With the help of the Greenberg-Traurig law firm, the same firm that served Bush in the 2000 election, Mrs. Mariani's step-daughter Lauren Peters was put in Ellen Mariani's place as the estate administrator. Lauren Peters' name also replaced Ellen Mariani's on the latter's landmark suit against United Airlines. A New York federal court UAL lawsuit had been cleverly waiting in the wings to replace Mrs. Mariani's ground breaking lawsuit. Today, Mrs. Mariani remains a co-beneficiary of the yet-to-be-paid fund, a widow living on Social Security and under a gag order, which the government has violated with continual harassment.
Israeli connections to the events
Let us begin with Judge Hellerstein, who has long-standing Zionist connections and close family ties to the state of Israel. His wife, as Christopher Bollyn points out, "is a former senior vice president and current treasurer of a New York-based organization called AMIT. AMIT promotes Jewish immigration to Israel and stands for Americans for Israel and Torah. AMIT's motto is "Building Israel -- One Child at a Time."
Bollyn also points out that "all of the relatives' wrongful death lawsuits, that is criminal cases against American Airlines or United Airlines or any of the foreign-owned airport security companies, namely Argenbright Security (British), Globe Aviation Services Corp. (Swedish), and Huntleigh USA Corp. (Israeli) have been handled by Hellerstein. In fact, all of the relatives' wrongful death lawsuits, criminal cases against the airlines and their security companies were consolidated by the presiding judge into a negligence lawsuit, which, as a civil case, is much less likely to be argued or investigated in an open trial with a jury.
"In the case of at least one of these security defendants, Huntleigh USA, there would seem to be a serious conflict of interest for the judge [be]cause the airline security company who is responsible for the shocking security lapses at both the Boston and Newark airports on 9/11 is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Israeli company (ICTS), headed by Israelis with clear ties to Israel's military intelligence agency, the Mossad.
"Menachem Atzmon, who was convicted in Israel in 1996 for campaign finance fraud, and his business partner Ezra Harel, covered management of security at the Boston and Newark airports when their company, ICTS, bought Huntleigh USA in 1999."
UAL Flight 175 and AA II, which were the hit-planes for Towers One and Two, originated in Boston. UAL 93, the airliner that supposedly crashed in Pennsylvania, departed from Newark airport.
"Some victim's families brought suits against Huntleigh, claiming the Israeli-owned airport security firm had been grossly negligent on 9/11. While these relatives have a right to discovery and to know what Huntleigh did or didn't do to protect their loved ones on 9/11, Huntleigh was granted complete congressional protection in 2002 and will not be called to account for its actions on 9/11 in any US court.
"On July 26, 2002, the US House of Representatives passed the Homeland Security Bill and slipped in a last minute provision for complete corporate immunity for the three foreign-owned security companies. Likewise, the Senate voted to shield the three security companies from corporate responsibility on November 19, 2002. These congressional votes prevent any legal investigation to discovery into the security failures of these foreign companies on 9/11."
Next, "Special Master Kenneth Feinberg's legal firm is listed as one of the top ten supporters of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies for 2004-2005. The Institute is an Israel-based Zionist organization that supports the construction of the illegal wall of separation across Palestine."
Feinberg was appointed by then Attorney General John Ashcroft, a dedicated conservative Christian-cum-Zionist sympathizer, backing groups such as Stand for Israel. Most notably, Ashcroft now runs a lobbying firm, whose most stellar client is Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), Israel's major military aerospace company. It hired the former US attorney general to help secure US government approval to sell an Israeli weapons system to the South Korean Air Force. They hired Ashcroft to raise their chances against an American-made system from Chicago-based Boeing Company.
Ironically, Ashcroft was born in Chicago. When he headed the Justice Department, his dual-citizenship Israeli-American assistant was Michael Chertoff, who directed the FBI non-investigation of the events of 9/11. Chertoff is now secretary of Homeland Security.
Sheila L. Birnbaum, the special mediator for Hellerstein, is a partner in Skadden Arps, one of the leading corporate law firms with business ties to Israel. Skadden Arps is one of the legal advisers to Israeli companies doing business in and raising capital outside of Israel. It offers bi-lingual English/Hebrew personnel as well.
Courtroom coda
After lunch, I return to the polished voices of United Airlines, American, Boeing, Hellerstein, et al. They continue the dialogue to avoid culpability via litigation from plaintiffs. The jocularity rises. Yet at some point, the lawyer for the plaintiffs stands to speak. In essence, he reminds Judge Hellerstein and the room that Congress created the Victims Compensation Fund, and it asked victims families to relinquish the right of bringing suit against the airlines or government in return for compensation. The lawyer wondered why Congress would ask that of the families, and if that was just? Of if it was an unfair exchange? The dialogue at this point took on a more serious, even intense tone. Reality had entered the discussion. So much so, that at some point two of the court clerks asked to speak with Judge Hellerstein in his chambers.
When Judge Hellerstein returned, he said that the plaintiffs would have a trial, but it would have to be bifurcated, that is, split in half. The liability cases would be conducted with the airlines. And only the damages cases would be heard in court. At that point, the notion that the cases would have to be "sanitized" passed loudly from one lawyer's lips to another's to the judge. Take from that what meanings or "evidence" you will.
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