Israel Calls Fox's Spy Reports 'Baseless'

by Marc Perelman
Forward
December 21, 2001

 

A series of broadcasts on the Fox News Channel reporting that Israeli operatives had prior knowledge of the September 11 terrorist attacks, but failed to warn U.S. officials, have been described as "baseless" and "innuendo" by several Jewish groups and an Israeli embassy spokesman.

The reports, barely noted by the rest of the American media, have placed Fox in the unfamiliar position of defending itself against charges of anti-Israel bias. Like many of the other conservative news outlets owned by Rupert Murdoch, Fox normally earns accolades from pro-Israel activists for its coverage of the Middle East.

In a series of four reports broadcast on the "Special Report with Brit Hume" from December 11 to 14, Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron, citing unnamed sources and classified documents, said that more than 60 Israelis had been detained since September 11 and that a "handful" of them were active "Israeli military."

Mr. Cameron further reported that, "There is no indication that the Israelis were involved in the September 11 attacks, but investigators suspect that the Israelis may have gathered intelligence about the attacks in advance, and not shared it."

Mr. Cameron added that "a highly placed" source had refused to provide specific details of the investigation, saying that the "evidence linking these Israelis to September 11 is classified."

Mr. Cameron also reported that some 140 Israelis had been detained prior to the attacks as a result of a longstanding U.S. investigation into an "organized intelligence gathering operation." Mr. Cameron said that an interagency "working group" has been compiling evidence of Israeli spying since the mid 1990s.

"It is a pity that a serious network like Fox gave it coverage," said an Israeli embassy spokesman, Mark Regev, calling the report "rubbish." "It's all based on unfounded innuendo."

Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, also attacked the report.

"I think that the charge... is a sinister dangerous innuendo which fuels anti-Semitism," Mr. Foxman said. "So the Arabs say the Mossad did it and more than 4,000 Jews didn't come to work that day. Fox says Israelis knew and didn't tell. Which means they permitted the deaths of Americans. It is irresponsible and very troubling."

Media outlets in some Arab and Muslim countries have reported that Israel masterminded the September 11 attacks to turn the United States against the Muslim world.

Mr. Cameron told the Forward that he stood by his story. A Fox news spokesman said the network also stood by the report.

Hawkish supporters of Israel employed by Mr. Murdoch were less talkative.

New York Post columnist John Podhoretz, who frequently voices his support for the Israeli right wing, declined to comment, citing his status as an employee of Fox News. The New York Post is owned by Mr. Murdoch's News Corp.

William Kristol, the editor of the Weekly Standard, also did not return a call for comment. The Standard is also owned by News Corp.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could also not be reached for comment. Mr. Netanyahu is a frequent commentator on Fox News.

The report took some Jewish organizational leaders by surprise, given that Fox News is frequently cited as the most pro-Israel of any of the broadcast outlets.

Morton Klein, head of the Zionist Organization of America, said he was "stunned" that Fox would report a story that "so harms an image of a major ally with not a shred of evidence and using only unnamed sources."

"This plays into the hand of the anti-Semitic Arab media and anti-Semites around the world," Mr. Klein added. "Fox has been a station that has been quite careful and more fair about Israel than other stations, so I'm surprised."

Alex Safian, associate director of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, or Camera, a group that monitors the news media, described Mr. Cameron as a reporter who "had a thing about Israeli espionage."

Mr. Safian cited a May 2000 report in which Mr. Cameron raised the issue of an "alleged penetration of U.S. government phone systems" by an Israeli telecommunications company. That same day, Mr. Safian noted, The New York Times reported that a federal inquiry looking into the company's possible links with Israel intelligence had found no evidence of espionage.

Camera is the only Jewish organization to issue a formal statement on the Fox story. Other Jewish groups contacted for this story said they have chosen to bring up the issue in private conversations with Fox News executives.

Mr. Klein said he had written a letter to Fox News, while Mr. Foxman said he has had "conversations" with Fox network officials.

Spokespersons for both the Justice Department and the FBI told the Forward they had no comment on the Fox story. However, a law enforcement official, who asked not to be identified, said the claims that Israeli spies had prior knowledge of the attacks were "inaccurate."

Both Mr. Foxman and Mr. Safian said they were not in a position to gauge the more general allegations of Israeli spying in America.

"We are not in a position to know a lot about certain claims," said Mr. Foxman. "I have a feeling that to buttress this expose Fox had to build up a case that the Israelis are spying."

Howard Kurtz, a media reporter for the Washington Post, said the Fox report stood on shaky ground.

"To suggest that some Israelis knew of the September 11 attacks in advance and didn't warn the United States is an extremely explosive charge," said Mr. Kurtz, in an response by email. "To hang that on the phrase 'investigators suspect,' as Fox News did, 'is an awfully thin reed on which to rest such an accusation -- especially when the network says these investigators refused to provide details."

Mr. Kurtz, who is also a co-host of Reliable Sources, CNN's talk show on the media, added that while Israeli spying was "certainly a legitimate subject for media scrutiny... that's very different than floating even the possibility of Israeli involvement in the worst terrorist attack in history."

With reporting by Ami Eden.

Copyright Forward Newspaper, L.L.C.

 

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