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special report more re Mossad
cartage 12.12.01 Carl Cameron Fox News transcription ©2001 eMediaMillWorks, Inc. (f/k/a Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.) not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation. |
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NYTimes confirmed that the 130 Israeli casualties claimed by Pres. GWBush were false. Incredibly only
one Israeli actually died in the WTC, a figure that is so fantastically low it proves that some Israelis were
warned in advance. Wash.Post's Newsbytes also confirmed that Israeli employees in the WTC, through Odigo instant messages, got prior warnings 2 hours before the attacks.
Brit Hume, host "It has been more than 16 years since a civilian working for the Navy was charged with passing secrets to Israel. Jonathan Pollard pled guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage and is serving a life sentence. At first, Israeli leaders claimed Pollard was part of a rogue operation, but later took responsibility for his work. Fox News has learned some U.S. investigators believe Israelis again are very much engaged in spying in & on the U.S., who may have known things they didn't tell us before 9.11.01. Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron has details in the first of a four-part series. (begin videotape) |
Driver & passenger Israelis, both INS violators 5.13.02 Carl Cameron Fox News
A Budget truck was pulled over in Oak Harbor WA last Tuesday near the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station and
found to have traces of TNT on the gearshift and traces of RDX plastic explosive on the steering wheel, Fox News has learned. Traces of explosives were also found on one of the truck's 2 occupants. The FBI, INS, BATF, and local police are all investigating.
Documents read to Fox News indicate that both driver & passenger were Israeli nationals.
Investigators say a roadside check of the national database of immigration records indicated that one of the
men had not entered the country legally, and the other was in violation of his visa. Both men were taken into
custody for immigration violations. At 7:30 that morning local police were notified that the BATF & FBI had
tested the truck and found traces of explosives on the steering wheel & gear shift.
Amdocs profit rises, guides down for year
Los Angeles Telecomm software & services company Amdocs Ltd. Tue. reported fiscal Q2
results in line with analysts' expectations but gave guidance for year below expectations because of weak telecom marketplace. The Israeli-U.S. co. reported $26.4 million net profit, 12¢ per share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $15.4 million, or 7¢ per share. Excluding acquisition-related costs, co. posted pro-forma $82.9 million profit at 37¢ per share. Av. broker est. surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call was pro-forma 37¢ profit per share.
$455.2 million Q2 revenue compared with $372.3 million same period last year. Co. expects FY2002 $1.73 billion revenue and pro-forma earnings $1.40 per share. First Call est. for year was earnings of $1.50 per share on revenue of $1.85 billion.
Launch of Israel's TecSAR satellite
Israeli TecSAR satellite was launched 1.21.08 by an Indian Polar Space Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C10 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at the Sriharikota range in south-east India. It entered orbit about 80 minutes after launch. Less than two weeks later, on January 31st, it sent its first images. The photographs, which were taken at night in stormy weather, were said by Israel Aerospace Industry personnel to be of exceptional quality.
However, TecSAR is unique in several respects. First of all, it uses Synthetic Aperture Radar technology (SAR) to provide images of the earth's surface. Since the images are generated by radar rather than by visible light, it can perform at night as well as during daytime and it can see through clouds.
Another unusual feature was the choice of launch vehicle. Until now, Israel has preferred to launch its Ofeq-series surveillance satellites by itself, using the Shavit satellite launcher. That entailed a number of benefits. First of all, there was the advantage of independence from any foreign participation. Independent launch capability, especially in time of crisis when Israel might be subjected to an embargo, could turn out to be vital.
However, the use of the Shavit also involved some drawbacks. The most important was the constraint on possible satellite orbits. Any launch from Israeli territory must be directed westwards, towards the sea, in order to prevent the launcher's first stages (or the satellite itself, in case of a malfunction) from falling on populated areas or on foreign territory. A westward launch, i.e., against the direction of the earth's rotation, seriously restricts the weight of the satellite that the launch vehicle can carry.
The TecSAR represents the first Israeli use of the Indian PSLV launcher, which makes possible an orbit that could not be reached from Israel: altitude 450-580 kilometers, with an inclination of 41 degrees. As a result, TecSAR cruises from west to east, unlike all the surveillance satellites launched from Israel itself.
TecSAR undoubtedly constitutes a technological breakthrough for Israel's defense industry. It is an advanced satellite with few competitors in the world. It is unique in its capabilities and in its size (similar American surveillance satellites are much heavier). For the defense establishment in Israel, it provides coverage of the whole of the Middle East.
IPO of wiretapping firm Verint Systems set
Wash.D.C. Verint Systems Inc., whose wiretapping software enables law enforcement agencies to scan the Internet, telephone calls and other forms of communication, said on Monday it plans an initial public
offering of 4.5 million common shares. The unit of U.S.-Israeli communication system developer Comverse
Technology Inc. said in SEC filing it expects shares to sell for $16 to $18 each. It was not immediately known when Verint will debut, but it has applied for NASDAQ listing under the symbol "VRNT"
Comverse, which will own 79.5% when the IPO is completed, was down 69¢, or more than 5%, at
$12.55 morning Nasdaq trade. Woodbury NY based Verint is selling 4.4 million shares in the IPO while AKR
Enterprises LLC of Glen Burnie, MD, is selling 136,985 shares. Verint predicted it will net about $67.5 million in
proceeds, which it plans to use to finance growth, for working capital and general corporate purposes. The money may also be used to repay bank debt and for acquisitions or other investments.
3.12.02 Jim Christie Reuters
Average analyst expectation per Thomson Financial/First Call research firm survey for the Israeli-U.S. company
was 6¢ a share posted earnings, individual est. ranging 5¢ to 6¢ a share. Q4 sales fell 24% to $265 million from $346.6 million year ago; co. expects Q1 sales to fall to around $220 million, resulting in Q1 6¢ a share loss. [cf. prev. article for truth],
Co. short-term guidance sent shares tumbling. Comverse shares closed $15.85, down 21¢, or 1.3%, and fell to $13.96 in after-market trade on Instinet. Analysts expected Comverse's sales would stay flat in the short term and expected co. to not provide outlook beyond next 2 quarters, reflecting the difficulty in determining when telecom markets will rebound. "We're bouncing along the bottom," said Raymond James & Assoc. Inc. analyst Mike Latimore "Q1 & Q2 will not be inflection points."
