Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May 2002, pages 49-50

Special Report

 

Israeli Trainees and Mossad Agents Swept Up in 9/11 Net

By Richard H. Curtiss

Because several readers have questioned whether this writer actually experienced what he had written (see Jan./Feb. Washington Report, p. 14), I will reiterate some details before proceeding with new developments.

More than a year ago, a member of my staff let three people—two men and a woman—enter our office. We thought the visitors wanted to buy some books. It quickly became apparent, however, that they were not interested in purchasing books but wanted instead to show their “artwork” to our entire staff in the conference room. Explaining that we were on deadline, we asked them to leave, but they became insistent, saying if they were given enough space to show these “beautiful” works of art we would be amazed at the bargain prices. After taking a cursory look at their very ordinary art, we made it clear that we were not interested, and our visitors finally departed.

I bring this up now only because the trio that arrived at our premises seemed unremarkable in every way. They have become memorable in retrospect, however, because similar door-to-door “art students” recently have found their way into the headlines. It turned out that a large number of young men and women were visiting hundreds of Americans at their offices and homes over a period of approximately a year and a half. The “art students” paid visits to the Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City as well as the home of an employee of the Environmental Protection Agency in Denver, CO.

Most of them seemed to be more or less proficient in English, and some seemed to be native speakers. It later developed, however, that all came from Israel—and eventually returned there.

About three months ago, two news stories surfaced almost simultaneously. One was written by a Fox News correspondent, and the other appeared on a French on-line news service.

The Fox News item, which was quite sensational, was transmitted over the Internet in four short installments. Surprisingly, however—despite the fact that Fox News had completed all four reports—the third and fourth segments seem never to have been televised. After Fox News posted the reports on their Web site, moreover, all four on-line versions subsequently vanished, to return only briefly.

The French on-line report, from Le Monde, did not disappear. Apparently, however, it was available only on-line. As far as this writer knows, there was virtually no follow-up.

There were few serious contradictions between the Fox and Le Monde stories. After careful research it became clear to this writer that all subsequent accounts, including March 6 articles in The Washington Times and The Washington Post, as well as reports on various Internet sites duplicated these two sources. Some seemed more sensational, but the basic outlines remained.

 

The “art students” all came from Israel—and eventually returned there.

Then, however, an amazing series of events ensued. Apologists for Israel in the U.S. and Israeli media began running a startling series of articles—the gist of all being that no such events had occurred, but were only figments of the overwrought journalists’ imagination. As one Israeli writer put it, “This has become an urban myth that will not go away.”

This writer might have doubted his own memory had it not happened in our own office.

There things might have remained, but for an unsourced but painstakingly compiled Internet version of these events leaked from obviously official sources. As it turned out, an amazing number of reports had been compiled from all over the United States. In addition to findings contributed by local police in many states, there were reports from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the FBI, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

All of the reports were first-hand, and included no compilation of rumors. Yet the accounts were startling in their consistency. Many, but not all, of the peddlers seemed to have known exactly which places they wanted to visit and, having located the desired addresses, either made their pitch or were told to leave.

In some of these encounters, a more sinister pattern appeared evident. Air Force and other military bases were sometimes sketched quickly and surreptitiously by the peddlers. Although it became apparent that all had come directly from Israel, some seemed quite familiar with the United States, apparently from previous trips.

Whatever the peddlers’ purpose, the steady traffic to and from Israel came to an abrupt halt on Sept. 11. Idle curiosity about the peddlers suddenly became suspicions, and many of the casual peddlers and possibly not-so-casual visitors suddenly found themselves in deep trouble. They were questioned and sometimes detained by law enforcement personnel who encountered them, and even casual shoppers called police when the peddlers aroused suspicion.

All of the peddlers were young, in their 20s and early 30s. While a few of those questioned seemed to have well-rehearsed cover stories, many of their stories quickly began to fall apart. When law enforcement personnel picked up the inconsistencies, some of the peddlers panicked.

