The Americans Are Building a Top Secret Base in Israel Called 'Site 9/11'

News broke last week that the US Army Corps of Engineers are overseeing the construction of a mysterious multi-storey underground military facility near Tel Aviv, for the Israeli Defence Force. According to the Washington Post’s national security correspondent, the huge maximum-security project – ominously named “Site 911” – will cost up to $100 million and include a laboratory, blast-resistant security doors and protection from low-level “non-ionizing” radiation. The Pentagon has so far refused to comment on the nature of the proposed site and the project looks set to remain mired in secrecy. The Washington Post report is very thin on the details, but that hasn’t stopped a whole bunch of conspiracy theorists completely losing their shit on the internet. It’s pretty obvious why, this story makes all the right noises to prick up conspiracy theorists' ears: air of secrecy, underground bunker, tenuous link to 9/11 and a single mention of the word “radiation”. The base hasn’t even begun to be built and already it looked ripe to become the Middle East’s answer to Area 51. I thought I’d check out what the conspiracy experts reckoned was going down in Israel. A cursory review of leading conspiracy forums revealed two hypotheses dominating this Illuminati shit-storm. On the David Icke forum, I found a guy with the highly controversial avatar of an alien smoking a joint, whose theory that “Israel did 911 in the first place” was getting a lot of interest. As foreign as it may sound, this is a hugely recurrent theme among conspiracy theorists. midnight_rambler posts: “I take it the name is in homage to their very successful operation by the same name”, and Let Freedom Ring adds: “That’s where they are harbouring their directed-energy weapons. Using money they earned from 911.” tinhattribunal agrees: “Site 911? Sounds like it’s an award of sorts for zionist isreal [sic]”. See?

Reasons given include a desire to divert attention from Israel’s behaviour in Palestine, to an ultra-Zionist bid for world domination. Which is pretty standard conspiracy fare. What is interesting about it, and is frequently pointed out on these forums, is a more widespread conviction of Israeli involvement in, or at least foreknowledge of, 9/11. Rumours that Israeli intelligence operatives were arrested by the FBI in the hours following the attack have long attracted interest from people with real names. In a 2008 poll of 16,000 people in 17 countries, 7 percent believed Israel was responsible for the attacks.

The second prominent theory I found maintains that the site is actually home to a bunker that Israel’s building in preparation for what conspiracists like to refer to as SHTF. The “Shit Hits The Fan” scenario, to you and I, generally refers to the wholesale collapse of industrial civilisation. SHTF is going to be precipitated by (delete as applicable) nuclear war/peak oil/reptilian humanoids emerging from their underground lairs to inaugurate the totalitarian One World Government and enslave the “sheeple” (non-conspiracy theorists).

Cheerleaders of the shit-bunker theory include Cookiemonster43, who posits that “Barack Osama needs a better bunker for when all h3|| breaks loose… the antichrist needs a secure base of ops to run the world from in israel.”

As for the precise purpose and significance of the bunker, that’s anyone’s guess, meaning that everyone is guessing. With some convinced the site will host “a call centre to contact the extraterrestrial police force” and others arguing that the bunker will simply function as “a new stop for the secret underground continental railway system”, it’s not easy to light on one, water-tight solution.

However, at least among the ashes of insanity, you can often stumble upon a solid rock of wisdom, and with that in mind, let's give Insane_Pyro_666 the final word. He writes: “Knowing Israel, I can’t imagine it’s being done for anything other than to serve Satan… Maybe Lindsay Lohan has something to do with this?” If there’s one thing you can’t argue with, it’s rationality.

Follow Theo on Twitter: @Theo_

Read more about conspiracy theories on VICE:

What Sort Of Person Still Thinks 9/11 Was An Inside Job?

Famous Conspiracy Theorists I Have Known

Conspiracy News: Osama Not Buried At Sea?!