That was driven home Tue. after cell-phone maker Nokia warned of weak sales and telecom equipt maker Lucent Technologies Inc. lowered sales forecast, said WR Hambrecht & Co. analyst Peter Friedland. Comverse's guidance of likely lower sales and loss for current quarter is result of uneven ordering by customers, Friedland noted. "Hope had been $265 million (in Q4 sales) would be a bottom because co. said it had seen a stabilizing backlog," he said. "Backlog looked good at the beginning of the year so some carriers were spending some money, but more recently building that pipeline tailed off, so carriers stopped making commitments," Friedland added.
How Americans are blackmailed by Israel ¹
The Israeli spy news story first broke regarding the existence of a system to tap into any phone in America built into the surveillance system used by law enforcement authorities. However after reporting it, Fox News spiked the story from its website. Several cases were cited where investigations ranging from drug running & money laundering to 9.11.01 had been compromised by leaks from the company that operated the phone taps as well as phone data from an associated co. that handles billing services for almost every phone in America.
Amdocs, Inc. which subcontracts billing & directory services for phone companies around the world, incl
90% of American phone companies, is owned by Israeli interests. Yet another company, Comverse Infosys, is suspected of having built a "back door" into equipt permanently installed into the phone system that allows instant eavesdropping by law enforcement agencies on any phone in America.
The Ken Starr report on Whitewater describes how Bill Clinton warned Monica Lewinsky that a foreign govt was tapping their phone calls, phone taps or bugs built right into the phone system.
Israel receives a hugely disproportionate share of U.S. foreign aid, about $5 billion a year.
in a corrupt society only the corrupt can reach the heights of power, and they all have secrets to hide. They are all vulnerable to blackmail. Amdocs & Comverse Infosys are the most powerful tools a blackmailer could ever hope for. If we elect a govt of criminals, we elect govt subject to blackmail.
update: Just announced that Israeli "spy-phone" co. Comverse Infosys is now buying into the Instant
Messaging business through Odigo, largest Instant Messaging co.
from Odigo web site
The spies who came in from the art sale
Atlanta
major international espionage saga roots in Atlanta.
haven't read about it in Atlanta Journal-Constitution even though that paper's Washington bureau last week reported the seething scandal.
CNN CEO Walter Issacson says it would be "perverse" to televise Afghan babies killed by U.S. bombs,
ignoring sacred cows.
In 1999, word began spreading among intelligence agencies about bands of Israeli "students" doing strange things, such as popping up around federal buildings & military establishments marketing artwork. According to intelligence sources, low-level alerts began being flashed around to offices of the FBI, DEA, federal prosecutors and others. By March 2001, counterintelligence officials had issued a bulletin to be on the watch for Israelis masquerading as "art students."
Often the Israeli "students" sold their artwork on street locations near federal buildings. In one incident in Atlanta,
they showed up outside an unlisted FBI office and began taking photos, according to sources. Agents collared
them and sent them on their way. Also in our town, a DEA agent recalled seeing the "students" selling art around his offices. Later, when he spied the same artwork (Chinese made, as it turned out) at the Mall of Georgia, he became suspicious. DEA is the lead U.S. agency in monitoring money laundering which explains spy's interest. Similarly, a former federal prosecutor was visited at his home by the Israeli "art salesmen" and, according to sources, concluded that, wow, this was exactly what the alerts had been about.
Then came 9.11.01
media went out to a four-martini lunch
commendable exceptions. One is Carl Cameron, Fox News. 12.12.02, Cameron broke spy story. He said at the time: "
more than 60 Israelis have been arrested or detained, either under the new PATRIOT anti-terrorism law, or for immigration violations. A handful of active Israeli military were among those detained, according to investigators, who say some of the detainees also failed polygraph questions when asked about alleged surveillance activities against & in U.S."
Fox also reported Israeli "students" "targeted & penetrated" U.S. military bases.
Others at Fox confirm there was intense pressure on the network by pro-Israeli lobbying groups, such as the Anti-Defamation League and the misnamed Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting (CAMERA).
French Web-based service, Intelligence Online, obtained same 61-pg June 2001 federal report Cameron had. The website reported that 120 Israelis had by now been detained or deported by U.S. authorities.
The
Oklahoman reported last week that 10 months ago 4 Israelis peddling artwork (but carrying military IDs) were
detained near Tinker AFB OK. Le Monde in Paris recounted 6 intercepted "students" had cell phones purchased by an Israeli vice consul in U.S. Sources told CL that many of the phones had a walkie-talkie feature that was virtually impossible to intercept.
Bush administration shills were quick to try to spin the story. Justice Dept spokeswoman Susan Dryden, called
Intelligence Online report "urban myth," and other federal flaks trumpeted that no Israeli had been charged with or deported for spying.
Israeli Embassy spokesman Mark Reguev derided Intelligence Online report as
"nonsense." Israel in the past has stridently denied wrongdoing until long after the truth was obvious. Israel claimed Jonathan Pollard
wasn't an agent. Israel stubbornly contended its 1967 attack on the USS Liberty, in which 35 American sailors were killed, was an accident, lie exposed in recent reports incl one that aired last fall on History Channel. Recent authoritative book, Body of Secrets , by James Bamford, concludes that National Security Agency officials "were virtually unanimous in their belief that the attack was deliberate." Following U.S. denials of recent spy story, Intelligence Online editor Guillaume Dasquie threatened to post the sensitive report online. He commented: "The document we have in our possession details not only the identities of the members of this network, but also their activities in the Israeli army, and even their serial numbers in the intelligence services, their passport numbers and their validity, and their visas and their validity." There's more to this story but you might have to move to Paris to read it. |
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Cameron Since 9.11.01, more than 60 Israelis have been arrested or detained, either under the
new patriot anti-terrorism law, or for immigration violations. A handful of active Israeli military were among those
detained, according to investigators, who say some of the detainees also failed polygraph questions when asked about alleged surveillance activities against & in the U.S. There is no indication that the Israelis were involved in the 9.11.01 attacks, but investigators suspect that the Israelis may have gathered intelligence about the attacks in advance, and not shared it. A highly placed investigator said there are "tie-ins." But when asked for details, he flatly refused 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."
