Early Warning?

After the 9/11 attacks, the story circulated that 4,000 Israelis called in sick and did not show up to work that day because they had been warned. In effect, the World Trade Center attack was an Israeli conspiracy and every Jew who worked there was warned in advance to stay home that morning.

In the case of the London attacks, once again, a conspiracy theory is going around. And once again, it involves Israel.

Associated Press writer Amy Teibel filed the following:

Thu Jul 7, 7:14 AM ET

JERUSALEM - British police told the Israeli Embassy in London minutes before Thursday's explosions that they had received warnings of possible terror attacks in the city, a senior Israeli official said.

Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had planned to attend an economic conference in a hotel over the subway stop where one of the blasts occurred, and the warning prompted him to stay in his hotel room instead, government officials said.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said he wasn't aware of any Israeli casualties.

Just before the blasts, Scotland Yard called the security officer at the Israeli Embassy to say they had received warnings of possible attacks, the official said. He did not say whether British police made any link to the economic conference.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the nature of his position.

The Israeli Embassy was in a state of emergency after the explosions in London, with no one allowed to enter or leave, said the Israeli ambassador to London, Zvi Hefet.

All phone lines to the embassy were down, said Danny Biran, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official.

The ministry set up a situation room to deal with hundreds of phone calls from concerned relatives. Thousands of Israelis are living in London or visiting the city at this time, Biran said.

Amir Gilad, a Netanyahu aide, told Israel Radio that Netanyahu's entourage was receiving updates all morning from British security officials, and "we have also asked to change our plans."

Netanyahu had been scheduled to stay in London until Sunday, but that could change, Gilad said.

The AP reports have been denied vehemently by the Israeli Embassy in London.

Haaretz writes:

Israeli Embassy strongly denies report it received early warning of attacks


By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service

LONDON - A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in London strongly denied Associated Press reports indicating British intelligence services informed embassy security officers of terrorists' intentions attack an Israeli target.

According to the same AP report, the British alerted the Israeli Embassy just minutes before the series of terror attacks in London.

The erroneous report apparently came to light after the embassy and the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Industry and Trade organized a special conference aimed at supporting investment in Israel and activities on the part of Israeli companies on the London stock exchange.

The conference was supposed to take place at the Great Eastern hotel near the Liverpool Street subway station - one of three stations hit in Thursday's terror attacks.

Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting in London, was invited to the conference as a keynote speaker.

When the attacks started, Israeli Ambassador Zvi Heifetz, a number of his aides and some conference guests were already situated in the hotel.

The conference was ultimately postponed and Netanyahu's security personnel prevented his departure from the central London hotel.

"After the first explosion, our finance minister received a request not to go anywhere," Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told Army Radio.

Netanyahu had been scheduled to stay in London until Sunday, but that could change, said Amir Gilad, a Netanyahu aide.

Heifetz said Thursday afternoon that British police had called to tell embassy personnel to stay inside their offices.

"There is fear that this wave [of violence] has not yet ended," Hefetz said.

The Associated Press wasn't the only media outlet to run the story of the Israeli Embassy being forewarned.

Arutz Sheva, an Israeli news source, reported:

Army Radio quoting unconfirmed reliable sources reported a short time ago that Scotland Yard had intelligence warnings of the attacks a short time before they occurred.

The Israeli Embassy in London was notified in advance, resulting in Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu remaining in his hotel room rather than make his way to the hotel adjacent to the site of the first explosion, a Liverpool Street train station, where he was to address and economic summit.

At present, train and bus service in London have been suspended following the series of attacks. No terrorist organization has claimed responsibility at this time.

Israeli officials stress the advanced Scotland Yard warning does not in any way indicate Israel was the target in the series of apparent terror attacks.

This is a remarkably inconsistent story.

According to the Jerusalem Post:

Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Israel's Ambassador to London, Zvi Hefetz, were due to attend a conference at a hotel near Liverpool Street Station – where one of the blasts occurred.

The explosion took place near the Great Eastern Hotel, where Netanyahu was due to attend the fourth Israel Opportunity Conference.

There were reports on Israel Radio that Scotland Yard had received early warnings of an imminent terrorist attack, and had shared details of these warnings with the Israeli Embassy in London.

However, staff at the Israeli Embassy have flatly denied the claim.

A spokesman said, "We were informed like everybody else, after the explosions. We were holding a conference, but after the police came to inform us of what had happened we took the appropriate action and decided not to continue with the conference."

The spokesman said the embassy was operating normally, and added, "We are horrified by the callous terror attacks in London this morning. Our thoughts are with the people of London and the families of those affected.

It's déjà vu all over again.

You can be sure this will be fodder for anti-Semitic nutjobs everywhere. They will jump all over this and concoct all sorts of theories to fuel their hatred.

I would like to know where the story of the embassy receiving early warning originated. Israeli outlets reported it, but it's unclear as to where it came from. Who got their signals crossed?

Arutz Sheva cited "unconfirmed reliable sources". It really is time for the media to uphold higher standards when it comes to their sources. It serves no one to report unconfirmed information.

I am assuming that the first reports were erroneous, just as many initial reports on a myriad of items on 9/11 later were proved to be unfounded.

In this case however, the inaccuracies and resulting confusion are not just inflated numbers or false anecdotes. This story has the potential to foster more ill will and anti-Semitism.