Alvin Hellerstein - Zionist Judge Assigned All 9/11 Victims' Court Cases Says: "We have to get past 9/11. Let it go."
Choosing 9/11 victim lawsuits for trial?
By Jerry Mazza
Online Journal Associate Editor
Jun 29, 2007, 01:05
That headline, that question is why we’re here in Judge Hellerstein’s courtroom, this time 14D, half the size of the room for last week’s hearing. Of course, the usual suspects have been rounded up, lawyers for the airlines, the plaintiffs, a US attorney, fewer citizen onlookers, including myself, notebook open. Yet what I will hear will leave me as chagrined as June 14’s double-sized gathering reported in The 9/11 Victim’s Compensation Fund: cui bono?
This time, Judge Hellerstein is to announce a number of remaining victims’ cases to be tried for victims’ families that have not accepted fund money, but wish to take their loved one’s case to court for further inquiry, perhaps even for justice. Judge Hellerstein reminds the room that “the value of settling [for the money] has run its course.†And so? We are left with those who see some principle to stand for in a court trial, in discovery. In questioning how and why, for instance, their loved ones, how nearly 3,000, were murdered, especially given a $50 billion dollar intelligence system and a $500 billion defense budget -- all of which was totally inoperable on 9/11.
Somehow, it seems that the money won’t help those folks, those holdouts, get through the day and over the loss. Yet despite that fact, the good judge tells us, admitting it will probably come back to haunt him, “that money is the universal lubricant.†Ah yes, so let’s get to the greasing and make things turn. It’s going on six years since 9/11 and these hearings are still around.
That reminder leads the judge to a somber lecture that “life is short. And out of the mundane you can fashion something different, a memory for a different degree of pain for each person. Fashion a life beyond the pain. In fact, what is the fairest, most efficient way to get on with our lives? And if the opportunity comes, take it. We are not trying to cut short values or justice. But we have to get past 9/11. Let it go.†That is, despite the unanswered questions, despite these hearings, despite the massive sway of the media to swallow it all and buy the myth like a suit.
Then, rather than announce the cases chosen, the good judge asks both teams of lawyers what is the quickest, most efficient way to have some cases heard and -- subtext -- the whole bunch over with, “a wrap†as they say in the film business. Would it be, as one attorney suggested “to have the folks least uncomfortable, those willing to go forward,†to have their cases selected. Or would it have to do with those in the most manageable jurisdictions? Or should it be by the case itself, the individuals with fewer legal knots, less “discovery†needed, fewer people to grumble for them, fewer children?
From Bollyn, March 2007
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=101203
Hellerstein also involved in multi million dollar case...
http://www.quinnemanuel.com/news/article_detail.aspx?recid=104
in which an Israeli company won $750,000,000 from Boston Scientific Inc.
Hmmmm... I need to find out more about this...
oh and another story, recent
about the insurance policies--seems Hellerstein secured a cut of the insurance for the Port Authority. I wonder if this document that appeared mysteriously really was being withheld, or if it didn't exist until a deal was cut...
another zionist judge with issues...
David Trager, Torture Judge...
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0611%2Chentoff%2C72497%2C6.html
I wonder if he is related to Eric Trager, the Harvard student who posed as an anti-semite in order to post vile anti-Jewish slurs on the blog of the Harvard Inititative for Peace and Justice (when I was affiliated with them?)
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=357014
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v26/n07/print/roy_01_.html
Trager now writes for the Jewish Forward magazine.
Hmmmm.....
Seems Hellerstein was the judge who ordered the release of the Abu Ghraib photos--seems like a good thing, until you think about what good it actually did, infuriating muslims and causing an upsurge in terrorism...
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2005/09/30/abu_ghraib_photos20050930.html
I dont understand
I dont quite understand the labeling of terms such as "Zionists" and such. What I have seen of the whole debate is that Zionism is religious/political related. Just as Catholicism is another form of religion. If the information in the movie Zeitgeist has any truth to it, then zionism is just another control mechanism or tool for control.
