Posted on 07/09/2005 4:33:07 PM PDT by CHARLITE
JERUSALEM – Reports that he received prior warning about yesterday's deadly London terror attacks "have no basis in reality," former Prime Minister Benjamin Netantyahu told WorldNetDaily this morning.
"Absolutely not. The reports are entirely false," said Netanyahu, still in London on a trip to address a corporate investment conference yesterday at the Great Eastern hotel near the site of one of the blasts.
Immediately following the attacks, media reports quoted an Associated Press story claiming British intelligence told the Israeli Embassy in London minutes before yesterday's explosions it had received warnings of possible terror attacks in the city.
The AP wrote it was told by a senior foreign ministry official that just before the blasts, Scotland Yard called the security officer at the Israeli Embassy and said warnings of possible attacks had been received. The embassy then allegedly told Netanyahu to stay in his hotel room and not attend the economic conference.
Setting the record straight, Netanyahu said, "When the first bomb went off, we were departing our hotel. While we were on our way out, the security people said there was an explosion near the area I was scheduled to speak. They asked us to go back and stay put in our hotel."
Netanyahu also told WND he had warned "for several years now there would be a large-scale terror attack in a major European capital. There have been growing indications this would happen."
Israel yesterday quickly denied the AP story.
"I can tell you unequivocally the reports are false. Israel, including our representatives in London, did not receive any prior notice of pending terror attacks," Mark Regev, senior spokesperson for Israel's Foreign Ministry, told WND after the report. "The only alert we received was a call to our British embassy immediately following the first explosion. That call was routine, and was also placed to other foreign embassies in London."
Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom also denied the story, saying, "There was no early information."
The AP quickly replaced the original article with another headlined, "Israel 'not warned' about London attacks."
Still, scores of media outlets are reporting the early warning as factual.
Canada's National Post, relying on the withdrawn AP account, states, "British police told the Israeli Embassy in London minutes before today's explosions that they had received warnings of possible terror attacks in the city."
An India Daily article claims, "Israel knew and warned [the] United Kingdom of possible terror plots to disrupt life in London. But British authorities failed to respond accordingly to deter the attacks, according to an unconfirmed rumor circulating in intelligence circles. Israel is keeping quiet for the time being with a lot of pressure on them."
Internet bloggers also are hatching conspiracy theories based on the now discredited accounts.
An antiwar.com writer argues the Netanyahu terror tip-off is accurate.
"This isn't the first time that Israeli foreknowledge of a terrorist attack against the West has been raised by a reputable source. One has to wonder: why is it that these reports of Israeli foreknowledge come up with such metronomic regularity? With all that smoke, is there really no fire?" asks blogger Justin Raimondo.
A Stratford Consulting Intelligence Agency account states, "Contrary to original claims that Israel was warned 'minutes before' the first attack, unconfirmed rumors in intelligence circles indicate that the Israeli government actually warned London of the attacks 'a couple of days' previous. Israel has apparently given other warnings about possible attacks that turned out to be aborted operations. The British government did not want to disrupt the G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, or call off visits by foreign dignitaries to London, hoping this would be another false alarm."
For some, the reports are eerily reminiscent of claims made immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Scores of Internet bloggers and several media accounts claimed Jews received advanced knowledge of the World Trade Center attacks, prompting hundreds to take off work. The false reports were widely attributed with fueling anti-Semetic theories that the Mossad carried out the 9-11 terror attacks.
Related story:
Israel: We were not warned of London attacks
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45163
AP is anti- Jew, anti- American, Anti Christian pro-Islam. Why would anyone quote an AP story? When is the last time the AP published a truthfull story?
FMCDH(BITS)
One of the main tenets of classical antisemitism is that Jews possess evil supernatural powers. This is attributed to the fact that they rejected Christ and were thought to be in league with Satan. Their tendency to be financially successful and influential way beyond their numbers is viewed as proof that they made some kind of deal with the devil.
This medieval prejudice has been updated and applied to Israel. It doesn't matter how many Muslims openly call for holy war against the infidel, how many Muslims openly state their intention to turn Western countries into Islamic states. Even when there is a consensus that Muslims are resposible for terrorist attacks, some feel the need to claim that the supernaturally evil Mossad had advance knowledge and stood by and did nothing.
Think about how absurd it is to believe that Israeli intelligence knew about 9/11 in advance and did nothing with this knowledge except tell 200 Israelis who work at the WTC not to show up for work that morning. Even if Israel knew and decided to do nothing because they thought that a terrorist attack on America would help Israel in the long run, why would they take the chance of blowing their cover by warning a bunch of Jewish investment bankers not to show up for work?
Islam has gone nuts, and people feel the need to blame Jews for it. Imagine if it was Jews who were blowing people up and calling for international holy war? Do you think anyone would blaming it on Muslims?
Excellent point. Thanks for such an elegant comment. You're right, of course.
Not being Jewish myself, I am nevertheless a tremendous supporter of Israel, and I've been perpetually stunned at the foolish claims of anti-semites about how Jews and Israel are the root(s) of the world's strife. How in the world could a total of 13 million people be any "threat" whatsoever to 1.3 billion wicked, insane Muslims?
Char
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