Fox News has learned that one group of Israelis, spotted in N.Carolina recently, is suspected of keeping an
apartment in California to spy on a group of Arabs who the U.S. is also investigating for links to terrorism.
Numerous classified documents obtained by Fox News indicate that even prior to 9.11.01, as many as 140 other Israelis had been detained or arrested in a secretive & sprawling investigation into suspected espionage by Israelis in the U.S.
Investigators from numerous govt agencies are part of a working group that's been compiling evidence since the
mid '90s. These documents detail hundreds of incidents in cities & towns across the country that investigators say, "may well be an organized intelligence gathering activity." The first part of the investigation focuses on Israelis who say they are art students from the Univ. of Jerusalem & Bazala Academy. They repeatedly made contact with U.S. govt personnel, the report says, by saying they wanted to sell cheap art or handiwork.
Another part of the investigation has resulted in the detention & arrests of dozens of Israelis at American mall kiosks, where they've been selling toys called Puzzle Car & Zoom Copter. Investigators suspect a front. Shortly after NYTimes & Wash.Post reported the Israeli detentions last months, the carts began vanishing. Zoom Copter's Web page says, "We are aware of the situation caused by thousands of mall carts being closed at the last minute. This in no way reflects the quality of the toy or its salability. The problem lies in the operators' business policies."
Why would Israelis spy in & on the U.S.? GAO investigation referred to Israel as country A and said,
"According to a U.S. intelligence agency, the govt of country A conducts the most aggressive espionage operations against the U.S. of any U.S. ally." A defense intelligence report said Israel has a voracious appetite for information and said, "the Israelis are motivated by strong survival instincts which dictate every possible facet of their political & economical policies. It aggressively collects military & industrial technology and the U.S. is a high priority target." The document concludes: "Israel possesses the resources & technical capability to achieve its collection objectives." (end video clip)
A spokesman for the Israeli embassy here in Washington issued a denial saying that any suggestion that Israelis are spying in or on the U.S. is "simply not true." There are other things to consider. And in the days ahead, we'll take a look at the U.S. phone system and law enforcement's methods for wiretaps. And an investigation that both have been compromised by our friends overseas.
Hume Carl, what about this question of advanced knowledge of what was going to happen on
9/11? How clear are investigators that some Israeli agents may have known something?
Hume Going into the fact that they were spying on some Arabs, right?
Cameron (voice-over) Fox News has learned that some American terrorist investigators fear certain suspects in the 9.11.01 attacks may have managed to stay ahead of them, by knowing who & when
investigators are calling on the telephone. How? By obtaining & analyzing data that's generated every time
someone in the U.S. makes a call.
Unidentified female What city and state, please?
Investigators don't believe calls are being listened to, but the data about who is calling whom & when is plenty valuable in itself. An internal Amdocs memo to senior co. executives suggests just how Amdocs generated call records could be used. "Widespread data mining techniques & algorithms
combining both the properties of the customer (e.g., credit rating) and properties of the specific 'behavior.'" Specific behavior, such as who the customers are calling.
The Amdocs memo says the system should be used to prevent phone fraud. But U.S. counterintelligence analysts say it could also be used to spy through the phone system. Fox News has learned that the NSA has held numerous classified conferences to warn the FBI & CIA how Amdocs records could be used.
Those vulnerabilities are growing, because according to another briefing, the U.S. relies too much on foreign
companies like Amdocs for high-tech equipt & software. "Many factors have led to increased dependence on code developed overseas.
We buy rather than train or develop solutions." U.S. intelligence does not believe the Israeli govt is involved in a misuse of information, and Amdocs insists that its data is secure. What U.S. govt officials are worried about, however, is the possibility that Amdocs data could get into the wrong hands, particularly organized crime. And that would not be the first time such a thing has happened.
Fox News has documents of a 1997 drug trafficking case in Los Angeles, in which telephone information, the type that Amdocs collects, was used to "completely compromise the communications of the FBI, the Secret Service, the DEA and the LAPD." We'll have that and a lot more in the days ahead, Brit.
Hume Carl, I want to take you back to your report last night on those 60 Israelis who were detained in the anti-terror investigation, and the suspicion that some investigators have that they may have picked up information on the 9.11.01attacks ahead of time and not passed it on. There was a report, you'll recall, that the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, did indeed send representatives to the U.S. to warn, just before 9.11.01, that a major terrorist attack was imminent. How does that leave room for the lack of a warning?
Cameron I remember the report, Brit. We did it first internationally right here on your show on the 14th. What investigators are saying is that that warning from the Mossad was nonspecific & general, and they believe that it may have had something to do with the desire to protect what are called sources & methods in the intelligence community. The suspicion being, perhaps those sources & methods were taking place right here in the U.S.
Hume So in other words, the problem wasn't lack of a warning, the problem was lack of useful
details?
In tonight's report, we learn that the concern about phone security extends to another company, founded in Israel, that provides the technology that the U.S. govt uses for electronic eavesdropping. Here is Carl Cameron's third report. (begin videotape)
Cameron (voice-over) The company is Comverse Infosys, a subsidiary of an Israeli-run
private telecommunications firm, with offices throughout the U.S. It provides wiretapping equipt for law
enforcement. Here's how wiretapping works in the U.S.
Every time you make a call, it passes through the nation's elaborate network of switchers & routers run by the phone companies. Custom computers & software, made by companies like Comverse, are tied into that network to intercept, record and store the wiretapped calls, and at the same time transmit them to investigators. The manufacturers have continuing access to the computers so they can service them and keep them free of glitches. This process was authorized by the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA. Sr govt officials have now told Fox News that while CALEA made wiretapping easier, it has led to a system that is seriously vulnerable to compromise, and may have undermined the whole wiretapping system.