As it turned out, all were members of the Israeli armed forces, with some being munitions, demolition and bomb disposal experts. One was the son of an Israeli two-star general, and another a former member of an Israeli Patriot missile unit. Others admitted having fought in Lebanon, and a few said they had been in combat in the West Bank and Gaza.

One panic-stricken reservist who blurted out Israeli military secrets later begged his interrogator to conceal some of his admissions. If they were made public, the reservist explained, he would be court-martialed upon his return to Israel.

Consistent Details

Overall, what the undercover Israeli military personnel had to say was remarkably consistent. The counterfeit peddlers had been traveling from West Coast to East Coast, they revealed—from Seattle to New York. Although their cover stories usually included ties to an American student organization, virtually none were able to verify either their sponsors or even their real names.

Some, however, said they were art students, from either the University of Jerusalem or the Bezalel Academy of Arts. When questioned very closely—and particularly after Sept. 11—they immediately seemed to abandon whatever they were supposedly doing and abruptly left the U.S. Some also said that they had traveled in other foreign countries in the Far East, Latin America and Europe.

All the Israeli “students” now presumably have left—the last of them in a great hurry. Whatever they thought they were doing remains unclear. The fact that some of them quickly forgot their cover stories indicated they were not professional spies, but instead were easily panicked amateurs.

The Israelis generally seemed to travel in threesomes, although some worked in pairs or alone. Some of the women were exceptionally beautiful, according to law enforcement officials.

Internet speculation continues. There may have been purposeful and innocent trainees in each batch. There seemed to be some discipline within the groups, with a leader usually recognizable. Often that was the man who told the members of the group what time to start and stop and when to move on to another neighborhood. In most cases the members lived in apartments.

Undoubtedly, with so many different persons interested in the subject, more information will become available. Meanwhile, there have been similar unexplained Israelis who also were caught up in the events of 9/11. For example, dozens or perhaps hundreds of peddlers of wind-up toys called “Puzzlecars” and “Zoomcopters” were found in shopping mall booths throughout the U.S. They, too, vanished within hours of the horrendous events of 9/11.

Five Israeli members of a New Jersey “moving company” also were caught up in the initial 9/11 dragnet. These Urban Moving Systems employees, who turned out to be Mossad agents, were arrested after they were seen celebrating and hugging each other as they watched the attacks on the Twin Towers from the rooftop of their warehouse and van. They had even taken photos of each other in front of the World Trade Center’s smoldering wreckage. After two-and-a-half-months of detention and interrogation the men were released and deported to Israel, along with a strong U.S. protest against Israeli espionage on American soil.

Possibly unrelated but equally serious questions involve the seeming ability to tap into classified U.S. government directories. This no doubt is still under investigation.

Probably by chance, some of the Israeli visitors were guilty of other violations of the law. Two were carrying counterfeit U.S. social security cards and another two or three were found possessing small quantities of marijuana. Others were carrying “speed,” and “ecstasy,” both controlled drugs. All seemed unrelated to the peddlers’ primary mission.

American apologists for Israel admitted that there were some “grains of truth” in the stories about the Israeli art students and other reports. They also acknowledged that any Israeli intelligence operation should be cleared in advance with the United States. Not surprisingly, the FBI said it was “very annoyed” at having been left in the dark

Other events that have grown in the retelling are beyond the bounds of this report but can be heard on some U.S. radio talk shows. At this point it is no longer possible to pinpoint where those rumors originated.

What is especially remarkable, however, is how quickly the Fox News report appeared and then vanished. Internet sources say that when someone stumbles upon evidence of a possible conspiracy, such as the ones noted above, most journalists say it’s nothing but trouble to pursue it. Even if leads are developed, editors tend to ignore them. Some make it clear that such leads can hurt the writers professionally. Eyewitness reports regarding the Israeli peddlers from authoritative sources, however, make the story of the Israeli squads impossible to dismiss.

The American Israel lobby is going to have a hard time dismissing the subject, because it’s clear that the issue is not going to go away.

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