Isnt it just easier to label the whole bunch as groups a)= good guys and group b)= bad guys, including zionist, jesuits, no-planers, laser beam theriosts etc...?
Correct me if Im wrong but putting labels on people and groups of people will only serve to divide this movement into smaller groups and hangs on the edge of what some people would call predjudicial and biased commentary?
To beat the intentional propoganda to confuse and dissect, we should keep things as simple as possible.
I personally tend to steer away from subjects that are based on such labels. its easy for people to point fingers and call this joe and that a Zionist, it steers the attention into a whole new direction.
Simplified example:
You go to a picnic with a friend. As you go to sit down, you notice a stream of ants coming out of your basket right into the food. You and your friend quickly jump to your feet and blame each other for placing the basket in harms way.
But instead of dissecting the facts, your friend starts to discribe that those are red ants and they eat alot more than black ants and because they are more carniverious than black ants they MUST be the guilty ones.
Now does this make any sense at all? We know the crime was done, we know they used explosives. Why is the argument whether they are black ants or red?
Lets just expose the basterds without putting labels on them and end this nightmare.
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The 11th Day of Every Month
labels
i used to think this way. however, i've been stung by reality, and it's really difficult, especially having jewish friends.
If a group of people, perhaps 200, give or take, wielding great power via ownership/control via money, manipulation/intimidation of our media, pentagon, foreign policy, white house, congress, justice system, would-be presidential and congressional candidates, banks, etc., and many of them happen to hold dual citizenship, are covertly/semi-covertly/or even openly pro-zionism, and put the interests of Israel before those of America, then we are fools not to call them zionists!
that being said, we need truly American jews to asssit in exposing these criminals, JUST AS truly American christians and muslims need to expose the bad element within. may the righteous prevail... for america and for the sake of the world.
What if
"If a group of people, perhaps 200, give or take, wielding great power via ownership/control via money, manipulation/intimidation of our media, pentagon, foreign policy, white house, congress, justice system, would-be presidential and congressional candidates, banks, etc., and many of them happen to hold dual citizenship, are covertly/semi-covertly/or even openly pro-zionism, and put the interests of Israel before those of America, then we are fools not to call them zionists!"
What if 100 out of those 200 held seasoned NFL tickets. are we to suspect the NFL being involved?
This is exactly what I fear..this could send the movement fragmented into all directions.
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The 11th Day of Every Month
absolutely
if the NFL were to be benefiting by the war and occupation.
correct, kate
no offense lemon but the current state of Israel (meaning tehre could be a different one in the future) was the product of a very specific movement called Zionism. VERY specific. It's not about whether someone believes that there should be a Jewish homeland--THAT is not Zionism per se. It is about whether people believe in giving a pass to the crimes commited by the political movement known by the name Zionism. Conflating support for a Jewish homeland as a concept with support of the specific ideology that brought this current and horribly flawed incarnation of a SO-CALLED Jewish homeland (it is far more and far less than that all at once!) is the problem.
In other words, we're not saying Germans, or even Aryans. We're saying Nazis. And our country is quite literally under attack by this movement and has been for some time. This is a real outside threat to our national sovereignty and must be taken seriously. This has nothing to do with Jewish people per se or even with your average Israeli citizen. Though we must be fair and we must be clear about what we are saying, we cannot shy from saying it. Neither America nor the world has a Jewish problem. But America has a Zionist problem, big time.
Gretavo is 100% correct and is backed up by rabbinical sages
As Lemonhoko is an innocent regarding these things, and has never seen the wrath of Jewish rabbis against the Zionist movement, I thought I would pop in here a few quotes from some of the Jewish sages of the 20th century. I have a million of these, this is only a fractional sample.
Rabbi Moshe Leib Diskin once said: "The rabbis of the generation should gather together and issue a writ of excommunication against the Zionists and eject them from the Jewish People, and make decrees against their bread and wine, and to forbid marrying with them, just like our sages did with the Samaritans."
Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Eherenreich once said: "The Zionists brought us to the Holocaust. It is well known that it was possible to redeem Jews from the Nazis with money, and save many hundreds of thousands of Jews in Hungary from the fire. THE ZIONIST LEADERS WHO NOW SIT IN GOVERNMENT PREVENTED IT!"
The words of the saintly Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, author of the “Vayoel Moshe†(in Hebrew, written in 1958) ring clearly when we view events in the Middle East:
"...if we place all the immodesty and promiscuity of the generation and the many sins of the world on one side of the scale, and the Zionist state on the other side of the scale by itself, it would outweigh them all. Zionism is the greatest form of spiritual impurity in the entire world. They are polluting the entire world. They have polluted the Jewish people with their heresy, Heaven help us. It is no surprise why G-d's anger comes down from heaven. It is necessary to repent and escape from them more than from a lion who is chasing a person to kill him."
"Far from being the saviors of the Jewish People, the Zionists are the true self-hating Jews who have had nothing but contempt and outright hatred for the Jewish People and Judaism. Anti-Semitism has been the oxygen and lifeblood of the Zionists throughout the ages to the present day"
-- Rabbi Yisrael David Weiss, Neturei Karta
Yes indeed
Alot of interesting things I didnt know. Thanks for the info. I guess my line of thought stops at the fact if religion has been compromised and used as a control tool for generations, wouldnt the zionistic movement be included as being one of these so called tools controled by goverments to press for agendas?
Sounds to me we are talking about the same thing but still blaming the tool isntead of the ones using this tool.
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com
If by chance, the researcher of this movie is correct and religion was made up to control us, then we are doing exactly what the zionist controlers want us to do. Go after the distraction and not the main source.
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The 11th Day of Every Month
unfortunately the makers of that movie
don't seem to appreciate the difference between ancient religions based on astrology and modern religions based on atrocities.
missing from the analysis in zeitgeist the movie is the fact that part of the Zionist project would seem to be the replacing of the biblical "justification" for Jews as the chosen people to a pseudo-historical, i.e. secular "justification" namely the holocaust.
Therefore the insidiousness of the movie Zeitgeist cannot be understated since it leads people to believe they are being led out of a millenia old trap of superstition into a new, free, and enlightened awareness when in fact they are being led into an even more sinister trap, one based not on two thousand years of superstition piled onto the story of a Jewish reformer, but on a falsified historical narrative woven for the last 100 years through the modern globalized media to ensnare the entire world in a materialistic and utterly fradulent paradigm.
It is an anti-American, pro-Zionist film that will go down as one of the slickest and most grandiose productions of disinformation in this entire story.
i should say though
the parts about religion are interesting, especially as an old astronomy AND astrology buff... anyway, real christianity had nothing to do with all that astrology. it was the council of Nicae that established the catholic church by approving all the astrology based (tainted) accounts as a way of controlling what was otherwise a political (and religious--same thing more or less) reformist message.
Organized religion was invented...
to control people & make money off of spirituality. But, attempts at controlling what we can describe as 'unfounded beliefs' doesn't end with religion. Take Sam Harris for instance. A popular & ardent Atheist that rails against "unfounded beliefs".
I'll stop there & offer a challenge. Tell me what's wrong with this lecture. (Hint: I stopped listening to this Shill at 11:23.)
What you won't hear from Sam Harris...
Any critique of the most racist religion, Zionism.
clarification
Dawkins was criticizing Judaism, not Zionism. That's fine of course, but we should be careful not to confuse the two. Dawkins book "the Selfish Gene" is a must read, btw--in it he coins the term "meme" for the cultural equivalent of a gene.
Anyway that Harris guy is disgusting. I'm sure he also thinks 9/11 was the work of fanatical religious zealots, i.e. muslims.
I'm no expert on Judaism.
