The Dancing Israelis: What the FBI Files Actually Say

On the morning of September 11, 2001, five Israeli nationals were observed in a parking lot in Liberty State Park, New Jersey, positioned with a clear view of the World Trade Center across the Hudson River. Multiple witnesses reported that the men were celebrating: photographing each other, high-fiving, and appearing to celebrate as the towers burned. A woman named Maria called the FBI tip line to report what she had seen.^[1]

The five men, Sivan Kurzberg, Paul Kurzberg, Yaron Shmuel, Oded Ellner, and Omer Marmari, were employees of Urban Moving Systems, a company based in Weehawken, New Jersey. By that afternoon, a BOLO (Be On The Lookout) alert had been issued for their van. They were stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike by East Rutherford police at approximately 4:00 PM, taken into custody, and held for 71 days.^[2]

Urban Moving Systems

FBI agents raided the Urban Moving Systems warehouse on September 14, 2001. According to the FBI report released through FOIA, the company's owner, Dominik Suter, was interviewed by the FBI that same day. Two days later, Suter fled the country to Israel, abandoning the business, its inventory, and several vehicles. The FBI classified Urban Moving Systems as a "likely intelligence front."^[3]

The FBI classified Urban Moving Systems as a "likely intelligence front." Its owner fled to Israel two days after FBI questioning.

Employees of Urban Moving Systems later told the FBI that Suter had expressed anti-American sentiments and had told workers that Americans "would learn what it was to live with the sort of violence Israelis deal with every day." This was before September 11.^[4]

The CIA-FBI Database

According to ABC News, which conducted the most thorough mainstream investigation of the incident in a 20/20 segment aired in June 2002, U.S. intelligence officials confirmed that at least two of the five men were listed in a CIA-FBI database as known operatives of Israeli intelligence, the Mossad.^[5] The two men identified were Paul Kurzberg and Sivan Kurzberg. Paul Kurzberg reportedly refused to take a polygraph test for weeks. When he eventually submitted to one, the results were inconclusive.

The FOIA Documents

In 2005, the FBI released approximately 60 pages of documents related to the case through a Freedom of Information Act request. The documents are heavily redacted but contain several significant details. The men were found with $4,700 in cash hidden in a sock, maps of the city with certain locations highlighted, and box cutters. Photographs taken from the developed film found in their van showed the men posing in front of the burning towers, some smiling, some appearing to flick lighters in the foreground.^[6]

One critical section of the FBI report asks whether the men had foreknowledge of the attacks. The answer is redacted entirely: a solid block of black ink covering what appears to be multiple paragraphs. The FBI has never explained why the answer to this specific question was classified.^[7]

"We Were There to Document the Event"

After being deported to Israel in November 2001, three of the five men appeared on an Israeli television program. During the interview, Oded Ellner made a statement that has been analyzed and debated ever since: "Our purpose was to document the event."^[8]

"Our purpose was to document the event." The statement, made on Israeli television after deportation, has never been officially explained or retracted.

The phrasing raised immediate questions. How does one arrive to "document" an event that has not yet occurred? Ellner and his associates did not clarify the statement. The Israeli government has not addressed it. The U.S. government has not pursued further inquiry.

The ABC News Report

The June 2002 ABC News 20/20 report remains the most significant mainstream media investigation of the incident. Reporter John Miller, who later joined the FBI and then the NYPD, confirmed on air that intelligence officials had identified two of the men as Mossad operatives. The report noted that the men were subjected to extensive interrogation, including polygraph tests, and that the FBI was divided on whether the men had advance knowledge of the attacks.^[9]

After the 20/20 segment aired, no major American news organization followed up with substantive reporting. The story effectively disappeared from mainstream media coverage.

What Remains Unanswered

The documented facts of this case are not in dispute. Five Israeli nationals were arrested on September 11 after being observed celebrating during the attacks. Their employer was classified by the FBI as a probable intelligence front. The company's owner fled to Israel. At least two of the men were confirmed intelligence operatives. A key section of the FBI report addressing foreknowledge remains classified.

None of these facts constitute proof of Israeli government foreknowledge of the September 11 attacks. They do, however, constitute a body of evidence that warranted a thorough, public investigation. That investigation never happened. The 9/11 Commission Report does not mention the incident. The congressional joint inquiry does not address it. The men were quietly deported, and the case was closed.

The redacted answer to the foreknowledge question sits in an FBI file somewhere in Washington. Until it is released, the public is left with documented facts, official silence, and one very strange statement on Israeli television.