Final_Judgment

262 The Twain Shall Meet [201]
He notes that the Israelis had assisted the French in the Algerian war of
independence between 1954 and 1962. Then, when Algeria was finally
independent and sought admission to the UN, only Israel voted against it.
Beit Hallahmi quotes another historian, Stewart Steven, as saying, "When
in 1961 the OAS was created, it was a natural development that Israel, as
keen on [French retention of Algeria as a colony] as the OAS themselves,
should lock themselves into the [OAS]. "568
So it was that Israeli intelligence—and its allies in the American CIA—
had formed a close working alliance with the very forces that were
attempting to destroy French President Charles DeGaulle. At the same time,
in fact, these same elements were using their Permindex connection in yet
another plot, this one aimed at the life of John F. Kennedy.
THE OAS, PERMINDEX AND NEW ORLEANS
There is, interestingly, a New Orleans connection here. According to a
report later issued by DeGaulle's secret service, the SDECE, Israel's Bank
Hapoalim supplied funds to the OAS through the office of former FBI agent
and CIA contract operative, Guy Banister, in New Orleans. 569 Banister's
agent, Maurice Brooks Gatlin, in turn, carried the money to the OAS in
Paris. 570 (Several years later Gatlin died in Panama when he fell—or was
pushed—from a hotel balcony.)
Gatlin, evidently, had many interesting international affairs. When a
Latin American regional conference of a global anti-communist
confederation was set in place, organized by CIA operative and Banister
contact, E. Howard Hunt, the chairman of that conference was Antonio
Valladares. This same Valladares, based in Guatemala, also happened to
serve as an attorney for New Orleans Mafia chief Carlos Marcello whom, as
we have seen, was assisting in financing Banister's anti-communist
activities. In attendance at the conference, which ultimately merged into the
World Anti-Communist League, was Maurice Brooks Gatlin, 571 suggesting
that the New Orleans connection to the CIA and other worldwide
intrigue was very strong indeed.
The aforementioned Bank Hapoalim was the bank established by Israel's
labor bund, the Histadrut, for which Permindex chairman Louis Bloomfield
served as chief fundraiser in Canada. Guy Banister's activities were explored
earlier in Chapter 10, Chapter 11 and Chapter 14.
According to Gilbert LeCavelier, an associate of the late Bernard
Fensterwald (a leading JFK assassination researcher), Banister's office also
served as a New Orleans headquarters for OAS-connected mercenaries.
Among those OAS mercenaries was Jean Souetre who, we noted in
Chapter 12, was reported to have been picked up in Dallas on November 22,
1963 and expelled from the United States. 572 In Chapter 16 we will explore
Souetre's activities further.
Banister, the former FBI and Naval intelligence operative, oversaw CIAbacked
anti-Castro gun-running and intelligence operations out of an office
at 544 Camp Street in New Orleans. Closely linked to the anti-Castro