And I know all religions teach hate & intolerance, but Judaism teaches against "assimilating amongst the Goyim"? I know this is Zionist ideology, like the curse of Ham (I heard a version of this racist myth from my Xian grand parents too.), but I thought Judaism was a little more low key on such teachings of racial superiority? I know he was speaking of Judaism, I just took this as his way of exposing the hate taught to Israeli children by Zionists.
All religions contain this garbage
They all have it...and often the flavor can be much worse then just asking you not to assimilate amongst the Goyim.
you should read
Jewish History Jewish Religion - The Weight of Three Thousand Years by the late Israel Shahak (a Jewish Israeli professor of chemistry) It'll fill you in... here's a sample
I'll add it to the list.
Of which is about arm's length already ;)
I, for a little insight into how I function, am more of a holistic (big picture) thinker / researcher than a detailed one. I know an awful lot about a lot of things but am not interested in knowing every detail about one thing. I take no offense to being corrected when I'm wrong, I'm just rarely wrong. LOL.
BTW, Lemonhoko. (and anyone else new to this research.)
The maker of Zeitgeist, I believe, took his research on religion's origins from this film.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8251447278663885234
Thanks Big_D
Thanks Big_D! Yes, I saw alot of repeated information in the movie. Im still trying to put all this into prospective.
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The 11th Day of Every Month
As a professional Egyptologist and educator
with Assyriology and Sumerology as a side study, I found the research and presentation found in the first part of Zeitgeist to be TOTAL 100% NEW AGEY HORSESHIT. If someone walked into my classroom and presented a paper like that, I would give them a very generous "D-". I fucking hate these New Age charlatans and tricksters like Zecharia Sitchin, Erich von Daniken, Swami Acharya, et al. who pretend that they are scholars and, for money and followers, take advantage of innocent people's general ignorance regarding ancient Near Eastern religions, civilizations, mythic systems, and languages. As a Sanskritist, I might also mention the stuff on Hinduism was crap as well. If you look at the references used in the movie's first part, they are all crap and would not be allowed as legitimate references in any academic research paper.
Man, I'd love to tug on your ear regarding this subject...
(Egyptology) sometime. Just a couple quick things, if you will.
What with the little research I've done on the subject so far, I've already discounted most of what the people you mention have to say on the subject.
What I find very interesting is the stone & architectural technology & what I think is the evidence for an more advanced technology than we have or can currently duplicate. I'd love to hear your opinion on the subject, and also, what books / research on this subject you recommend.
Also, what do you think of the "Giza Power Plant" theory?
Howdy Big D
You asked for it. You got it --
Here is a video of an American named Wally Wallington erecting a Stonehenge in his backyard and moving multi-ton stones all by himself using very simple, primitive technology he devised with his own human non-alien brain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRRDzFROMx0
You can also read about Egyptian stone moving technologies in University of Chicago professor Mark Lehner’s “The Complete Pyramids,†an excellent no-nonsense text on all things pyramidy. Dr. Lehner also has videos of his own pyramid building experiments employing relatively simply, yet ingenious technologies. Human beings possess their own genius, and do not require people from outer space to help us. Over two thousand years before the Greeks discovered the power of leverage and counter weights, etc. the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians were already employing these mathematical and mechanical ideas for the construction of their own sacred structures.
As far as the Giza pyramids being used as some kind of ancient electrical power generating plant, there is no evidence of this outside of references found at Swami Bob’s incense shop in Santa Cruz, CA.
If you are interested in ancient Egyptian or Mesopotamian history, literature, and religion, I recommend, as an excellent sampling, the following texts, which are used throughout the British, American, and Canadian university systems in both undergraduate and graduate programs:
“The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry.†(2003). William Kelly Simpson (Ed.), Robert K. Ritner, William Kelly Simpson, Vincent A. Tobin, and Edward F. Wente, Jr. (Trans.). New Haven & London: Yale University Press.
“Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization.†Barry J. Kemp. (1989). London: Routledge.
