Richard Goldberg: Feds arresting Israeli Jews - Victims of racial profiling

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

Feds arresting Israeli Jews since September 11
Victims of racial profiling and detention go unnoticed by campus anti-war activists

Posted 11-29-2001, 19:12
by Richard Goldberg

In a Nov. 23 investigative report, The Washington Post revealed a new target of racial profiling and wrongful arrest in America's War on Terrorism: Israeli Jews. Since the September 11th terror attacks at least 60 young Israeli Jews have been arrested and detained around the country for national security reasons and on immigration charges, according to the Post's sources at the Department of Justice and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

The cases - in Ohio, Missouri, Texas and California - originated several weeks after the attacks when tipsters called the Federal Bureau of Investigation and INS to report their suspicions about Middle Eastern-looking people who were living together in apartments, working in groups at shopping malls and speaking an Arabic-like language.

In late October and early November, dozens of Israelis working at kiosks in shopping malls and selling toys and trinkets were arrested for working without authorization while in the United States on tourist visas. (Israeli Art Student?...then it's Probably Talpiot)  

"We're conducting the largest investigation in U.S. history, and we're trying to prevent and disrupt terrorist attacks," said Dan Nelson, spokesman for the Justice Department. "Every time somebody's picked up on an immigration law violation, there's going to be greater scrutiny. We're leaving no stone unturned."

Though INS officials have testified in court hearings that the Israeli Jews are "of special interest to the government," no evidence indicates that they are tied to terrorist organizations. An anonymous source at the INS told the Post "special interest" means the case in question is "related to the investigation of September 11th." The term has been used in many cases involving Muslim Arab men who have been detained around the country since the attacks.

In fact, Justice Department immigration judge Elizabeth Hacker rejected the officials' arguments in Cleveland, setting bond for eleven detainees at $10,000.

"Although the [INS] alleges that these cases are 'special,' it has failed to present any credible evidence of the basis for this finding," Hacker wrote in her decision. "Indeed, the service has failed to submit any evidence of terrorist activity or of a threat to the national security."

David Leopold, a Cleveland immigration attorney representing the eleven Israelis, said that ordinarily the INS would not bother with a case of unauthorized employment by a foreign tourist-visa holder.

"If they're still holding people who clearly have no tie-in to September 11th, what does that say about the quality of the overall investigation?" Leopold commented. "The government is using immigration statutes to pull people into this wide web, and once it does, it's difficult to get out."

Israeli officials, however, are trying to downplay the situation, claiming the detentions are unrelated to the U.S. terror investigation.

"Israelis visiting the U.S. have to respect the laws of the host country," said Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington. "If [the detainees] are in violation of their visas, there are consequences to be paid, especially after September 11th."

In another developing case, reported by the Jerusalem Post Nov. 23 and by Drudge Report Nov. 24, five young Israeli Jews were recently released from two months in U.S. jails. They told the Jerusalem Post that they "were treated like terrorists" even after it became clear they were not involved in the terrorist attacks.

The five, who worked for a New Jersey moving company, said that they were arrested in a security sweep after neighbors reported them to the authorities when they heard them speaking Hebrew and thought it was Arabic. It was reported that they were picked up after they photographed themselves smiling against the backdrop of the burning wreckage of the World Trade Center towers.

During the first month following the attack, they were placed in solitary confinement before anyone interrogated them, the five told reporters. The Israelis claim that they were deprived of food and basic sleeping and toilet conditions and deliberately kept with Arab and Muslim prisoners who beat them badly.

http://911review.org/brad.com/archives/ ... aelis.html