FIST

One of the persistent rumors dogging Israeli high-tech firms is that some, at the insistence of Mossad, have installed "back doors" into their communications systems to allow Israeli intelligence to spy on their American customers. For example, FoxNews' five part investigative report in 2001 on Israeli spying on America charged that Israeli telecommunications firms AMDOCS and Comverse Infosys had used their contracts with the U.S. federal government to potentially spy on American defense secrets. (Fox quickly removed all mention of the series from its website, but, fortunately, private citizens saved copies.)

Last year, The American Conservative's Deep Background column pointed out that Jack Abramoff, who has set up a "sniper school" for Israeli settlers in Palestine:

" ... allegedly convinced Congressman Robert Ney, House Administrative Committee chairman, to award a contract worth $3 million to a start-up Israeli telecommunications firm called Foxcom Wireless. The contract was for the installation of antennas in House of Representatives buildings to improve cell-phone reception. Not surprisingly, such equipment can be designed to have what is known as a "back door" to enable a third party, in this case Mossad, to listen in."

The FandZ International Law Group, "an Israel-based international law firm," was founded and run from 1986 to 2001 by Douglas Feith (the "F"), the Pentagon's #3 man from 2001 to 2005, and L. Marc Zell (the "Z"), who in the 1980s emigrated to a Jewish fundamentalist settlement in the Occupied Territories, where he has become a spokesman for extremist settlers. Right after the Iraq invasion that was planned and justified by Feith, Zell formed a law firm in Baghdad for the purpose of helping firms win contracts from Feith's Pentagon. Zell's partner in this venture was Salem Chalabi, who is the nephew of -- you'll never guess this in a million years -- Ahmed Chalabi, who provided Feith with so much of the fictional justification for the war that Feith stovepiped past the CIA and into the Vice President's eager hands. Isn't that cozy?

After 9/11, Feith's old Israeli law firm set up a U.S. affiliate firm to assist:

"... Israeli companies at the cutting edge of technological innovation in the security field to access the US Federal Government procurement market."

An Israeli business magazine reported that Feith's old partner Zell told them:

"The company acts as an intermediary between Israeli companies and the relevant authorities in the US, and according to Zell, it acts vis-à-vis the Pentagon, the Department of Treasury and the Department of Defense... "

The Department of Defense -- didn't Zell know somebody at the Pentagon? Well, I'm sure it was all just a coincidence ...

So, what name did Zell choose for his affiliate firm that would help put Israeli technology into the heart of the American national security apparatus? For a firm like that, you wouldn't want to pick a name with sinister connotations, not like something a James Bond villain would dream up, now would you?

So, Zell chose "Federal Israel Security Technologies LLC"

Or, as Zell prefers to call it:

FIST

And what could be more innocent-sounding than that?

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer