. Oddly, The Scotsman newspaper reported that
Haephrati was questioned about a “separate matter” by detectives with Britain’s
National Hi-Tech Crime unit on May 25, before his arrest on the Israeli warrant.
The Haphraetis were remanded in the Bow Street Magistrates Court in London.[48]
Yet another possible
Israeli intelligence link to electronic eavesdropping on the U.S. government was
unearthed in the questionable awarding by the U.S. Congress of a wireless
contract to a company owned by Israel. In 2000, LGC Wireless, a San Jose,
California-based firm was considered in the lead to provide wireless
connectivity for the U.S. House of Representatives. A year earlier, the House
Administration Committee, then headed by Republican Representative Bill Thomas
of California, granted LGC authority to conduct a design and securityn survey of
the Capitol. In addition, the FBI and NSA reviewed LGC’s system design to ensure
that foreign intelligence agencies could not penetrate the House’s wireless
network. By December 2000, LGC had cleared its plans with the Capitol Architect,
the House Information Resource Office, and the House Administration Committee.
However, soon a new Israeli co,pany named Foxcom Wireless, which changed its
name to MobileAccess, began making an end run to secure the Capitol wireless
contract. The new chairman of the House Administration Committee, Republican
Representative Bob Ney of Ohio, clearly favored MobileAccess over LGC and in
2002, the Israeli company received the House wireless contract. Ney had a close
poltical and financial relationship with GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, an extreme
pro-Israeli political insider, who came under Justice Department investigation
for questionable ties to Ney and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. It was later
revealed by The Washington Post that in 2001 MobileAccess donated
$50,000 to the Capital Athletic Foundation, which was run by Abramoff. In 2004,
MobileAccess paid $240,000 in lobbying fess to Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff’s
former firm. The ranking member on the House Administration Committee,
Democratic Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland, said he was not kept fully
informed of the wireless contract by either Thomas or Ney. LGC also cried foul
when, in 2004, the U.S. Senate awarded MobileAccess a $3.9 million contract to
install a wireless network for the Senate.[49]
As with the questions surrounding Information Spectrum Inc. abruptly replacing
Larimore Associates as the Jersey City Police Department computer system
contractor, similar complaints were aired by LGC. Ian Sugarboard, LGC’s CEO told
The Hill newspaper, “. . . it appeared that lobbyists had exerted undue
influence on the deal.” In addition, the House Administration Committee did not
specify what security criteria MobileAccess had to meet. The FBI and NSA had
previously approved LGC’s security countermeasures.[50]
Abramoff’s strong connection to Israel and
his influence in the Bush administration serve as yet another nexus between
Israel, the Bush administration, and officials closely connected with Saudi
Arabia. Top GOP adviser and Abramoff friend Grover Norquist, who was Abramoff’s
campaign manager when he ran for President of the College Republicans (a post
also once held by Karl Rove), also maintained close links to a number of Saudis,
some of whom were implicated in funding terrorism. Norquist was a cofounder of
the Islamic Institute, co-located in Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform offices
in Washington, DC. Norquist was a key player in the Bush 2000 outreach for
Muslim and Arab voters. Sami al Arian, a University of South Florida professor,
was an ardent supporter of Bush’s Florida campaign to woo Muslim and Arab voters
and his support likely helped tip the close election to Bush. The Islamic
Institute was founded in 1999 with start up money from Kuwait; Qatar; other Arab
countries; the founder of the American Muslim Council, Abdurahman Muhammad Al
Amoudi; and two Islamic non-profits, the Safa Trust and the International
Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). In 2002, as part of
Operation Greenquest, the FBI
raided Safa and IIIT for their role in financing international terrorism.
Another one of Al Amoudi’s groups, the International Relief Organization, was
suspected of laundering Saudi money to terrorist groups. Although Arian and Al
Amoudi were later charged by the federal government with supporting terrorist
groups, they maintained close ties to the Bush campaign. Just a few months
before the 911 attacks, Arian attended a June 2001 White house briefing with
Karl Rove. Suhail Khan, the White House point man for arranging access to Bush
by prominent Muslim-Americans and a former director of the Islamic Institute,
was the son of the late imam of the Santa Clara, California mosque. The mosque
had once hosted Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri, the second in command of Al Qaeda.
