NYPost

ISRAEL'S SPY INFO BOOSTS U.S. PROBE

By URI DAN

September 23, 2001 -- Inside Israel

JERUSALEM.

IMMEDIATELY after the Sept. 11 attacks that shocked the world, the United States expressed an urgent need to update its profiles of Muslim extremist organizations and individuals.

Israel, which has been the target of suicide bombers for years, and particularly in the last 12 months, responded with information - and President Bush warmly thanked Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for the help in a phone call a week ago Friday.

Sharon had ordered the Mossad spy agency, the Shin Bet secret service and Israeli military intelligence to work around the clock to send all available data to Washington.

For example, early in the investigation, there was a report that Mohamed Atta, who is believed to have directed the hijacking of one plane into the World Trade Center, was a Palestinian from the West Bank town of Tulkaren and was wanted for an Israeli bus bombing.

But it was quickly determined that Atta was an Egyptian.

For years, Israel has been looking for traces of Osama bin Laden's terror network, and in July 2000 it found proof that Hamas operatives were being trained at his Afghan camps.

Israeli intelligence established the connection when a Hamas agent tried to return from the camps but was intercepted at the Rafah border crossing at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip.

This info was quickly sent to Washington.

On the other hand, it was the United States that warned Israel a year ago that bin Laden's emissaries were spotted trying to create a base in Lebanon, in conjunction with Hezbollah, which has the backing of Iran and Syria.

But despite this exchange of information, Israeli intelligence had no hint of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The only major indication of bin Laden's intentions was an interview he gave two years ago to al-Jazira, the most popular Arab world TV network.

Israel gave the United States a recording of the interview in which bin Laden boasted he had created "the front of the Islamic nation" to fight the kufar (non-believers) - Christians and Jews.

-- Anonymous, September 23, 2001