WASHINGTON, 6 October — Leading US Army analysts believe Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, is “ruthless and cunning,” “a wildcard” that has (the) capability to target US forces and make it look like a Palestinian/Arab act.
This assertion about America’s closest ally was reported in a front page story in The Washington Times on Sept. 10 — just one day before the attacks in America that are being blamed on “Islamic terrorists.”
The Times reported that this serious charge by US Army officers against the Israelis appeared in a 68-page report prepared by 60 officers at the US Army’s School for Advanced Military Studies, a training group for US Army officers.
The US Army’s questions about possible provocation by Israel is not a first. Back in Aug. 3, 1993, a story in New York’s The Village Voice said that Israeli Mossad was perhaps involved in (or had foreknowledge of) the previous “Arab terrorist” attack on the World Trade Center.
Following the Sept. 11 attacks, at least three different groups of Israelis — some of whom are suspected of having ties to the Mossad — were taken into custody after eye witnesses reported seeing them celebrating in several locations across the river from lower Manhattan in New Jersey. In two cases, the men were reportedly videotaping the initial attack on the World Trade Center.
In a separate incident, the Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz, reported on Sept. 18 that five Israelis, suspected of working for the Mossad, had been arrested for what the FBI described as “puzzling behavior” following the attack.
The five Israelis were arrested four hours after the attack while filming the smoking skyline from the roof of their company’s building. It appears they were spotted by one of the neighbors shouting cries of “joy and mockery.” Ha’aretz says the neighbors called the police and the FBI.
Here are a few more pieces for the puzzle:
— According to a Newsbytes website report last week, the FBI is investigating the fact that an instant message warning of the impending attack was sent to an Israeli company in Tel Aviv two hours before the Sept. 11 attack. Newsbytes is owned by the Washington Post Co.
— Senior officials from Mossad, the Israeli military intelligence service, came to Washington last month to warn the CIA and the FBI that a cell of up to 200 terrorists was planning a major operation in America, according to a report in the London-based Sunday Telegraph on Sept. 17.
Arab diplomatic sources told the Jordanian Al-Watan newspaper that the approximately 4,000 Israeli citizens, who were absent from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, were tipped-off by Israel about the impending attack.