Indeed, Fox News has learned that Atty Gen. Ashcroft & FBI Dir. Robert Mueller were both warned 10.18.01 in a hand-delivered letter from 15 local, state and federal law enforcement officials, who complained that "law
enforcement's current electronic surveillance capabilities are less effective today than they were at the time CALEA was enacted." Congress insists the equipt it installs is secure. But the complaint about this system is that the wiretap computer programs made by Comverse have, in effect, a back door through which wiretaps themselves can be intercepted by unauthorized parties.
Adding to the suspicions is the fact that in Israel, Comverse works closely with the Israeli govt, and under special programs, gets reimbursed for up to 50% of its research & development costs by the Israeli Ministry of Industry & Trade. But investigators within the DEA, INS and FBI have all told Fox News that to pursue or even suggest Israeli spying through Comverse is considered career suicide. And sources say that while various FBI inquiries into Comverse have been conducted over the years, they've been halted before the actual equipt has ever been thoroughly tested for leaks. A 1999 FCC document indicates several govt agencies expressed deep concerns that too many unauthorized non-law enforcement personnel can access the wiretap system. And the FBI's own nondescript office in Chantilly, VA that actually oversees the CALEA wiretapping program, is among the most agitated about the threat.
But there is a bitter turf war internally at FBI. The FBI's office in Quantico, VA has jurisdiction over awarding
contracts & buying intercept equipt. For years, they've thrown much of the business to Comverse. A handful of former U.S. law enforcement officials involved in awarding Comverse govt contracts over the years now work for the company. Numerous sources say some of those individuals were asked to leave govt service under what knowledgeable sources call "troublesome circumstances" that remain under administrative review within the Justice Dept. (end videotape)
Hume Carl, is there any reason to suspect in this instance that the Israeli govt is involved?
Cameron (voice-over) Los Angeles, 1997, a major local, state and federal drug investigating sours. The suspects: Israeli organized crime with operations in New York, Miami, Las Vegas, Canada, Israel and Egypt. The allegations: cocaine & ecstasy trafficking, and sophisticated white-collar credit card & computer fraud.
Shock spread from the DEA to the FBI in Washington, and then the CIA. An investigation of the problem, according to law enforcement documents, concluded, "The organization has apparent extensive access to database systems to identify pertinent personal & biographical information." When investigators tried to find out where the information might have come from, they looked at Amdocs, a publicly traded firm based in Israel. Amdocs generates billing data for virtually every call in America, and they do credit checks. The company denies any leaks, but investigators still fear that the firm's data is getting into the wrong hands.
When investigators checked their own wiretapping system for leaks, they grew concerned about potential
vulnerabilities in the computers that intercept, record and store the wiretapped calls. A main contractor is Comverse
Infosys, which works closely with the Israeli govt, and under a special grant program, is reimbursed for up to
50% of its research & development costs by Israel's Ministry of Industry & Trade. Asked this week
about another sprawling investigation and the detention of 60 Israeli since 9.11.01, the Bush administration treated
the questions like hot potatoes.
Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary "I would just refer you to Justice Dept with that. I'm not
familiar with the report." | |
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Cameron Beyond the 60 apprehended or detained, and many deported since 9.11.01, another
group of 140 Israeli individuals have been arrested & detained in this year in what govt documents describe as
"an organized intelligence gathering operation," designed to "penetrate govt facilities." Most of those individuals
said they had served in the Israeli military, which is compulsory there. But they also had, most of them, intelligence expertise, and either worked for Amdocs or other companies in Israel that specialize in wiretapping. Earlier this week, the Israeli embassy in Washington denied any spying against or in the U.S., Tony.
Snow Carl, we've heard the comments from Ari Fleischer & Colin Powell. What are officials
saying behind the scenes?
At the DEA & the FBI, already a variety of administration reviews are under way, in addition to the
investigation of the phenomenon. They want to find out how it is all this has come out, as well as be very careful
because of the explosive nature and very political ramifications of the story itself, Tony.
Israel denies spying on American allies
Jerusalem Israel denied Saturday spying on its main ally, the U.S., responding to suspicions a
Pentagon analyst passed secret papers to the Jewish state about one of its most bitter enemies, Iran.
U.S. govt sources said Friday the FBI was investigating an analyst connected to DefSec Rumsfeld's office on
suspicion he gave classified documents to Israel via AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobby in Washington.
The sources declined to identify the suspect and said no one had been arrested and no charges brought.
Israeli officials insisted Israel had not spied on U.S. since being caught red-handed 2 decades ago in an espionage
scandal involving U.S. Navy analyst Jonathan Pollard, arrested in 1985 outside the Israeli embassy. "We deny
carrying out any intelligence activity. It is a strange story," said a sr Israeli govt official, who declined to be
identified. "Israel, for many years, has not carried out intelligence activity in U.S. "
PM Ariel Sharon has frequently highlighted his warm relations with President Bush and has visited the White House
9 times since taking office. A senior Sharon aide meets often with U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza
Rice.
U.S. & Israeli officials accuse Iran of developing nuclear weapons, a charge it denies. Since its 1979 Islamic
revolution Iran has refused to recognize Israel's right to exist. Iranian officials have made a point of highlighting the
Islamic state's military capabilities in recent weeks in response to some media reports that Israeli or U.S. war
planes could try to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities in air strikes. Iran said last week it had carried out a successful
test firing of an upgraded version of its Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile. Military experts said the
unmodified Shahab-3 was already capable of striking Israel or U.S. bases in the Gulf.
Inquiry into classified papers runs deeper
Wash.D.C. An FBI probe into the handling of highly classified material by Pentagon civilians is
broader than previously reported, and goes well beyond allegations that a single midlevel analyst gave a top-secret
Iran policy document to Israel, three sources familiar with the investigation said yesterday. The probe, which has
been going on for more than 2 years, also has focused on other civilians in the secretary of defense's office, said
the sources, who spoke on condition they not be identified but who have firsthand knowledge of the subject.
