Dancing Israelis knew the terror attack would happen

Claim

Dancing and cheering Israelis, dressed as Palestinians, close to the World Trade Center, knew that the terror attack would happen.⁰

Background

Five men, with Middle Eastern looks, were seen cheering on top of a truck while they were filming the terror attack. The men were arrested but later released from custody. When interviewed on Israeli television, they said that they were only there to film the event.

The claim is used to argue that the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, knew in advance that the terror attack would happen.

Facts

The five men were filming the terror attacks like many others. A woman in a nearby apartment thought their behavior was suspicious and reported them to the police who arrested the men.

The police later concluded that there was no reason to claim that the men were cheering, that they in any way knew that the terror attack would happen, or that they were ready to film when the terror attack happened. The men were subsequently released from custody.¹

There is nothing that indicates that Mossad had prior knowledge of the terror attack as it happened. Many intelligence agencies had received some information that something was afoot, but nothing pointed with any certainty to what happened on September 11th.

Logic

It would be very careless and incompetent of the alleged conspirators to give themselves away. The claim is self-contradictory for the same reason: The alleged conspirators would be clever enough to plan, carry out, and keep secret the most spectacular terror attack in world history but also be careless enough to draw attention to themselves, by cheering and filming in full view of other people.

It reeks of racism to identify people of a certain heritage based on their physical appearance. The claim assumes that Palestinians are identified by their clothing. This is equivalent to claiming that Jews are identified by long beards, black clothes, broad-brimmed hats, and crooked noses.

It is illogical and paranoid to assume that if people are Israelis, or merely look Middle Eastern, they are automatically also from Mossad. It is equivalent to claiming that if you are an American, you are automatically also from the CIA. This type of claim is based on the idea of collective guilt, the same way the Nazis did with the Jews.

Conclusion

The claim is, therefore:

• False
• Illogical
• Self-contradicting
• Manipulating

Related articles

• Bush ignored warnings about an attack
• 4,000 Israelis did not show up for work

Sources

0. Løbeseddel, i11time.dk
   9-11 Mossad Agents Admit Mission, Eric Hufschmid
   The Five Dancing Israelis Arrested On 9-11, WhatReallyHappened.com
   The Dancing Israelis on 9/11 , Killtown Blog
1. The White Van – Were Israelis Detained on Sept. 11 Spies?, ABC News, 21. juni 2002
   Midnight Express, In Hebrew, from Yediot America, 2. november 2001

Q & A