5 YOUNG ISRAELIS

5 YOUNG ISRAELIS, CAUGHT IN NET OF SUSPICION
By ALISON LEIGH COWAN
The New York Times, 10/8/2001

As their lawyer tells it, when the five young men were picked up by F.B.I. agents in midday on Sept. 11, they had a box cutter with them. One man carried $4,000 in cash, another had two passports.

In short, there probably were good reasons to be suspicious of the men who became the subjects of widespread news coverage. What those early news accounts missed, however, was that all five of the men were Israeli Jews, and that if they had box cutters, it was because at least four of them and possibly all five worked for Urban Moving Systems, a household moving company in New York and New Jersey.

They are now facing deportation for overstaying their visas and other immigration offenses, but their lawyer says their case is a reminder that though roughly 500 people have now been detained as part of the crackdown on possible terrorists, that does not mean all of them are part of any terror network...

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/08/nyregion/08DETA.html