In addition, one said, FBI investigators in recent weeks have conducted interviews to determine whether Pentagon
officials gave highly classified U.S. intelligence to a leading Iraqi exile group, the Iraqi National Congress, which
may in turn have passed it on to Iran. INC leader Ahmad Chalabi has denied his group was involved in any wrongdoing.
No one is known to have been charged with any wrongdoing in the current investigation. Officials cautioned that it
could result in charges of mishandling classified information rather than the more serious charge of espionage.
Israeli govt yesterday strenuously denied it had spied on U.S., its main benefactor on the global scene.
2 sources disclosed yesterday that the information believed to have been passed to Israel was the draft of
a top-secret presidential order on Iran policy, known as a National Security Presidential Directive. Because
of disagreements over Iran policy among President Bush's advisers, the document is not believed to have been
completed.
Two or three AIPAC staff members have been interviewed in connection with the case. In a prepared statement,
AIPAC said any allegation of criminal conduct was "false and baseless." It is "cooperating fully" with investigators,
AIPAC's statement said.
But other sources said the FBI investigation is more wide-ranging than initial news reports suggested. They said it
has involved interviews of current and former officials at the White House, Pentagon and State Dept. Investigators
have asked about the security practices of several other Defense Dept civilians, they said. |
Details emerge about vast alien spy network AttyGen Ashcroft's office said story of Israeli spy network of bogus art students operating across U.S. is "urban myth," but other law enforcement officials say otherwise. 3.25.02 Christopher Bollyn American Free Press
61-page DEA task-force report that contained the details about this spy ring was first revealed in detail on
3.4.02 by Intelligence Online (IO), respected Internet news service based in Paris, France, elaboration in some
respects on earlier findings by Carl Cameron of Fox News. The IO story was picked up by leading French daily Le
Monde, and, in some respects, by the Associated Press, but was just as quickly dropped.
British intelligence & military analysis publication Jane's Information Group noted the peculiar absence of
reporting in the American media on the "explosive story" of the huge network of Israeli spies that made headlines
around the world:
The "art students" are reported to be active agents in electronic surveillance units of the Israeli military. The Israelis
covered the country in "organized" teams of eight to 10 people, with each group having a team leader. The DEA
document lists the Israelis' military and intelligence specialties as "special forces," "intelligence officer,"
"demolition/explosive ordnance specialist," "bodyguard to head of Israeli army," "electronic intercept operator," and
"son of a 2 star (Israeli) army general."
Alleged hijacker, Mohammad Atta, lived at 3389 Sheridan St. in Hollywood, FL, while a few blocks away, at 4220
Sheridan, a group of the Israelis resided. Especially in Florida, where 10 of the 19 alleged 9.11.01 terrorists lived,
revelations about the Israeli activities bolster speculation that the Israelis had advance knowledge but did not pass
intelligence on to the U.S.
DEA report found that several military bases also had experienced unauthorized entries by the Israelis incl 2 bases
from which Stealth aircraft and other secret military units operate. Unauthorized photographing of military sites and
civilian industrial complexes, such as petroleum-storage facilities, also was reported, the document confirms.
In great detail, the DEA document contains "scores of encounters" between federal agents & Israeli agents
posing as art students.
In virtually every incident reported by the DEA field-offices the Israelis used the same methods: Israelis would
attempt to enter secure buildings, take photographs, follow federal agents when they left buildings, show up at their
homes and circle their neighborhoods, visiting their houses and then departing. At a DEA agent's house in
Chicago, Israelis were so aggressive the police were called.
"This is very odd behavior under any situation," says a DEA official who had heard but not yet seen the reports until
Insight shared them. "The patterns are clear and they pose a significant danger to our officers in the field."
Guillaume Dasquie, of IO, told American Free Press that he had acquired solid evidence of the authenticity of the
DEA document, and would reveal new evidence to counter claims made by Justice Dept of Justice that there had
been "no case of Israeli espionage" in U.S. and that the matter was "an urban myth."
On March 14, IO said it has a copy of a memorandum dated March 4 and signed by asst atty general for admin
Robert Diegelman, . The memo was addressed to officials in charge of the Justice Dept's information systems. It
called on them to forbid information system access to all non-U.S. citizens and no longer use foreign-supplied
computer & communication gear.
The DEA task force issued an initial report in June of last year that listed the names of 125 Israeli nationals and
described their activities in U.S.. The document suggests that the ring had infiltrated federal buildings, according to
IO, and that Israeli computer companies sell equipt to U.S. govt depts.
In addition, IO reported: "We've also obtained an internal document from the US Coast Guard, an Intelligence
Bulletin dated 1.17.02. Reserved for security bosses in America's biggest companies, the bulletin regularly tracks
all attempts to penetrate protected sites recorded by the US Coast Guard."
AttyGeneral Ashcroft spokesman initially attempted to dismiss the story as an "urban myth." However, the NY
based Forward effectively exposed Ashcroft's prevarication when it admitted on March 15:
"These individuals have been described as aggressive," the warning said. However, the warning added that there
may be 2 groups involved, one with an "apparently legitimate money-making goal while the second, perhaps a non-
Israeli group, may have ties to a Middle Eastern Islamic fundamentalist group." |
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AIPAC prime target of FBI espionage probe
Report: Investigation of Franklin coincidental to two year long counterintelligence operation targeting
AIPAC. 9.2.04 Tal Shneider Maariv
Wash.D.C. The FBI has, for the past 2 years, been investigating whether classified intelligence has
been passed to Israel by AIPAC. The Franklingate scandal was merely a sideshow, sr US officials & other
sources told the Wash. Post. The counterintelligence probe, which is different from a criminal
investigation, focuses on a possible transfer of intelligence more extensive than whether Franklin passed on a
draft presidential directive on US policy toward Iran, the sources said.
