Arrant Nonsense About Israeli Spies

Americans had better beware because Israeli spies are everywhere and out to get us, according to Anthony Acetta [Stop Aid to Israel—Give to Needy Americans, August 30] and William Carlotti [The Logic of Logic 101, August 30]. Both rush to condemn Israel because of Jonathan Pollard, but Mr. Carlotti goes much further, bringing up a Fox News report which accused Israel of extensive spying here, even insinuating that somehow the 60 Israelis detained here in the sweep of Middle Easterners after 9/11 were Mossad agents doing nefarious things. Mr. Carlotti's article is particularly disturbing because he is an intelligent man with access to the whole story and should have known better than to present innuendo and insinuations as factual. The Fox story about Israeli spying is arrant nonsense unworthy of the usually reliable Fox News.

The reporter for the series, Carl Cameron, charges, for example, that "investigators suspect that Israelis may have gathered information about the attacks in advance, and not shared it." (Note the use of the rather indefinite word "suspect.") He does admit that there is no indication the Israelis were involved in 9/11, but contradicts himself later with the statement: "A highly placed investigator said there are ‘tie-ins.’" Cameron's technique is transparent. Dig up a bogus charge against Israel, dig up some unnamed "source" somewhere who is willing, for whatever reason, to support it, and then go on the air claiming that "Fox News has learned …" (fill in the blank with baseless anti-Israel allegations).

The series (and Mr. Carlotti's article) were filled with unwarranted charges against the Israeli companies Amdocs (it’s on the New York Stock Exchange, symbol "DOX") and Comvers. All the charges are "alleged," without Cameron naming a single source. The fact that virtually no other news media picked up on these charges is indicative of their lack of credence. The "investigations" referred to by the Fox reporter turned up absolutely nothing to indicate spying or improper activities. The New York Times headlined its May 5, 2002 story on the probe "Israeli Spy Inquiry Finds Nothing, Officials Say." The story goes on to say that the "highly classified espionage investigation … did not find evidence that government telephone systems were penetrated."

The bias, or lack of honesty, of the Fox reporter is illustrated by the fact that he also mentions a suspicion that in 1997 Amdocs data may have been leaked to drug dealers, hampering an investigation by the LAPD. Amdocs was later completely cleared when an independent person confessed to being the culprit. Cameron must have been aware that Amdocs had been cleared when he wrote the Fox report, but he still repeated the allegation. It seems he had an agenda, as does Mr. Carlotti, and the truth shall not stand in the way.

No Israelis were ever criminally charged in these matters, including the 60 who were arrested or detained after 9/11. Since spying is illegal and none of the Israelis had diplomatic immunity, the government would have prosecuted if it had a case. The fact that the accusations were baseless was announced by none other than Attorney General John Ashcroft himself. The Fox report had stated that Israelis had been arrested for some kind of "alleged" involvement with 9/11, but deliberately chose to ignore the fact that no charges were ever filed. The Israelis had been recruited to work in the United States mainly at kiosks in malls, and the majority of them were eventually deported because of minor visa irregularities, but that's all they were guilty of.

We also need to take a long, hard look at Jonathan Pollard. He has been accused (in The Voice and elsewhere) of the worst kinds of traitorous conduct and causing irreparable harm to this country. But the vast majority of Americans have no idea whatsoever of what actually happened, what information he actually gave to Israel, and how the American justice system betrayed him with a life sentence after promising him leniency in exchange for a guilty plea.