“The Complete Pyramids: Solving the Ancient Mysteries.†Mark Lehner. (2000). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
“The Pyramids of Egypt.†I.E.S. Edwards. (1991). London: Penguin Books.
“The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt.†Ian Shaw, Editor. (2000). New York: Oxford University Press.
“The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt.†Richard H. Wilkinson. (2003). New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc.
“The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt.†Richard H. Wilkinson. (2000). New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc.
“The Cult of Ra: Sun-Worship in Ancient Egypt.†Stephen Quirke. (2001). London: Thames & Hudson, Ltd.
For Mesopotamian History and literature, and Ancient Near Eastern History in general:
“A History of the Ancient Near East: ca. 3000-323 BC.†Marc Van De Mieroop. (2004). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
“The Ancient Near East, c. 3000-330 BC, (2 volumes).†Amelie Kuhrt. (1995). New York: Routledge.
“The Emergence of Civilization: From hunting and gathering to agriculture, cities, and the state in the Near East.†Charles Keith Maisels. (1990). New York: Routledge.
“Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization.†A. Leo Oppenheim. (1977). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
“Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others.†Stephanie Dalley. (1989). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
“Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature.†Benjamin R. Foster. (2005). Bethesda: CDL Press.
"Ipsus factus quid pro quo, so little time, so much to know."
-- The Nowhere Man
Here you go Big D
You asked for it, you got it --
Here is a video of an American named Wally Wallington erecting a Stonehenge in his backyard and moving multi-ton stones all by himself using very simple, primitive technology he devised with his own non-alien, human brain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRRDzFROMx0
You can also read about Egyptian stone moving technologies in University of Chicago professor Mark Lehner’s “The Complete Pyramids,†an excellent no-nonsense text on all things pyramidy. Dr. Lehner also has videos of his own pyramid building experiments. Over two thousand years before the Greeks discovered the power of leverage and counter weights, etc. the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians were already employing these mathematical and mechanical ideas for the construction of their own sacred structures. Humans possess their own genius and do not need alien help to do such things as move stones or invent microchips. The Egyptians were pretty frickin smart.
As far as the Giza pyramids being used as some kind of ancient electrical power generating plant, there is no evidence of this outside of references found at Swami Bob’s incense shop in Santa Cruz, CA.
If you are interested in ancient Egyptian or Mesopotamian history, literature, and religion, I recommend, as an excellent sampling, the following texts, which are used throughout the British, American, and Canadian university systems in both undergraduate and graduate programs:
“The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry.†(2003). William Kelly Simpson (Ed.), Robert K. Ritner, William Kelly Simpson, Vincent A. Tobin, and Edward F. Wente, Jr. (Trans.). New Haven & London: Yale University Press.
“Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization.†Barry J. Kemp. (1989). London: Routledge.
“The Complete Pyramids: Solving the Ancient Mysteries.†Mark Lehner. (2000). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
“The Pyramids of Egypt.†I.E.S. Edwards. (1991). London: Penguin Books.
“The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt.†Ian Shaw, Editor. (2000). New York: Oxford University Press.
“The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt.†Richard H. Wilkinson. (2003). New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc.
“The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt.†Richard H. Wilkinson. (2000). New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc.
“The Cult of Ra: Sun-Worship in Ancient Egypt.†Stephen Quirke. (2001). London: Thames & Hudson, Ltd.
For Mesopotamian History and literature, and Ancient Near Eastern History in general:
“A History of the Ancient Near East: ca. 3000-323 BC.†Marc Van De Mieroop. (2004). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
“The Ancient Near East, c. 3000-330 BC, (2 volumes).†Amelie Kuhrt. (1995). New York: Routledge.
“The Emergence of Civilization: From hunting and gathering to agriculture, cities, and the state in the Near East.†Charles Keith Maisels. (1990). New York: Routledge.
“Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization.†A. Leo Oppenheim. (1977). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
“Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others.†Stephanie Dalley. (1989). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
“Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature.†Benjamin R. Foster. (2005). Bethesda: CDL Press.