Investigation of Franklin is coincidental to the broader FBI counterintelligence probe, which was already long
underway when Franklin came to the attention of investigators, U.S. officials and sources said. On Tuesday,
Franklin was seen for the first time since the affair was published, while he arrived at a lecture held at Sheppard
University, where he has been teaching history for the past 5 years. |
Spy scandal fizzling out Supposed Israeli mole looking more and more like a simple jackass. Case seems to have more to do with US domestic agenda than foreign espionage 8.29.04 Maariv
"Franklingate" espionage scandal is beginning to look like a surfeit of hype forced into bed with a paucity of fact.
A sr administration official told the press that this does not look like a case of spying. "From what we know, Larry
Franklin looks more like an incompetent fool way out of his depth than a spy. He apparently passed on some
papers to Israel without realizing the ramifications of his actions".
A sr Jewish source told Maariv this looks more like a case driven by domestic political agenda than any real
security concerns. "The fact that this affair became public 2 days before the GOP convention is probably not a
coincidence. We know there are lots of people out there who have an agenda to discredit the neo-conservatives,
irrespective of the facts", he said. He also mentioned the possibility of inter-turf scuffling between various US govt
intelligence and security agencies as a possible contributing factor.
Israeli diplomat denies any improper behavior
Spy scandal sputtering out, looks like a surfeit of hype forced into bed with a paucity of fact. #2 diplomat at Israeli embassy in Washington Naor Gilon categorically denies any allegations of wrongdoing or inappropriate behavior. "My hands are clean. I have nothing to hide, all my activities are well within the parameters of accepted diplomatic norms and procedure". Gilon has been named as having met with Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin who is suspected of handing over classified documents to Israel. |
According to Israeli officials, Gilon did not take any documents from Franklin but only carried out talks according to
diplomatic guidelines. On Saturday it was reported that a FBI surveillance team spotted Franklin with a member of
the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC and a diplomat from the Israeli embassy in Washington.
Meanwhile, Newsweek magazine is reporting that for about a month Franklin has been cooperating with the FBI
and even admitted to have worked with an Israeli contact. According to the FBI, Franklin attempted to deliver the
Israeli diplomat a document regarding Iran, but the Israeli was "smart enough" not to take it.
"Investigators are not clear on exactly what Franklin allegedly delivered to the Israelis", the magazine states.
During his interrogation, Franklin stressed that none of his Pentagon superiors knew of his activity. Sr
Pentagon officials say that Franklin wasn't in a position that would have enabled him to affect US policy.
Newsweek adds that Franklin likely handed over to Israel documents without being aware of the severity of his
acts. A sr Defense Dept official, who has knowledge of the investigation, told L..A. Times that he is doubtful the
case would evolve into espionage charges, and added, "From what I can see, the man looks more like an idiot than
a spy, he seems to have taken stupid & ill advised actions without realizing the potential repercussions".
The source added that both Israel & the US regularly exchange sensitive information. "At most Larry Franklin
is guilty of poor judgment in determining what information should or should not be shared with Israel".
Another sr source said that Israel did not need Franklin's information. Israel's contacts with high-level officials are
such that a phone call to the US would have been sufficient to elicit the information.
In the past several days, the investigation has been spreading to other US officials. According to the NY Times, FBI agents wanted to question 2 sr Defense Dept officials: Defense Deputy Sec. Paul Wolfowitz & under secretary of defense for policy Douglas Feith. It is unclear, however, if the bureau had indeed questioned the two.
This is expected to create huge delays; travel agents predict up to several months, since the embassy has received
no extra funding and hired no additional staff to carry out this task. Applications can no longer be made directly to
the embassy or consulate but must be handled by a registered travel agent. The agent not only provides the forms
and submits them to the embassy, but it is the agent rather than the applicant whom the embassy informs of the
applicant's interview date. When the applicant arrives for the interview, he will have to leave his passport with the
embassy until it reaches a decision on the application, and at some point in the future, fingerprinting will also be
required.
Contrary to popular myth, the U.S. is not strict about issuing visas to Israelis because it fears their staying on in the
country illegally. According to the most recent report of U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service, of about
one million people picked up for visa violations in the year after 9.11.01, only 350 were Israelis, although 316,000
Israelis entered the country legally that year, incl tourists, businessmen, students, legal workers and govt officials.
About 4,000 Israelis get green cards for permanent residence every year, half of them after marrying
Americans.
Last year, after American law enforcement agencies began merging their databases, Israeli consular officials
reported a sharp increase in the number of Israelis arrested for visa violations though there are no official statistics.
That same year, the American embassy in Tel Aviv processed 140,000 visa requests from Israelis and others were
handled by the consulate in Jerusalem.
The new policy Pres. GWBush signed into law 5.14.03 is being applied without distinction to all countries from
which the U.S. requires visas. Nevertheless, it has offended Israel, which cannot understand why one of the world's
main victims of Islamic terror should be treated by the U.S. as a suspect country.
The hassles to which U.S. border officials have subjected Israelis born in Iran or Iraq, incl Defense Minister Shaul
Mofaz and the singer Rita, have merely deepened the sense of insult. There are only 27 countries, almost all of
them European, whose citizens are allowed to enter the U.S. without a visa. For a country to join this list, less than
3% of visa applications from that country must be rejected every year. Israel has not yet met that criterion,
although it was close before the intifada began.
According to U.S. Amb. Dan Kurtzer, about 94% of Israeli visa applications are accepted. Additionally, U.S.
must be convinced of the country's political & economic stability. Last year it reinstated a visa requirement for
Argentine citizens due to the economic crisis there. It is therefore hard to see the U.S. exempting Israel from the
visa requirement while the intifada & recession continue.
5.23.03 Lily Galili Pogrom
Immigrant Avigdor Yardeni nee Mashogiyan from Confederation of Independent States, son of Jewish mother
& Armenian father, immigrated to Israel 12 years ago. He fathered 2 "sabra" daughters and tried a number of
occupations: engineer, salesman, youth emissary for Jewish Agency in Russia and businessman
who went back & forth between Israel & his old homeland.
