AL-MANAR Television Special Investigative Report http://www.manartv.com
Beirut, Lebanon - Monday, September 17, 2001 http://www.manartv.com/html/engmiddle.html

4,000 Jewish Employees in WTC Absent the Day of the Attack

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. 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 [four passenger aircraft hijacking and crashing] incident [at the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Pennsylvania] took place [on Tuesday, September 11, 2001].

No one talked about any Israeli being killed or wounded in the attacks. Arab diplomatic sources revealed to the Jordanian
al-Watan newspaper that those Israelis remained absent that day [Tuesday, September 11, 2001] based on hints from the Israeli General Security Apparatus, the Shabak, the fact which evoked unannounced suspicions on American officials who wanted to know how the Israeli government learned about the incident before it occurred, and the reasons why it refrained from informing the U.S. authorities of the information it had.

Suspicions had increased further after Israeli newspaper Yadiot Ahranot revealed that the Shabak prevented Israeli premier Ariel Sharon from traveling to New York and particularly to the city's eastern coast to participate in a festival organized by the Zionist organizations in support of the "Israel". Aharon Bernie, the commentator at the newspaper, brought up the issue and came up with a negative conclusion, saying "no answer". He then asked about the clue behind the Shabak's position in preventing Sharon's participation, and again without giving an answer.

Bernie added that Sharon, who was delighted for having his speech on top of the festival agenda, asked the head of the
organization to mediate and convince the Shabak to change its position, but his attempts were in vein. The next day after
Sharon's secretary officially announced that Sharon would not participate the incident [at the World Trade Center] took place.

For its part, the Israeli Ha'aretz newspaper revealed that the FBI arrested five Israelis four hours after the attack on the
[World Trade Center] Twin Towers while filming the smoking skyline from the roof of their company's building. The FBI had
arrested the five for "puzzling behavior". They are said to have been caught videotaping the disaster in what was interpreted as cries of joy and mockery.

At least two Israelis dead in Tower attack
By Mazal Mualem, Aliza Arbeli and Shlomo Shamir
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/ (Published in Israel) Monday, September 17, 2001

Two Israelis are so far known to have died in Tuesday's multiple terror attacks in the United States, and another five are still missing.

However, most of the hundreds of Israelis listed as missing Tuesday night were successfully located yesterday.

Of these, about 25 were wounded and found in local hospitals by embassy staff in Washington and consulate staff in New York.

The consulate has not yet released the names of the five missing Israelis, all of whom were known to be in the World Trade Center when it collapsed. Of these, two are known to have worked for foreign companies in the center, but nothing is known about their fate. A third, who worked on the 100th floor of the Twin Towers, managed to call his wife by cellular phone while the towers were collapsing. He is presumed to be buried in the rubble, either seriously wounded or dead.

The two Israelis known to have died are Alona Avraham, 30, of Ashdod, and Daniel Lewin, 31, of Boston.

Avraham was on the second flight to crash into the World Trade Center Tuesday morning. She was flying from Boston to Los Angeles to spend Rosh Hashanah with her aunt and uncle. Avraham had called her parents the previous day to tell them of her plans, so when news broke that United Flight 175 was one of the planes that crashed, they immediately feared the worst. Although the airline later confirmed that she was on the fatal flight's passenger list, her relatives say they have still not given up hope that she failed to board the flight and is still alive.

Avraham, who was not married, had been working at Applied Materials, a high-tech firm in Rehovot. She went to the U.S. for vacation on August 30, and had planned to return before Yom Kippur. She is survived by her parents, Peretz and Miriam, and a younger brother and sister, both soldiers.

Lewin was on the first plane to crash into the Twin Towers. A one-time officer in the IDF's elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit, Lewin, co-founder and chief technology officer of the high-tech firm Akamai, had lived in Boston for five years. He usually flew to Los Angeles twice a week for business. Lewin immigrated to Israel with his parents from Denver, Colorado at the age of 14, and his parents, both doctors, still live here. They learned of their son's death only a few hours after returning to Israel from a visit to Boston. Lewin is survived by his parents, his wife, two children and two brothers.

The last of the missing Israelis to be located yesterday were Gali and Yaakov Haby, who were found alive and well at noon after having spent 20 hours trapped in Yaakov's car.

Yaakov lives in New York near the World Trade Center, and his daughter Gali, 28, was visiting him. The two had gone out to shop at 8:30 A.M. on Tuesday, but were trapped in the car once the attacks took place. For the next 20 hours, Gali's mother tried frantically to reach her, but only after the two were rescued was Gali finally able to call home.

Over the past day, some 4,500 Israelis have called the Foreign Ministry's situation room seeking news of relatives in the U.S. The ministry, the embassy in Washington and the consulate in New York will all remain open until the fate of all missing Israelis is known.