Report: Israel Was Warned Ahead of First Blast 13:30 Jul 07, '05 / 30 Sivan 5765
(IsraelNN.com) 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.
------ I should add there's a big Israeli Economic Conference at a Liverpool St Hotel today - now cancelled, but the 250 guests included Benjamin 'Bibi' Netenyahu (sp?) and the Israeli ambassador.
[opinion] So why were no warnings given in London? So we all go to work anyway - our leaders consider losses among us an acceptable price to keep business going, we've seen it before many times.... the IRA used to give warnings, the Yard would clain they were too late to be useful.
Why was no warning issued to the public? Well, what would have happened if the Yard had released a vague public alert at 8.30 am concerning bombs "somewhere in central London"? Widespread panic, stampedes and confusion with certain injury and possible loss of life...
(IsraelNN.com) 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.
Israel was not warned about possible terror attacks in London before at least six blasts ripped through the city, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom has said.
A Foreign Ministry official had said earlier that British police warned the Israeli Embassy in London of possible terror attacks minutes before the first explosion.
"There was no early information about terrorist attacks," Shalom told Israel Army Radio. "After the first explosion an order was given that no one move until things become clear."
Israel was holding an economic conference in a hotel over the underground stop where one of the blasts occurred.
Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was supposed to attend the conference, but "after the first explosion our finance minister received a request not to go anywhere," Shalom said.
He said he wasn't aware of any Israeli casualties.
Shalom speculated that attackers might have taken advantage of the fact that police resources were diverted to a meeting of Western leaders.
The Israeli ambassador to London, Zvi Hefetz, said the embassy was in a state of emergency following the explosions in London, with no one allowed to enter or leave.
Danny Biran, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official, said all phone lines to the embassy were down.
The ministry has 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.
Israel National News (Arutz Sheva) is a right-wing rag, and not usually very trustworthy source.
Looking on the web the story was also reported by Associated Press, with a denial by Israeli foreign minister, and covered in a lot of papers in Israel and globally - including the Daily Mail, another paragon of honest media. The article on their website at 12:20pm 7th July 2005 was headlined: Israel not 'warned of attacks'.
It was a direct reprint of the Associated Press report by reporter Amy Teibel in Jerusalem.
Essentially the story was this: there was a statement from an unnamed Israeli foreign ministry official saying that the Israeli Embassy was warned minutes before the first blast. However the foreign minister Silvan Shalom denied this in a later statement on Israel Army Radio.
He was quoted as saying: "There was no early information about terrorist attacks. After the first explosion an order was given that no one move until things become clear."
There was an economic conference hosted by Israel taking place at a hotel in central London. Netanyahu was due to attend, but according to Shalom "after the first explosion our finance minister received a request not to go anywhere."
(I put the full text of the AP reports below but you may want to remove them if worried about copywrite.)
So to summarise: there was a comment (probably on Israeli Army Radio) by an anonymous civil servant saying that Scotland Yard had known in advance and warned the Israeli Embassy. This was then denied by the Foreign Minister (on Israeli Army Radio).
It may or may not be interesting to note that within a couple of hours the AP story had apparently been reissued to remove mention of the alleged warning. I followed a link on the web to the same AP story on the UsaToday website at http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-07-07-israel-londonblasts_x.htmwith.
The headline on the linking page was again 'Israel not warned ...' - but on the actual site the story had now been revised, with a new headline 'Netanyahu had been on way to London hotel near blasts.' (At the top of the page it said: 'Posted 7/7/2005 7:18 AM Updated 7/7/2005 9:59 AM' - I assume Eastern Standard Time, i.e. 5 hours before London.)
This repeated the quote from Shalom saying: "After the first explosion, our finance minister received a request not to go anywhere." But the other quotes, and the reference to the alleged warning, had gone.
Associated Press Report version 1:
Israel was not warned about possible terror attacks in London before at least six blasts ripped through the city, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom has said.
A Foreign Ministry official had said earlier that British police warned the Israeli Embassy in London of possible terror attacks minutes before the first explosion.
"There was no early information about terrorist attacks," Shalom told Israel Army Radio. "After the first explosion an order was given that no one move until things become clear."
Israel was holding an economic conference in a hotel over the underground stop where one of the blasts occurred.
Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was supposed to attend the conference, but "after the first explosion our finance minister received a request not to go anywhere," Shalom said.
He said he wasn't aware of any Israeli casualties.
Shalom speculated that attackers might have taken advantage of the fact that police resources were diverted to a meeting of Western leaders.
The Israeli ambassador to London, Zvi Hefetz, said the embassy was in a state of emergency following the explosions in London, with no one allowed to enter or leave.
Danny Biran, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official, said all phone lines to the embassy were down.
The ministry has 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.
AP Report version 2:
Netanyahu had been on way to London hotel near blasts
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on his way to a hotel near the scene of one of the London blasts Thursday when he received a call to stay put, the foreign minister said.
"After the first explosion, our finance minister received a request not to go anywhere," Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told Israel Army Radio.
Netanyahu was to have been the scheduled keynote speaker at an Israeli corporate investment conference at the Great Eastern hotel near the Liverpool Street subway station.
Conference participants were evacuated from the hotel. Shalom said he wasn't aware of any Israeli casualties.
Netanyahu had been scheduled to stay in London until Sunday, but that could change, said Amir Gilad, a Netanyahu aide.
Shalom speculated the attackers might have taken advantage of the fact that police resources were diverted to a meeting of Western leaders.
The Israeli ambassador to London, Zvi Hefetz, said Thursday 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.