Norquist and his friends were clearly part of a Saudi- and Wahhabi-funded
political machine that sought to marginalize moderate Muslims in the United
States. Agha Jafri, a Sh’ia leader in New York, said there was in the United
States a Saudi “mafia” that was “intent on crushing
moderate Sufi and Shiite Muslims in the United States.”[51]
In addition, Norquist’s friend Al Amoudi was also discovered to have links to
the 911 hijackers. German police files indicated that Al Amoudi met in the fall
of 2000 Mohammed Belfas, an Islamic leader in Hamburg who once shared an
apartment with Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a kingpin behind the 911 attacks. One of
Belfas’s colleagues, Agus Budiman, had accompanied Belfas on a scouting mission
to Washington, DC in late 2000. Budiman pleaded guilty to helping Belfas obtain
a phony identification card using a non-existent address in Arlington, Virginia.
German police obtained a photograph from Belfas’s Hamburg apartment showing a
meeting between him, Budiman, and Al Amoudi in Al Amoudi’s Arlington, Virginia
office.
[52]
Texas was not the only case where the Israelis were found to be in the same location as the Saudi hijacker cells. According to the DEA Report, another Israeli team operating out of Hollywood, Florida, led by team leader Hanan Serfaty lived at 4220 Sheridan St., #303, Hollywood, Florida 33021 (Emerald Greens Apartments) while the Saudi hijackers Khalid Al Midhar, Abdulaziz al Omari, Walid Al Shehri, and UAE national Marwan al Shehhi, operated from a mail drop at Mailbox Rentals, 3389 Sheridan St. #256, Hollywood, Florida 33021-3608. Another Serfaty residence at 701 S. 21st Ave., Hollywood was located near the homes of Atta and Al Shehhi, including a residence on Jackson Street, just a few blocks away, and the Bimini Motel Apartments, Apartment 8, at 1600 North Ocean Drive. On September 7, just days before their terrorist attack, Atta and Al Shehhi spent several hours at Shuckums Oyster Bar and Grill at 1814 Harrison St., just a few blocks away from Serfaty’s 21st Ave. residence. A Miami-based Israeli unit, led by Legum Yochai, operated from 13753 SW 90th Ave., Miami while hijacker Al Shehri lived nearby at Horizons Apartments, 8025 SW 107th Ave.
During the time the Israelis and Arabs were living in Hollywood, Atta and his team were attending flight training and inquiring about crop dusting planes in southern Florida. According to a source with high-level contacts within the Mossad, Israeli agents based in southern Florida were able to successfully penetrate the Arab cells in southern Florida and informed their Tel Aviv headquarters that an attack on the east coast of the United States was being planned and that it involved commercial aircraft. Although it is not known if these agents were art students, they were Yemeni and Egyptian-born Jews who spoke fluent Arabic and were trained at a secret base in Israel’s Negev Desert. Although Mossad chief Efraim Halevy warned CIA Director George Tenet of an “imminent attack,” the warning contained no details about the terrorists training on commercial aircraft. Tenet was said to have dismissed the warning because it was not specific. The Mossad units reportedly left the United States after the September 11 attack on El Al flights and were listed on sky marshal manifests as El Al employees.
