Description
The famed British intelligence and military analysis publication, Jane’s Information Group, has noted the peculiar absence of reporting in the American media on what it has called the “explosive story” of a huge network of Israeli spies on American soil. Jane’s commented:
It is rather strange that the U.S. media . . . seem to be ignoring what may well prove to be the most explosive story since the Sept. 11 attack, the alleged breakup of a major Israeli espionage operation in the United States which aimed to infiltrate both the Justice and Defense departments and which may also have been tracking al Qaeda terrorists before the aircraft hijackings took place.
There is strong evidence Israeli intelligence operatives on American soil almost certainly had specific advance knowledge of the impending terrorist attacks on the United States but America’s “ally,” Israel, did not report this information to American authorities.
This shocking possibility first reached a national audience in the December 17 issue of the Washington, D.C.-based AMERICAN FREE PRESS which actually went to press on December 7, 2001.
On December 17, AFP correspondent Michael Collins Piper noted that buried within a story in The Washington Post on November 23 was the fact that a number of Israelis taken into custody by federal authorities after the September 11 tragedy were indeed suspected of having material knowledge relative to the terrorist attacks.
Then, on December 12, five days after the AFP story was published, Carl Cameron of Brit Hume’s Special Report on Fox News broke his report on a wide-ranging Israeli espionage ring on U.S. soil stating flat out that there was evidence these Israelis were surveilling the 9-11 terrorists prior to the September 11 tragedy. On December 24, AFP summarized Cameron’s report in which he stated in part:
There is no indication the Israelis were involved in the September 11 attacks, but investigators suspect that they may have gathered intelligence about the attacks in advance and not shared it. A highly-placed investigator told Fox News there are “tie-ins,” but when asked for details flatly refused to describe them. “Evidence linking these Israelis to 9-11 is classified. I cannot tell you about evidence that has been gathered. It is classified information.”
During the segment, host Brit Hume asked Cameron: “What about this question of advance knowledge of what was going to happen on 9-11? How clear are investigators that some Israeli agents may have known something?” Cameron responded: “It’s very explosive information, obviously, and there’s a great deal of evidence that they say they have collected. None of it necessarily conclusive. It’s more when they put it all together. A bigger question, they say, is ‘How could they not have known?’ [That is] almost a direct quote [from the investigators].”
The Fox report indicated that prior to September 11 as many as 140 other Israelis had been detained or arrested in what was described by Cameron as “a secretive and sprawling investigation into suspected Israeli espionage” According to Cameron:
Investigators are focusing part of their efforts on Israelis who said they are art students from the University of Jerusalem or Bezalel Academy and repeatedly made contact with U.S. government personnel by saying they wanted to sell cheap art or handiwork.
Documents say they “targeted” and penetrated military bases, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, dozens of government facilities and even secret offices and unlisted private homes of law enforcement and intelligence personnel.
After the Fox report, there was an angry response from the Israeli lobby in America. The December 21 issue of Forward, one of the most prestigious Jewish newspapers in America, reported that Fox and Cameron were “under fire” from supporters of Israel. Forwardalso gloated that “the rest of the American media” had “barely noted” the Fox News reports.
Whatever the case, Fox News pulled the transcriptions of Cameron’s broadcast reports off its Internet web site although Cameron told Forward he continued to stand behind his story.
On March 4, 2002, the story pioneered by AFP and Fox News popped back up when the famous French daily, Le Monde, carried an update, relying largely on reporting by an independent investigation conducted by the Paris-based internet newsletter, Intelligence Online (IO), which, in turn, had been directed by the sources made available to Fox. Citing the previous work by Fox, Le Monde pointed out how Fox refused to cooperate with Le Monde, saying it was “a problem,” but that Fox refused to be specific.
Le Monde noted that IO had received a copy of a report prepared by an officer of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and others from the Immigration and Naturalization Service. A spokesman for the DEA, Will Glaspy, confirmed to Le Monde that the DEA “holds a copy” of that report.It is that DEA report that you now hold in your hands.
The DEA document reveals that many of the Israeli operatives had addresses in South Florida very close to the homes of Arabs suspected of involvement in the September 11 terror attacks. For example, the alleged hijacking ringleader, Mohammad Atta, lived at 3389 Sheridan Street in Hollywood, Florida, while a group of the Israelis resided only a few blocks away, at 4220 Sheridan.
On March 5, Reuters reported Le Monde’s article (even including the allegation of Israeli foreknowledge of the September 11 terrorist attacks). Reuters, however, cited an unnamed FBI spokesman who called it a “bogus story,” saying—despite all the evidence to the contrary—that “there wasn’t a spy ring.”
On March 6, Associated Press reported the story but did not mention, however, that the Israelis were believed to have had intimate knowledge relating to the 9-11 terrorists.
On March 6, Washington Post staff writers John Mintz and Dan Eggen reported that Attorney General Ashcroft’s spokeswoman at the Justice Department, Susan Dryden, dismissed the story as “an urban myth that has been circulating for months.” She added: “The department has no information at this time to substantiate these widespread reports about Israeli art students involved in espionage.”
The release of the DEA report by government officials who are concerned about the obvious efforts by the FBI and Attorney General Ashcroft to cover up the affair is a landmark event. AFP is pleased to provide this copy of the report and the accompanying materials.8.5” x 11” over-sized saddle-stitched booklet, 60 pages
