Two of the five young Israelis imprisoned in New York for over ten weeks returned to Israel yesterday, and the other three are expected this afternoon. The two, Oded Ellner and Omar Marmari, returned \"broken,\" according to the mother of one of them. The five friends were arrested a few hours after the attack on the World Trade Center after they were seen happily photographing themselves on the background of the burning towers. FBI agents surrounded and broke into their van, held guns to their heads, tied them up, and led them to days of solitary confinement and weeks of maximum-security confinement.
Even after the suspicions that they were connected to the Bin-Laden terrorism were proven wrong, the Israelis continued to be held because they had continued to work for a moving company after their visas expired. Two other Israeli friends of the five were released from similar detention in Philadelphia two weeks ago, but close to 100 other Israelis arrested on or after Sept. 11 remain in American jails on immigration violations.
Even after the suspicions that they were connected to the Bin-Laden terrorism were proven wrong, the Israelis continued to be held because they had continued to work for a moving company after their visas expired. Two other Israeli friends of the five were released from similar detention in Philadelphia two weeks ago, but close to 100 other Israelis arrested on or after Sept. 11 remain in American jails on immigration violations.