Were Israeli intelligence agents arrested after cheering 9/11?

Question

Press TV and Veterans Today:

“Donald Trump is conveying interesting versions of urban legends and some actual facts about what followed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,” Barrett told Press TV on Sunday.

“Israeli intelligence agents were caught wildly celebrating the airplane crashes and then the explosive destructions of the Twin Towers,” Barrett said, adding that the agents were working in coordination with people already placed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s terror watch list.

“These dancing Israelis were cheering wildly, flicking cigarette lighters in front of the burning and then exploding Twin Towers and they were then arrested, they were found with thousands of dollars in cash stuffed in their socks,” he added.

After failing lie detector tests, Barrett said, the agents flew back to Israel, where they appeared on TV and boasted that they were sent to New York to “document the event.”

Is it true that Israeli intelligence agents were arrested shortly after 9/11?

The fact that this claim is shared mainly on conspiracy sites make me doubt the claim.

Answer 1

Haaretz reported on 17th September 2001:

Five Israelis who had worked for a moving company based in New Jersey are being held in U.S. prisons for what the Federal Bureau of Investigation has described as "puzzling behavior" following the terror attack on the World Trade Center in New York last Tuesday.

[...]

They are said to have had been caught videotaping the disaster and shouting in what was interpreted as cries of joy and mockery.

ABC News reported:

The men were taking video or photos of themselves with the World Trade Center burning in the background, she said. What struck Maria were the expressions on the men's faces. "They were like happy, you know … They didn't look shocked to me. I thought it was very strange," she said.

Since their arrest, plenty of speculation has swirled about the case, and what the five men were doing that morning. Eventually, The Forward, a respected Jewish newspaper in New York, reported the FBI concluded that two of the men were Israeli intelligence operatives.

...

According to ABCNEWS sources, Israeli and U.S. government officials worked out a deal — and after 71 days, the five Israelis were taken out of jail, put on a plane, and deported back home.

While the former detainees refused to answer ABCNEWS' questions about their detention and what they were doing on Sept. 11, several of the detainees discussed their experience in America on an Israeli talk show after their return home.

Said one of the men, denying that they were laughing or happy on the morning of Sept. 11, "The fact of the matter is we are coming from a country that experiences terror daily. Our purpose was to document the event."