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Press TV and Veterans Today:

“Donald Trump is conveying interesting versions of urban legends and some actual facts about what followed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,” Barrett told Press TV on Sunday.

“Israeli intelligence agents were caught wildly celebrating the airplane crashes and then the explosive destructions of the Twin Towers,” Barrett said, adding that the agents were working in coordination with people already placed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s terror watch list.

“These dancing Israelis were cheering wildly, flicking cigarette lighters in front of the burning and then exploding Twin Towers and they were then arrested, they were found with thousands of dollars in cash stuffed in their socks,” he added.

After failing lie detector tests, Barrett said, the agents flew back to Israel, where they appeared on TV and boasted that they were sent to New York to “document the event.”

Is it true that Israeli intelligence agents were arrested shortly after 9/11?

The fact that this claim is shared mainly on conspiracy sites make me doubt the claim.

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Sakib Arifin
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    The origin of this claim seems to come from Kevin Barrett himself, offering no evidence to support his claims whatsoever. A quick google or twitter search for this guy reveals a lot about his intentions and conspiracy theories. – Gabe12 Mar 06 '17 at 04:48
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    Relevant http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123885&page=1 – Sakib Arifin Mar 06 '17 at 07:24
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    IIRC this is a fairly old claim which has been addressed ... even by Al Qaeda! They didn't like the Shia Iran trying to say the Sunni Al Qaeda couldn't have pulled it off. – Andrew Grimm Mar 06 '17 at 12:01
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    Who **is** Kevin Barrett? Are we dealing with a *notable claim* here? –  Mar 07 '17 at 15:24
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    @Jan it's fairly notable. I've heard about the claim before. – Andrew Grimm Mar 07 '17 at 21:47
  • Dang, I wish I had enough points to see the actual up/down score on this question. I can't believe it's actually zero - betting it's more like +50/-50... – John C Feb 03 '23 at 19:46

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Haaretz reported on 17th September 2001:

Five Israelis who had worked for a moving company based in New Jersey are being held in U.S. prisons for what the Federal Bureau of Investigation has described as "puzzling behavior" following the terror attack on the World Trade Center in New York last Tuesday.

[...]

They are said to have had been caught videotaping the disaster and shouting in what was interpreted as cries of joy and mockery.

ABC News reported:

The men were taking video or photos of themselves with the World Trade Center burning in the background, she said. What struck Maria were the expressions on the men's faces. "They were like happy, you know … They didn't look shocked to me. I thought it was very strange," she said.

Since their arrest, plenty of speculation has swirled about the case, and what the five men were doing that morning. Eventually, The Forward, a respected Jewish newspaper in New York, reported the FBI concluded that two of the men were Israeli intelligence operatives.

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According to ABCNEWS sources, Israeli and U.S. government officials worked out a deal — and after 71 days, the five Israelis were taken out of jail, put on a plane, and deported back home.

While the former detainees refused to answer ABCNEWS' questions about their detention and what they were doing on Sept. 11, several of the detainees discussed their experience in America on an Israeli talk show after their return home.

Said one of the men, denying that they were laughing or happy on the morning of Sept. 11, "The fact of the matter is we are coming from a country that experiences terror daily. Our purpose was to document the event."

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    I took the liberty of, in my eyes, improving the selection of quotes a bit to focus on the question as asked. It should be noted that 1) the "celebrating" part is apparently based on a single eyewitness account, 2) this account seems to be rather exaggerated by Mr. Barret, making the "this claim seems to be true" bottom line rather questionable. – DevSolar Mar 07 '17 at 15:24
  • Please update this answer to state that the laughter part is true but the agents did not "go on Israeli TV and boast". – Avery Mar 07 '17 at 15:25
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    Also, the quoted sources are about *allegations*, not proven facts. Plus, the way the claim is stated, and how you answered your question yourself, smacks a bit partisan. Can't say I'd upvote this. – DevSolar Mar 07 '17 at 15:29
  • @DevSolar I deleted the conclusion. – Sakib Arifin Mar 07 '17 at 22:06
  • @Avery Do you have a source for that? – Sakib Arifin Mar 07 '17 at 22:08
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    The same ABC News article: "While the former detainees refused to answer ABCNEWS' questions about their detention and what they were doing on Sept. 11, several of the detainees discussed their experience in America on an Israeli talk show after their return home. Said one of the men, denying that they were laughing or happy on the morning of Sept. 11, 'The fact of the matter is we are coming from a country that experiences terror daily.'" – Avery Mar 07 '17 at 22:23
  • The ABC news report clearly states that even the two persons suspected to be intelligence agents had no prior knowledge of the attack nor were in any way related to it, and that they were sent to investigate suspected money transfers to Palestinian terrorist organisation. From the claim and your answer one gets the impression that they might have a connection to the 9/11 attacks. – SIMEL Mar 08 '17 at 07:57
  • "Sources also said that even if the men were spies, there is no evidence to conclude they had advance knowledge of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. The investigation, at the end of the day, after all the polygraphs, all of the field work, all the cross-checking, the intelligence work, concluded that they probably did not have advance knowledge of 9/11," Cannistraro noted." – SIMEL Mar 08 '17 at 07:58
  • FWIW, i've seen the interview in question. Assuming it is not a fake, The subtitles in question stated that they were celebrating because now the west would know what Israel struggles with in their relationship with the Muslim extremists. – Anon Jan 25 '23 at 02:08