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To the editor ...

Dr. Stephen Sniegoski's critique of Stephen Zunes's piece and his points on the power of the Israel lobby, including intimidation of its opponents, and its effect of harming U.S. interests, are quite convincing and telling. And then he comes out with that garbage about Israel knowing about (and therefore being culpable in, if not possibly actively planning) the 9/11 attacks, which is about 1/4 of a step from conspiracy theories blaming the Jews for everything — and I realize, the danger comes from all sides. Dr. Sniegoski demonstrates that legitimate and needed opposition to the Israel lobby and its hijacking of U.S. foreign policy ultimately does feed right into hatred of Jews. I don't see a solution to this.

Name withheld
June 20, 2007
 

Dr. Sniegoski replies

The reader, although agreeing with much of what I have written about the neocons and Israel, strongly objects to my depiction of the connection between Israeli agents and 9/l1. In doing so he resorts to the usual smear tactics used by the Israel lobby, claiming that my piece comes close to "blaming the Jews for everything." Needless to say, my comments dealt with Israeli agents, not Jews as a collectivity; and pointing out their knowledge of 9/11 was not the same as blaming even those individuals for everything. So instead of dealing with the facts of the issue, the reader prefers to use the "smear by irrational exaggeration" approach.

But let's deal with the facts. Israeli intelligence agents lived in proximity to the 9/11 terrorists in Florida. And other Israeli agents celebrated while taking photographs of the burning World Trade Towers from across the Hudson River on 9/11. As far as I know, those facts are not in dispute. The relevant information was even carried in the mainstream press, Fox News, and the Forward. More-extensive accounts include: "High-Fivers and Art Student Spies: What Did Israel Know in Advance of the 9/11 Attacks?," by Christopher Ketcham, CounterPunch, March 7, 2007 (first few paragraphs accessible at no charge); Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, "Ketcham's Story," CounterPunch, March 7, 2007; and Terror Enigma: 9/11 and the Israeli Connection (Amazon.com page), by Justin Raimondo, iUniverse, 2003.

After initial coverage by some outlets, the mainstream media refused to scrutinize the matter further, but to me it seems highly suspicious and deserving of the closest scrutiny. It is obvious that if the foreign agents had been Iraqi, Iranian, or even French, far more would have been made of it. If the reader or others have innocent explanations of the Israeli actions, they should provide them. That those actions have been covered up and defended by smears could indicate that there is no innocent explanation.

June 24, 2007

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