According to him, from a close reading of the contents, there is no doubt that these are young people of army age
and a bit older. Low literary level of Russian full of mistakes shows these are people with little education, in whose
poor language Yardeni identifies marked Hebrew influence. These are young people who came to Israel with their
families under the Law of Return and have grown up here.
New Zealand bars door to Holocaust denier
Auckland NZ New Zealand's Immigration Service has said that a Holocaust-denying
historian will be denied entry. Officials said that David Irving can apply for a "special direction" that would allow him
to travel to New Zealand, the Dominion Post reports. Several politicians, including PM Helen Clark, have said that
Irving's views should not bar him from the country.
Allowing Irving to enter the country could put more strain on New Zealand's relationship with Israel. 2 alleged
Mossad agents were recently convicted of attempting to obtain a fraudulent New Zealand passport.
[ Q. How many Jews lived in Third Reich controlled Europe prior to internment ?
When David Faber, a Holocaust survivor and author, spoke to eighth-grade students at La Presa Middle School
recently, he faced a tough crowd. Most of these Spring Valley teens live in poverty, come from families where
violence is a fact of life and are already tangling with gangs. Still, they were crying as Faber shared pictures and
stories of the horrors his family endured at the hands of the Nazis.
"We chose pennies because they are so undervalued, even though they are currency," Ostrander says. "They are viewed as insignificant, as the Jews were during World War II." Each teacher put a penny bucket in the classroom. Students were determined to fill them, often picking pennies up off the street and proudly tossing them into the collection. |
Anti-Semitism in Israel 7.19.03 Toronto Star
Noah Efron grew up in U.S. a cosseted Jew. He was innocent of anti-Semitism; had never experienced a single
insult or slur. He was denied nothing because of his religion. To him, anti-Semitism was "a grand abstraction, like
communism." All that changed when he moved to another country.
What was most disturbing was that this was happening, of all places, in Israel, a land Efron effusively says
"cascades in miracles." "My first encounter with anti-Semitism was in Israel, and the anti-Semites were my people,
my heroes, the people I'd moved halfway around the world to join. After many years, I had finally seen the face of
anti-Semitism, and it looked surprisingly like my own," writes Efron in Real Jews (secular vs. ultra-orthodox & struggle for jewish identity In Israel)
Many simply refer to it as Israel's "other war."
anti-Semitism there is
directed toward a
small sub-group of "Semites:" Haredim (literally, "those who tremble"), ultra-Orthodox who make up roughly one-
tenth of all Israelis, and who are the targets of "unfathomable hostility" by the country's secular &
moderates.
One of the many studies Efron quotes found that half of Israeli high school students said they hate the ultra-
Orthodox, same percentage that admits to hating Arabs. The reasons for the rage are many & complex and
form a litany of grievances. Typically, Haredim are exempt from serving both in Israel's army and its
reserves (everyone else must serve). In the country's Byzantine system of coalition govts, religious parties
have exercised the deciding vote in every election since 1977, giving the ultra-Orthodox disproportionate clout.
Orthodox establishment controls important religious life-cycle events such as marriage, divorce and death.
Conversions are a headache unto themselves. Some more extreme Haredi factions are vehemently anti-Zionist,
believing only the messiah can establish a Jewish nation. Haredim live, for the most part, in segregated
communities and want nothing to do with the outside world for fear of being contaminated by secularism. |
Descended from the medieval Jewish communities of the Rhineland. Ashkenaz, name thought to originally apply to the Scythians, is the Medieval Hebrew name for the region which later formed the country of Germany.
After the forced Jewish exile from Jerusalem in 70 CE and the complete Roman takeover of Judea following the Bar Kochba rebellion of 132-135 CE, Jews continued to be a majority of the population in Palestine for several hundred years.
After Christianity became the official religion of Rome and Constantinople, Jews were increasingly marginalized, and brutally persecuted.
Charlemagne granted the Jews in his lands freedoms similar to those once enjoyed under the Roman Empire.
Originating in the Middle East, Ashkenazi Jews arrived in northern France and the Rhineland sometime around 800-1000 CE and brought with them both Rabbinic Judaism and the Babylonian Talmudic culture that underlies it. |
Religious Jews have Minhagim, customs, in addition to Halakha, or religious law, and different interpretations of law.
When the Ashkenazi community first began to develop in the Early Middle Ages and until the 9th century, the centers of Jewish religious authority were in the Islamic world, at Baghdad and in Islamic Spain.
Ashkenaz (Germany) was so distant geographically that it developed a minhag of its own, and Ashkenazi Hebrew came to be pronounced in ways distinct from other forms of Hebrew.
From the Rhineland to Riga to Romania, most Jews prayed in liturgical Ashkenazi Hebrew, and spoke Yiddish in their secular lives. In many yeshivas all over the world, Yiddish is the primary language of instruction.
Yiddish developed from the Middle High German vernacular, heavily influenced by Hebrew and Aramaic. By comparison, the Greek or Latin influence on Yiddish was much less significant.
The counterpart of Ashkenazi is Sephardic, since most non-Ashkenazi Orthodox Jews follow Sephardic rabbinical authorities. Ashkenazi Jews developed the Hasidic movement.
In Israel the term Ashkenazi is now used in ways that have nothing to do with its original meaning. In practice, the label Ashkenazi is often applied to all Jews of European background living in Israel, including those whose ethnic background is actually Sephardic.
Outside the State of Israel, no central authority or ruling body in Judaism determines who is a Jew.
A Jew who converts to another religion, though an apostate, is still considered a Jew. In the state of Israel, however, an Israeli Jew who converts to a different religion is no longer considered to be Jewish.
A Jew who becomes an atheist is still considered a Jew. A Jew who renounces and even condemns Judaism is still considered a Jew
For roughly a thousand years, the Ashkenazi were a reproductively isolated population in Europe, despite living in many countries, with little inflow or outflow from migration, conversion, or intermarriage with other groups, including other Jews.