Comments
Hide the following 6 comments
Report: Israel Was Warned Ahead of First Blast
07.07.2005 11:28
Report: Israel Was Warned Ahead of First Blast
13:30 Jul 07, '05 / 30 Sivan 5765
(IsraelNN.com) 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.
------
I should add there's a big Israeli Economic Conference at a Liverpool St Hotel today - now cancelled, but the 250 guests included Benjamin 'Bibi' Netenyahu (sp?) and the Israeli ambassador.
[opinion] So why were no warnings given in London? So we all go to work anyway - our leaders consider losses among us an acceptable price to keep business going, we've seen it before many times.... the IRA used to give warnings, the Yard would clain they were too late to be useful.
Chromatius
This is being denied by Israel
07.07.2005 12:14
Jon
Public warning?
07.07.2005 12:22
artaud
Prior Knowledgs
07.07.2005 14:22
Quote from prisonplanet.com
Report: Israel Was Warned Ahead of First Blast
Arutz Sheva | July 7 2005
(IsraelNN.com) 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.
Cunny
Israel denies being 'warned of attacks'
07.07.2005 15:06
Israel was not warned about possible terror attacks in London before at least six blasts ripped through the city, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom has said.
A Foreign Ministry official had said earlier that British police warned the Israeli Embassy in London of possible terror attacks minutes before the first explosion.
"There was no early information about terrorist attacks," Shalom told Israel Army Radio. "After the first explosion an order was given that no one move until things become clear."
Israel was holding an economic conference in a hotel over the underground stop where one of the blasts occurred.
Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was supposed to attend the conference, but "after the first explosion our finance minister received a request not to go anywhere," Shalom said.
He said he wasn't aware of any Israeli casualties.
Shalom speculated that attackers might have taken advantage of the fact that police resources were diverted to a meeting of Western leaders.
The Israeli ambassador to London, Zvi Hefetz, said the embassy was in a state of emergency following the explosions in London, with no one allowed to enter or leave.
Danny Biran, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official, said all phone lines to the embassy were down.
The ministry has 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.
_
wj
varying reports
07.07.2005 16:43
Looking on the web the story was also reported by Associated Press, with a denial by Israeli foreign minister, and covered in a lot of papers in Israel and globally - including the Daily Mail, another paragon of honest media. The article on their website at 12:20pm 7th July 2005 was headlined: Israel not 'warned of attacks'.
It was a direct reprint of the Associated Press report by reporter Amy Teibel in Jerusalem.
Essentially the story was this: there was a statement from an unnamed Israeli foreign ministry official saying that the Israeli Embassy was warned minutes before the first blast. However the foreign minister Silvan Shalom denied this in a later statement on Israel Army Radio.
He was quoted as saying: "There was no early information about terrorist attacks. After the first explosion an order was given that no one move until things become clear."
There was an economic conference hosted by Israel taking place at a hotel in central London. Netanyahu was due to attend, but according to Shalom "after the first explosion our finance minister received a request not to go anywhere."
(I put the full text of the AP reports below but you may want to remove them if worried about copywrite.)
So to summarise: there was a comment (probably on Israeli Army Radio) by an anonymous civil servant saying that Scotland Yard had known in advance and warned the Israeli Embassy. This was then denied by the Foreign Minister (on Israeli Army Radio).
It may or may not be interesting to note that within a couple of hours the AP story had apparently been reissued to remove mention of the alleged warning. I followed a link on the web to the same AP story on the UsaToday website at
The headline on the linking page was again 'Israel not warned ...' - but on the actual site the story had now been revised, with a new headline 'Netanyahu had been on way to London hotel near blasts.' (At the top of the page it said: 'Posted 7/7/2005 7:18 AM Updated 7/7/2005 9:59 AM' - I assume Eastern Standard Time, i.e. 5 hours before London.)
This repeated the quote from Shalom saying: "After the first explosion, our finance minister received a request not to go anywhere." But the other quotes, and the reference to the alleged warning, had gone.
Associated Press Report version 1:
Israel was not warned about possible terror attacks in London before at least six blasts ripped through the city, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom has said.
A Foreign Ministry official had said earlier that British police warned the Israeli Embassy in London of possible terror attacks minutes before the first explosion.
"There was no early information about terrorist attacks," Shalom told Israel Army Radio. "After the first explosion an order was given that no one move until things become clear."
Israel was holding an economic conference in a hotel over the underground stop where one of the blasts occurred.
Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was supposed to attend the conference, but "after the first explosion our finance minister received a request not to go anywhere," Shalom said.
He said he wasn't aware of any Israeli casualties.
Shalom speculated that attackers might have taken advantage of the fact that police resources were diverted to a meeting of Western leaders.
The Israeli ambassador to London, Zvi Hefetz, said the embassy was in a state of emergency following the explosions in London, with no one allowed to enter or leave.
Danny Biran, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official, said all phone lines to the embassy were down.
The ministry has 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.
AP Report version 2:
Netanyahu had been on way to London hotel near blasts
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on his way to a hotel near the scene of one of the London blasts Thursday when he received a call to stay put, the foreign minister said.
"After the first explosion, our finance minister received a request not to go anywhere," Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told Israel Army Radio.
Netanyahu was to have been the scheduled keynote speaker at an Israeli corporate investment conference at the Great Eastern hotel near the Liverpool Street subway station.
Conference participants were evacuated from the hotel. Shalom said he wasn't aware of any Israeli casualties.
Netanyahu had been scheduled to stay in London until Sunday, but that could change, said Amir Gilad, a Netanyahu aide.
Shalom speculated the attackers might have taken advantage of the fact that police resources were diverted to a meeting of Western leaders.
The Israeli ambassador to London, Zvi Hefetz, said Thursday 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.
falco