"Ipsus factus quid pro quo, so little time so much to know."
-- The Nowhere Man
Moving the stones doesn't puzzle me that much.
(Although I'd love to see him move an hundred ton, perfectly machined, piece of granite to the top of a mountain, let's say, to Machu Picchu.) The intricate machining work, supposedly accomplished with bronze pounders, does. Not to mention this level of technology is found all around the world, not just Egypt. Too many in this area are tainted with the 'alien kooks' detraction, that's not me. I have genuine, and I believe legitimate, questions. Even mainstream historians admit there is evidence of a great knowledge / society that was lost.
I personally think there's a deeper agenda here to keep this history hidden.
Edit: Here's another example of what I find very puzzling, and mainstream archaeologists can't explain, from the Ollantaytambo Temple in Peru.
http://www.pbase.com/andrys/image/24767570
here's an interesting tidbit from a law prof who covers 9/11
Note how the legal issues are framed, all based on the presumption of guilt of parties unknown, shifting potential liability to airlines and the WTC management for "negligence" (incompetence)...
http://www2.gsu.edu/~rmipzb/9-11decisionexplained.htm
BINDER EXPLAINS JUDGE HELLERSTEIN'S
MOTION TO DISMISS RULING IN SIMPLE ENGLISH
Perry Binder, JD
The 9-11 civil litigation is such an emotionally charged case that I cannot even begin to comprehend the family members' pain and suffering.
There are so many defendants and claims against them in this case, but the issues really come down to questions of negligence. Was it careless to allow passengers on board the airplanes with box cutters? Were the cockpit doors negligently designed? Was the evacuation procedure of the WTC's faulty?
A plaintiff must prove four elements in a cause of action for negligence.
I. Did the plaintiffs suffer "damages?" Of course, the answer is YES.
II. Do the defendants owe a duty of care or safety to the plaintiffs? Judge Hellerstein just ruled YES on September 9, 2003. That's what his 49 page ruling was all about. But there are two other hurdles for plaintiffs to prove negligence in this case...
III. Did the defendants "breach their duty" to the plaintiffs? For this issue, we then ask: Was the defendants' conduct "reasonable?" This is a question of fact that plaintiffs are hoping to ask a jury.
IV. If the answer to III. above is yes, was that breach the "proximate cause" of plaintiffs' damages? Asked a different way, were the events of 9-11 "foreseeable" to the defendants, or were the terrorist acts an "intervening event?"
After further "discovery" (the opportunity for the parties to freely request information from each other*) in this case, I believe that the defendants will ask the court to rule on these issues prior to trial, on a motion for summary judgment. In this request, they will try to convince the judge that there are no important facts in dispute, so the judge should enter judgment for them as a matter of law.
If the judge rules for the defendants on a summary judgment motion, this case will not go to trial.
It is possible for the judge to rule for some defendants (e.g., some of the aviation defendants or the ground defendants) and not others on this motion. In that event, some defendants will be dismissed from the case, while the remaining defendants would face the plaintiffs at trial.
* It is unclear how much information will be withheld from the plaintiffs by the government in "the interest of national security"
and some ambulance chasers representing cleanup workers
http://www.877wtchero.com/
Good lord. To add insult to injury these lawyers are probably going to make a killing (no pun intended) off of the suffering of the cleanup workers and the (alleged) criminal negligence of people like Christie Todd Whitman. But will any of us get justice?
Here's another interesting resource from Professor Perry Binder: http://www2.gsu.edu/~rmipzb/9-11resources.htm
Note how many of the artciles he cites come from the NYTimes. Note he links to the PBS "Why the Towers Fell" Disinfomentary...
Tom Flocco's Lihoppy take is still worth a read...