Human geneticists have identified genetic variations that have high frequencies among Ashkenazi Jews, but not in the general European population.
Jewish women and families who choose artificial insemination often choose a biological father who is not Jewish, to avoid common autosomal recessive genetic diseases. Some organizations, notably Dor Yeshorim, organize screening programs to prevent homozygosity for the genes that cause these diseases.
|
Kerry hits Bush 'sweetheart' ties with
Saudis 4.19.04 Reuters
Lake Worth FL Democrat (presidential candidate) John Kerry Monday voiced unwavering support for special U.S. ties with Israel and vowed to end "sweetheart relationships" with Arab countries like Saudi Arabia that he said funded terror. Courting the Jewish vote in Florida, the state at the center of the disputed 2000 election, the presumptive Democratic nominee cited a report that President Bush & his senior advisers made "a secret White House deal" with the Saudis to deliver lower gas prices.
Journalist Bob Woodward's new book Plan of Attack also said in a CBS' "60 Minutes" interview that Bush gave national
security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Cheney and Rumsfeld permission to tell Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin
Sultan of his decision to go to war in Iraq before informing Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Kerry stressed his pro-Israel voting record over almost two decades representing Massachusetts in the U.S.
Senate. "I have a 100 percent record, not a 99, a 100 percent record, of sustaining the special relationship and
friendship that we have with Israel," he told an earlier fund-raiser in Juno Beach.
Kerry said U.S. needed a president "who's prepared to stand up and lead the world to a more responsible place, to
create an entity to make peace with in the MidEast." Kerry has questioned the Bush administration's ties to Saudi
Arabia, particularly the energy relationship. Bush is a former Texas oilman and Cheney headed Halliburton, the
Texas-based oil services giant and the leading logistics contractor for the U.S. military in Iraq. |
Protesters heckle Laura Bush in Jerusalem 5.22.05 Edra Pickler AP
Jerusalem Protesters besieged Laura Bush during her visit Sunday to 2 of Jerusalem's
most sacred sites, with Israeli police locking arms to restrain the crowd and Secret Service agents packed
tightly around America's first lady.
The demonstrations at the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock showed "what an emotional place this
is as we go from each one of these very, very holy sites to the next," Mrs. Bush said later in the West
Bank town of Jericho as she stood at the ruins of the 8th-century Hisham's Palace.
Mrs. Bush, who is on a tour intended partly to help defuse anti-American sentiment in the region, placed a
note in the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest shrine. She wrote the note on the flight Sunday from Jordan
to Israel, but wanted to keep the contents private, a spokeswoman said.
The first lady was mobbed by protesters and local reporters, and Secret Service agents and Israeli police
had to physically hold back the crowd as she approached the wall. She then went to the Dome of the
Rock, a mosque on a hilltop compound known to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif and to Jews as Temple
Mount. As she left the mosque, one heckler yelled, "How dare you come in here! Why your husband kill
Muslim?"
Some of the women studying inside the mosque were clearly annoyed at the intrusion and waved their
fingers at the U.S. entourage. Despite the chaos at both sites, Mrs. Bush kept smiling and said little. In
Jericho, which is under Palestinian control, security was tight and no protesters were evident when Mrs.
Bush visited the ruins and met at a hotel with leading Palestinian women.
As for the peace process, Mrs. Bush said the U.S. would do whatever it could, but that both sides share
responsibility in helping achieve peace. "It will take a lot of baby steps and I'm sure that there will be a few
steps backward on the way, but I want to encourage the people I met with earlier, the women I just met
with, that the United States will do what they can in this process," Mrs. Bush said. |
Adnan Husseini, director of the Islamic Trust that administers the mosque compound, said Mrs. Bush tried
to play down the heckling, saying it could have happened anywhere. Husseini said he told her he hoped
President Bush would exert pressure to achieve peace in the Holy Land. Bush is meeting on Thursday at
the White House with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Later Sunday, Mrs. Bush laid a wreath at Yad Vashem, the Israeli memorial for the 6 million Jews killed
by the Nazis in the Holocaust of World War II. She wrote in the visitors' book at the site: "Each life is
precious. Each memory calls us to action to honor those lost. We committ ourselves to reject hatred and
to teach tolerance and live in peace. Thank you."
- remarks re Israel & 9.11.01 per 9.24.01 report |
Barry Chamish Erik Jan Hanussen biopic; per M.Gordon |
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timeline EIR March 1999 6.25.99 Feb. 1999 1.11.99 re Clinton 7.3.98 India 1997 11.20.96 7.2.96 12.31.92 Moshe Arens 4.11.92 1980s atty |
|
At one point in the 1980s, Mr. Eisenberg owned 20 companies that did business in 30 countries. Though he had
some of the trappings of the wealthy, including plane & lavish home, and was sought out by the powerful
& influential, he was not a publicity seeker. In fact, he rarely submitted to interviews. He also gave generously
to charities. In a gesture of gratitude, Israeli govt named the Galilee village of Kfar Shaul after him.
Mr. Eisenberg, who pioneered Israel's trade relations with China, was to have returned to Tel Aviv next week to
host a meeting with the Chinese minister of transport and other senior Chinese officials. Mr. Eisenberg reportedly
was born in Munich. In 1939 he fled Nazi persecution of the Jews for Shanghai and later Japan. He married the
daughter of a Japanese artist and opened a diamond factory in Japan. He is credited with recognizing early on that
Japan had a need for iron ore, and finding a way to import it from South America. As he began to amass riches,
Eisenberg decided to move his family back to Israel so they could be closer to their roots. |
1.18.03 Roger Boyes Times London Technically, American missiles are said to be part of a training mission running until mid-Feb., but Pentagon officials acknowledge that the missiles and 600 accompanying soldiers could stay on longer. [ U.S. troops stationed in Israel !? ] German Patriots, two systems comprising 128 missiles, are also said to be on loan for 2 years. Defence sources confirm that Israeli technicians have been in Germany for several months of operational training. Germany's strict arms export laws forbid weapons sales to areas of tension, but the Patriot deal is likely to be app |