It is likely that some of the Mossad warnings about hijackings in the United States did reach some people. Officials at Odigo, an instant-messaging company with offices in New York and Herzliya (where the headquarters of Mossad is located) admitted that two of its employees said they received e-mail warning of the attack two hours before the planes careened into the twin towers. Alex Diamandis, Odigo’s vice president for sales and marketing, confirmed that Odigo employees in New York and Israel received a warning two hours before the attack. The warning appeared to be anonymous but Odigo programmers recorded the Internet protocol address of the message’s sender. Odigo also notified Mossad and the FBI but the FBI failed to take action and notify occupants of the World Trade Center.[53]
By September 3, 2001, Zim-American Israeli Shipping Company, completed its move from the World Trade Center to Norfolk, Virginia after suddenly canceling its lease in April 2001 and forfeiting a $50,000 lease cancellation penalty. World Trade Center and New York-New Jersey Port Authority Police had previously determined that Zim’s World Trade Center office was an intelligence operation that involved Mossad and CIA agents. Unlike other tenants in the World Trade Center, Zim’s stairwell access door were covered by security cameras.[54]
The major media largely failed to report the story of Israeli intelligence teams masquerading as art students. Only Fox News referred to it in a four-part investigative series in December 2001 but soon removed it from its web site. At the time, reporter Carl Cameron stated, “There is no indication that the Israelis were involved in the September 11 attacks, but investigators suspect that the Israelis may have gathered intelligence about the attacks in advance, and not shared it.”[55]
However, Cameron’s report was somewhat bolstered by news reports in early 2002 that Mossad chief Efraim Halevy, in early September 2001, sent the CIA a warning of an impending Arab terrorist attack on the East Coast of the United States. Two three- man Mossad units consisting of Yemeni- and Egyptian-born Jews had apparently tracked some of the September 11 hijackers in Hamburg and south Florida. CIA chief George Tenet referred to the Mossad report as “too non-specific” and decided not to order any higher alert level throughout the CIA’s network of stations. Follow-up reports from the Mossad units referred to their quarry attending flight training. After the attacks, the Mossad teams left the United States on board El Al flights.[56]
Newspapers across the United States also reported Israelis being arrested around U.S. military installations. In May 2001, two Israelis, Gal Kantor and Tsvi Watermann, were arrested at the Volk Field Air National Guard base at Camp Douglas in Juneau County, Wisconsin. They said they were going to visit a museum on the base but instead began taking photographs on the runway. When an Air Force security guard asked the young men if they were selling art, Kantor became upset and demanded to know why the question was being asked. Obviously, the Volk Field security personnel had been warned about the suspicious activities of Israeli art students. Three days before the two Israelis were arrested at Volk Field, four Israelis were arrested and deported after they were discovered selling art door-to-door in a neighborhood close to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Reflecting some sort of official sensitivity about the Volk Field incident, the base sent a news release to the Capital Times of Madison marked “for release on request only.”[57]
The Tinker Air Force
Base incident was confirmed by Midwest City Police Chief Brandon Clabes who said
his police officers “were on alert” because they received a national security
advisory warning that “Israeli nationals were posing as students selling
artwork… to gain information about the U.S. military and security.” Clabes said
his officers encountered the Israelis on May 17, 2002, shortly after 7:15 PM.
Two of the Israelis were on foot conducting “unusual door-to-door solicitations”
in the Oakwood East housing area. A third Israeli was acting as a driver. In
addition to several other photo identification cards, all three had Israeli Air
Force identification. Clabes identified the three Israelis as Naor Topaz, Zeev
Cahen, and Yaron Ohana. The three Israelis and a fourth member of their team
were later arrested by the police on visa violations. The Israelis denied they
were selling their artwork. Although the Air Force Office of Special
Investigations later denied the Israelis were involved in espionage, Clabes said
higher authorities in U.S. law enforcement believed the Israelis were using the
selling of art to get people to divulge additional information by first engaging
in “casual conversation about art, and then start slipping in questions about
who lived there, is their family in the military--those types of things.”[58]
Around 8:10 AM on September 11, 2001, American Airlines flight attendant Madeline Amy Sweeney, a 13-year veteran of the airline, used her cell phone to report to her supervisor at Logan Airport in Boston about the hijacking and murders occurring on her aircraft. A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Memorandum written the same day stated that one of the hijackers assigned to seat 10B (reportedly Satam Al Suqami) shot and killed the passenger assigned to seat 9B. The passenger shot was reported to have been Daniel C. Lewin, an Israeli-American agent with the top secret Israeli anti-terrorist Unit 269 of the counter-terrorism Sayeret Matkal branch of the Israeli Defense Force. Lewin also served as the chief technology officer of Akamai Technologies, Inc., a software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[59] The 911 Commission Report stated that Lewin was stabbed and not shot by Suqami. While Lewin and Israel were praised in the report no mention was made of Sweeney’s last words to her superiors.
The FAA Memo, which was later reported by the
FAA to be alternately erroneous and a first draft, was eventually scrubbed from
the FAA’s internal e-mail system. The original FAA memo stated:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
September 11, 2001
On September 11, 2001, several commercial air carrier incidents, believed to be terrorist-related, occurred in various locations in the United States. As numerous U.S. passenger air carriers were involved, this has impacted many passengers as well as numerous persons on the ground in these various crash sites. The following is a summary of the events, which have occurred: