- With the aid and speed of the Internet, conspiracy
theorists
are spreading a rumor that 4,000 Israelis who worked in the World Trade
Center didn't report for work the day two airliners commandeered by
terrorists
crashed into the towers, destroying the tallest buildings in New
York.
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- The e-mailers and Internet sites spreading the tale
suggest
this is evidence Israel, not Islamic terrorists, were behind the attack
Sept. 11 -- or at least had advance knowledge of it.
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- There's just one problem with the story, WorldNetDaily
has learned. It's not true.
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- The report seems to have originated in Jordan's Al Watan
newspaper and been spread by Pakistani publications, including Jang.
Versions
of the story have been repeated at news conferences by Islamic clerics
in the Middle East and Central Asia.
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- Alex Safian, associate director of the Committee for
Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, or CAMERA, which monitors
Middle East media coverage, says his organization first saw the report
on Lebanon's Al-Manara Television.
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- Al-Manara is the television station of Hezbollah ñ
a militant Islamic terrorist group.
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- "4,000 Israeli Employees in WTC Absent the Day of
the Attack," read the "Manar TV" headline Sept. 17.
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- "With the announcement of the attacks at the World
Trade Center in New York, the international media, particularly the Israeli
one, hurried to take advantage of the incident and started mourning 4,000
Israelis who work at the two towers," started the Hezbollah
story.
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- "Then suddenly, no one ever mentioned anything about
those Israelis and later it became clear that they remarkably did not show
up in their jobs the day the incident took place.
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- "No one talked about any Israeli being killed or
wounded in the attacks," the story added.
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- In fact, at least 130 Israelis were killed in the World
Trade Center attack. Many more are missing.
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- Nevertheless, Pakistani political leader Sami-ul Haq,
in calling for a nationwide strike yesterday to protest his country's plan
to cooperate with the U.S., made reference to the rumor.
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- "Thousands of Jews working -- nothing happened to
them," Haq told a roomful of reporters.
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- The Israeli consulate may be partly responsible for the
rumor. Immediately after the tragic attack, it filed requests for
information
on as many as 4,000 Israelis who may have been in the World Trade Center
at the time of the attacks. Nearly 50,000 people work in the buildings
at any one time. Many, however, left the second tower following the first
attack.
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- The estimated death toll is currently around 7,000, but
fewer than 300 bodies have been found and even fewer identified.
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- An FBI spokesman claimed not to have any knowledge of
the rumor and refused comment or any interest in it.
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