The defense has obtained a memorandum of an interview with a high ranking Israeli security figure. See D.E. 2482 (Exhibit "J"). This memorandum confirms the following:
1. The source, who aids the Prime Minister on matters of counterterrorism, confirmed that Israel gave a general warning to the United States shortly before the bombing.
2. The United States approached Israeli "for consultations" and advice concerning the bombing.
3. Although Israel suggested that the bombing was not "Islamically motivated", Israel conceded that the bombing could have implemented "borrowed methods" or could have been inspired by Islamic actions.
4. Israel in fact sent two experts, accompanied by the security officer of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., to the bomb site.
5. Israeli authorities were clearly not pleased that information had leaked of Israeli experts involvement in evaluating the bomb site.
6. The source, since the bombing, met with his American counter-part, Phil Wilcox[l9], on a regular basis to "compare notes."
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FOOTNOTES:
19 Wilcox is the U.S. State Department's coordinator for terrorism.
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It is clear in the defense's view that the Israeli government sent its experts to evaluate the bomb site with full knowledge of the United States government. It is also clear in the defense's view that the one page report submitted by the government is not the complete report of the two Israeli experts.
Counsel sought and obtained permission from the District Court to travel to Israel to investigate the presence of Israeli officials at the bomb site. In order to avoid drawing attention to counsel's visit, counsel entered Israel by a tourist bus over the Allenby Bridge (the King Hussain Bridge) on the West Bank via Damascus and Amman and, once in Israel, contacted very senior Israeli political figures in the late Prime Minister Rabin's government and others who confirmed the presence of Israeli bomb experts at the Oklahoma City bomb site. The defense has learned that two weeks after the bombing, two Israeli officials toured the bomb site in collaboration with the ATF. D.E. 2191 at 9. Their conclusion, as outlined in their report to the United States government, was that the Oklahoma City bomb bore the indisputable earmark of Middle Eastern terrorists.[20] The two Israelis are Dorom Bergerbest-Eliom and Yakov (or Yaskov) Yerushalmi.
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FOOTNOTES:
[20] The government failed to produce a copy of this report, or even acknowledge the presence of Israelis in Oklahoma City--despite defense requests for this information. See D.E. 2768 at 54; D.E. 1921 (Exhibit "C" at 16). Instead, a Fort Worth television station interviewed Moshe Tal and he stated that he was personally acquainted with the two Israelis who toured the bomb site, that they had been in Oklahoma City and he had forwarded a draft of a report to Cristi O'Connor of Channel 11. Not until this happened did the government furnish a copy of the report to the defense, even though the ATF had escorted the two men. The copy forwarded to the defense does not mention a Middle East connection to the bombing. The defense believes that the government has not forwarded a true copy of the entire report.
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Bergerbest-Eliom was, at the time, Chief of Security for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. Yerushalmi was a civil engineer whom has been described as a "consultant" to the Israeli government. The undersigned counsel has confirmed that these two individuals were in fact sent by Israel and did in fact tour the bomb site. The two Israelis prepared a report on their observations. Counsel for Defendant McVeigh has not obtained a copy of this report but is informed that the report suggests details of the explosive device and that the bombing is a "signature" of Middle Eastern terrorists.