Snopes.com,
officially known as the Urban Legends Reference Pages,
has since its humble inception in 1995 come to be regarded as one of the most trusted debunkers of conspiracy theories on the internet.
Described by one of its many fans — it apparently has over 6 million visitors per month — as
“the granddaddy of all fact-checking sites,”
Snopes is downright cavalier,
however,
in its attitude to facts surrounding Israel’s role in the 9/11 attacks.
In its large section on urban legends relating to 9/11,
Snopes purports to debunk a claim that
“four thousand Israelis employed by companies housed in the World Trade Center stayed home from work on September 11,
warned in advance of the impending attack on the World Trade Center.”
A click on the link under “Israelis” brings the curious reader to an entry titled “Absent without Leave,” in which the “four thousand Israelis” have suddenly and inexplicably been replaced by “four thousand Jews.”
In “Absent without Leave,” Snopes reproduces a September 17, 2001,
report by Lebanon’s al-Manar satellite television station,
which claimed that the Israelis (not “Jews”)
“remained absent that day based on hints from the Israeli General Security apparatus, the Shabak.”
The Al-Manar piece cited also refers to the five Israelis arrested hours after the attacks,
after having been witnessed filming and celebrating as the Twin Towers collapsed.