Aviv recently created/executed a security test for our Congress, by placing an empty briefcase in five well-traveled spots in five major cities. The results? Not one person called 911 or sought a policeman to check it out. In fact, in Chicago , someone tried to steal the briefcase! In comparison, Aviv says that citizens of Israel are so well 'trained' that an unattended bag or package would be reported in seconds by citizen(s) who know to publicly shout, 'Unattended Bag!' The area would be quickly & calmly cleared by the citizens themselves. But, unfortunately, America hasn't been yet 'hurt enough' by terrorism for their government to fully understand the need to educate its citizens or for the government to understand that it's their citizens who are, inevitably, the best first-line of defense against terrorism.
Aviv also was concerned about the high number of children here in America who were in preschool and kindergarten after 9/11, who were 'lost' without parents being able to pick them up, and about our schools that had no plan in place to best care for the students until parents could get there (in New York City, this was days, in some cases!).
He stresses the importance of having a plan, that's agreed upon within your family, to respond to in the event of a terrorist emergency. He urges parents to contact their children's schools and demand that the schools, too, develop plans of actions, as they do in Israel .
Does your family know what to do if you can't contact one another by phone? Where would you gather in an emergency? He says we should all have a plan that is easy enough for even our youngest children to remember and follow.
Aviv says that the U. S. government has in force a plan that, in the event of another terrorist attack, will immediately cut-off EVERYONE's ability to use cell phones, blackberries, etc., as this is the preferred communication source used by terrorists and is often the way that their bombs are detonated.
How will you communicate with your loved ones in the event you cannot speak? You need to have a plan. If you believe what you have just read, then you must feel compelled to send to every concerned parent or guardian, grandparents, uncles, aunts, whatever and whomever. Nothing will happen if you choose not to do so, but in the event it does happen, this particular email will haunt you...."I should have sent this to..... ", but I didn't believe it and just deleted it as so much trash!!!
Analysis: Given that it predicts terrorist attacks on "at least 5-8 cities" in the United States "within the next few months," probably the most important thing you need to know about this message is that it's at least two years old (with another variant dating back even further, to 2005), and has already proven itself false.
The second thing you need to know is that while Juval Aviv is a bona fide corporate security consultant operating out of New York, his credentials as an intelligence expert have been questioned by both journalists and government sources. A 2006 article in The Guardian reported that "Aviv never served in Mossad, or any Israeli intelligence organisation," and "his nearest approximatin to spy work was as a lowly gate guard for the airline El Al in New York in the early '70s."
A letter written to the U.S. President’s Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism in 1990 by Israeli counterterrorism adviser Yigal Carmon makes the same allegations, further claiming that Aviv is known to have been involved in "various acts of fraud and impersonation."
Notwithstanding specific claims made in the email above, I've found no legitimate sources confirming that Juval Aviv issued a warning to the Bush administration a month before the 9/11 attacks, nor that he predicted the London subway bombing one week in advance during an appearance on the Bill O'Reilly Show.
Regardless of the controversies surrounding Mr. Aviv himself, it goes without saying that one shouldn't rely on forwarded emails for critical advice on terrorist attacks and emergency preparedness. I recommend the Department of Homeland Security's Ready.gov instead.
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Sources and further reading:
Juval Aviv - Official Bio
Interfor, Inc.
Intel Analyst: Attack on U.S. Imminent
WorldNetDaily.com, 9 July 2005
Munich: Fact and Fantasy
The Guardian, 17 January 2006
Pan Am 103, Revisited
Richard Horowitz, The World Policy Blog, 28 August 2008
A Trained Mossad Killer - Or a Cab Driver?
The Times, 11 July 2006
Secret Agent Schmuck
Village Voice, 16 October 2007
Last updated: 05/11/09
