Posted on 03/05/2002 2:27:35 PM PST by jmp702
U.S. Deports Israelis Amid Warnings of Espionage Activities
By Ted Bridis Associated Press Writer
Published: Mar 5, 2002
WASHINGTON (AP) - Authorities have arrested and deported dozens of young Israelis since early last year who represented themselves as art students in efforts to gain access to sensitive federal office buildings and the homes of government employees, U.S. officials said.
A draft report from the Drug Enforcement Administration - which first characterized the activities as suspicious - said the youths' actions "may well be an organized intelligence-gathering activity."
Immigration officials deported them for visa violations; no criminal espionage charges were filed.
The arrests, made in an unspecified number of major U.S. cities from California to Florida, came amid public warnings from U.S. intelligence agencies about suspicious behavior by people posing as Israeli art students and "attempting to bypass facility security and enter federal buildings."
The Israelis were arrested and deported on charges of working in the United States without authorization or overstaying visits on tourist visas, said Russ Bergeron, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington. He described dozens of arrests since early 2001 but gave no exact figures.
The DEA report said a majority of the students questioned by U.S. investigators acknowledged having served in military intelligence, electronic signals interception or explosive ordnance units in the Israeli military. The DEA said one person questioned was the son of a two-star Israeli general, one had served as the bodyguard to the head of the Israeli Army and another served in a Patriot missile unit.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Yaffa Ben-Ari said it was "nonsense" that the students were spying on the United States.
Another Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Irit Stopper, confirmed that a few Israelis posing as art students were expelled from the United States for working without permits. However they were not accused of espionage, she said. She did not say how many Israelis were expelled and did not give any additional details.
The DEA report was first obtained by a French Web site that specializes in intelligence news, Intelligenceonline.com, and confirmed Tuesday as authentic by DEA spokeswoman Rogene Waite in Washington. The Web site said 120 Israelis had been arrested.
"That these people are now traveling in the U.S. selling art seems not to fit their background," the report said.
An FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted there were no espionage charges filed against any of the individuals and that they had been deported. Asked whether any spying activity occurred, the official repeated that no charges had been filed.
A Justice Department official, also asking not to be publicly identified, said investigators have been aware of some "alleged linkage" between the students and alleged espionage activities in the United States since early 2001, and said authorities have made arrests in Dallas, Chicago, San Diego and in south Florida. INS spokesman Rodney Germain in Miami said five or six people were arrested in that area at least six months ago on immigration counts.
Although security experts at the DEA first characterized the youths' behavior as suspicious, and INS authorities later arrested them, the FBI typically investigates espionage cases in the United States.
The DEA report said that among U.S. sites apparently targeted was Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, home to the military's AWACS surveillance planes and the place where many of the nation's B-1 bombers are repaired. Investigators also said that one female art student went to the home of a worker for the Environmental Protection Agency in Denver to sell paintings and returned later to photograph the house, according to the report.
No one within the Justice Department has expressed concerns about the Israeli students possibly committing espionage, Justice spokesman Bryan Sierra said. The deputy U.S. attorney general, Larry Thompson, declined to discuss the arrests when asked about them during a news conference Tuesday.
The U.S. Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, a federal agency, circulated a public warning in March 2001 urging employees to report contact with people describing themselves as Israeli art students.
"These individuals have been described as aggressive," the warning said. "They attempt to engage employees in conversation rather than giving a sales pitch."
Cooperation with Israel, a longtime key ally, is increasingly important in the U.S. war on terrorism.
AP-ES-03-05-02 1658EST
The DEA report said that among U.S. sites apparently targeted was Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, home to the military's AWACS surveillance planes and the place where many of the nation's B-1 bombers are repaired. Investigators also said that one female art student went to the home of a worker for the Environmental Protection Agency in Denver to sell paintings and returned later to photograph the house, according to the report.
Ecstasy---Tinker A.F.B. AWACS.
The deputy U.S. attorney general, Larry Thompson, declined to discuss the arrests when asked about them during a news conference Tuesday.
Since May 1999, there have been 27 courts martial and more than 20 Articles 15 given to airmen at Eglin for drug- related offenses. The majority of the court cases involved the drug Ecstasy.
The DEA report contains the information and Tinker A.F.B. is an important element in combating drugs. The question is why were these individuals keying in on Tinker A.F.B?.
US taxpayer support of Israel is NOT in debate. US support of Israel is forever.
US support of Israel is a human institution that is subject to the laws of human instiutions. A lot of people probably thought feudalism and slavery were forever too.
Debating this is never going to happen on US television outlets I assure you.
How do you know? I mean the question in all seriousness. Is there a special cabal somewhere that decides what will and will not be debated on American television when it comes to Israel?
US support of Israel is not ever going to be on the table. Ever. Liberty, and Freedom and all that talk is great for Americans but this particular decision cannot ever be debated in America.
Wow. I don't think I've ever seen an Israel supporter fly his colors quite so openly. Liberty and freedom is great and all, but Americans must never be allowed to debate support for Israel.
Out of curiosity, allowed by *who*?
Hell, I thought Hollywood would be where the DEA would have looked. (smile)
Somewhere there must be a KLA connection. (sarcasm).
How about the mainstream media.
"Stop spreading rumors and falsehoods, please.
Nothing false about it, it happened. I told what I knew. We believe in the first amendment here, sir.
When a group is gathering (information) intelligence on an A.F.B., what do you call it.
No one buys your disinformation campaign....Have you ever posted anything that wasn't just propaganda for Jews or for Israel?
This is an AMERICAN forum, for free AMERICANS who care about AMERICA FIRST, get it?
It also says that the Israelis had foreknowledge of the 9-11 attack. Indeed they did, and they sent their intelligence people to Langley to tell the CIA what they knew. The Germans also had foreknowledge, as did the French and the Russians. All told the CIA that an attack was coming. Even a highschooler in Brooklyn (of Arab descent) told his teacher that the WTC would be gone in a week.
Why don't you just climb on the bandwagon with the Arab press and claim that the Israelis actually highjacked those planes and flew them into the buildings? No one here on FR would be surprised by you.
Amazing! I had no idea that Pickering was Jewish!!!
"Oy Vey" I say!
Wow. Did you really say that?
Do you want to retract that accusation? I want to give you the opportunity to correct anything you may have accidentally said before I ping jimrob to this.
And, of course, the realization that this event would trigger the US opening a cask of "Whup-ass" on the whole Muslim world in response would not have triggered any sense of elation on the part of any Israelis YOu give too much credit to them: just like far from all Americans are verse international affairs, many Israelies are not either. This was a small group of uneducated laborers, immature idiots who actually did not see anything beyond the immediate. The event was striking and they decided to make a picture of themselves.
When you see a traffic jam on the highway after an accident because people are gawking, do you think passers-by are figuring out our transportation policies? Or, perhaps, the recent developments in highway safety? I am talking about thousands of mature Americans passing by who are simply curious as to what has happened (and whether there is blood --- we love calamities more than any other nation). Why do you apply different standards to a small group of uneducated, immature kids from Israel? Many Jews are smart, but if you think that they are all Kissingers, you are mistaken.
Do you have the faintest idea of how transparent you are?
Why do you refer to Americans as "you people"?
Didn't your imam teach you better than that?
The business about the detained Israelis is old news, dating back to shortly after the 9-11 attack. They were picked up selling goods in shopping malls, detained for a while, and then deported for being in violation of their visitors visas by trying to make money while here in the U.S. (forbidden if you are here on a visitors visa).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.