This Hellerstein guy should be impeached (I think that's what you do with corrupt judges.) I wonder why Jon Gold doesn't start a petition for that, given how he's not just screwing over victims' families but also preventing anyone from having to testify under oath?
here's an excerpt from his article:
JUDICIAL FOREIGN CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Judge Hellerstein’s wife is a former senior vice-president and current treasurer of Americans for Israel and Torah (AMIT), raising potential foreign government conflict of interest questions as to why former Attorney General Ashcroft released the arrested Israeli 9/11 suspects without a trial, then selected Hellerstein to control evidence by ordering the consolidation of all 9/11 lawsuits, then blocked full government legal discovery and testimony which has so far prevented any lawsuits from going to public trial—and now only with careful legal damage control.
The exclusion of government testimony and evidence will establish a damaging precedent for Americans who must depend on truth and forthcoming testimony from their leaders in a dangerous world where America’s enemies are able to freely cross open borders—congressional and executive criminal negligence notwithstanding.
Victim family attorneys have strangely failed to seek testimony from Ashcroft and Chertoff regarding their rationale for selecting Kenneth R. Feinberg as Special Master of the taxpayer-funded, multi-billion dollar Congressional 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund which forced families to sign away their right to sue the U.S. government for criminal negligence or prior knowledge—via intelligence intercepts never introduced in a court of law—in return for a financial settlement.
The Kenneth Feinberg Legal Group was one of the top ten supporters of Israel’s Jerusalem Institute for Israeli Studies, and Feinberg’s law firm represented major insurance and re-insurance firms like Lloyd’s of London which would have lost billions in September 11 payouts if Congress had not used American taxpayer funds to cover expected losses by insurance companies, raising more conflicts of interest.
Victim family lawyers have failed to petition Hellerstein to recuse himself from the September 11 litigation given numerous Israelis arrested on 9/11 and quietly released afterwards, but also the judge’s potential family conflicts of interest connected to a foreign government regarding previously unlitigated evidence and possible roles in the attacks involving arrested Israeli citizens offered preferential treatment over arrested Muslims.
Neither Hellerstein nor Feinberg volunteered to recuse themselves from their powerful positions as arbitors regarding 9/11 accountability and financial compensation despite the conflicts of interest.
Though remaining families want a trial, Hellerstein has been coercing them all along to negotiate a settlement with his “special mediator,†Sheila L. Birnbaum, a partner in the Skadden Arps law firm which calls itself “one of the leading U.S. legal advisors to Israeli companies doing business and raising capital outside of Israel,†with several attorneys fluent in Hebrew and English admitted to the Israeli and New York bar.
Strangely, Huntleigth USA, an airport passenger screening company owned by Israel’s International Consultants on Targeted Security (ICTS), led by “former Israeli military commanders and members of its intelligence and security agencies,†received congressional immunity for failed airport security at Boston and Newark airports where three of the four doomed planes originated on September 11.
These astonishing conflicts of interest raise more congressional obstruction of justice questions for attorneys hired by the families to acquire justice and accountability for 9/11 deaths instead of settlements.
The New York judge never fully discussed and explained the explosive issue of withholding key government witness testimony and evidence during either of the June hearings, raising serious questions about criminal versus civil evidence since documents we obtained reveal that another attorney directly involved in the case said it is not a great concern to either side whether the judge imposes limitations on what testimony or evidence can be heard in open court.
Full government testimony and interrogation with the help of career prosecutors would assist victim family lawyers in gaining access to more facts and evidence, while the airline defense team would garner evidence to support their assertions that government “regulations hampered us and kept us from doing our job,†since the families say airlines are responsible for not having cockpit doors which could resist the “hijackers.â€
“I want to settle as many cases as I can, as soon as I can. That is my job,†said Hellerstein in open court on June 14, perhaps explaining why not one single September 11 victim lawsuit has been permitted to proceed to a public trial by jury with subpoenaed testimony by major government officials, complete and unhindered discovery of documents and interrogation by career criminal prosecutors—given meritorious evidence of prior knowledge of the attacks by the Bush administration.