“The Israelis knew”

A New Jersey woman told ABC News she saw three young men on the roof of a white van, filming themselves with the burning towers behind them, and that they looked “happy.” She took down the plate. Police stopped the van around 4 p.m. and found $4,700 in cash in a sock, a box cutter and two foreign passports. The driver, Sivan Kurzberg, told officers, “We are Israeli. We are not your problem.” [1]

An FBI Newark file released under FOIA says the photos were taken from a rooftop garage at 100 Manhattan Avenue in Jersey City within minutes of the first strike, and records interviews and polygraph exams. [2] The men worked for a company called Urban Moving and were held for visa violations. [3]

Computerworld reported in September 2001 that two employees of Odigo, an instant messaging company in Herzliya, Israel, received a message about two hours before the attacks warning of an attack. An Odigo executive said it was a nonspecific threat that did not mention the World Trade Center; the staff found the sender’s internet address and passed it to Israeli security, who gave it to the FBI. [1]