U.S. Deports Dozens of Israelis Amid Warnings of Espionage Activities

DrudgeReport- AP ^ | 00/05/02

[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

[american in america]

Post#110, You got that right Liberty.

[mmmmmmmm....... donuts]

Look, don't confuse what you know, with what you infer. We know that Israelis were kicked out of the US on visa violations (which is good--any one violating their visa should be kicked out). We know that the DEA thought Israel may be spying on the U.S. Other departments of the US government, namely the FBI, disagreed. (Of course, it's very easy to say the FBI were somehow bought off, though it's strange that one department of the government would be bought off and another one wouldn't.) Anyway, the author of the DEA report, obviously no dummy, tries to leak his theory to the media, and to a certain extent, succeeds (Fox, Le Monde, 'Intelligence Online).

But we don't know what they were doing, and what they know. The French report alleges that they were shadowing Atta. Maybe, maybe not. And if they did, well, good--at least someone was! Did they know the general plan? We don't know. Did they know the specifics? We don't know. To go from 'we don't know' to 'the Israelis definitely did know and wanted Americans to die' is blood libel, no doubt about it.

[TopQuark]

Why don't you read through what you posted. Most of this stuff I, as many others, have seen before. When Israelies speak they do so, like most Middle-Easteners, with emotion. Couple that with extremely fast speaking, and you get the picture. Not knowing a word of what was said, but seeing behavior culturally completely different from ours, some witnesses interpreted this as celebration. In no case this was later confirmed.

The "car" with Israelis was widely reported. Some even suggested these were Arabs with forged passports (I have not heard this confirmed either). Your own article says that it is not clear whether the car is related to the moving business.

Finally, your FBI report is a regular leads foollow up: they looked through video tapes, and follow up on everyone seen in the vicinity. The truck was spotted in Downtown at the time of the attack, they follow up ---- a completely correct procedure.

These articles, in essense, are about questions that were correctly posed. Why don't your concentrate on the answers. And why is it that you, on your own, do not differentiate between the qestionsa and facts?

Unless, of course, the starting point is that of the Arab world --- "the Mosad did it.

[a_witness]

You're the one that has written that anyone criticizing Israel must be aligned with the "evil one."

I wrote:
Only incompetents or HateIsraelFirst evil ones would fail to recognize the threat of Islamic terrorists and their supporters to murder millions of our citizens and those of our allies.

OTOH, you write things like:

We recently learned that the Jewish reporter Daniel Pearl who was murdered in Pakistan was an citizen of Israel. I wonder how many other writers, editors, and producers are Israeli citizens? Hmmm....
267 posted on 3/2/02 8:52 AM Pacific by Blade

You hate Israel first. It is the core of your spiritual world. You are possessed by that hatred and, as with Pharaoh, you have hardened your heart without remedy.

I say "the first 22" because our war is not just against 22 individuals. Our war is against networks and groups, people who coddle them, people who try to hide them, people who fund them. This is our calling. This is the calling of the United States of America, the most free nation in the world. A nation built on fundamental values that rejects hate, rejects violence, rejects murderers, rejects evil. And we will not tire. We will not relent. It is not only important for the homeland security of America that we succeed, it is equally as important for generations of Americans who have yet be born. Now is the time to draw the line in the sand against the evil ones. And this government is committed to doing just that.

[veronica]

It's clear from the information posted and/or linked from this thread that the deportees were involved in drug activities.

I don't think that is clear at all. What is clear is that when one lie about these art students does not stick, the usual suspects try another. The spaghetti strategy. Throw it around see what sticks.

[GROUCHOTWO]

So you claim that America will be destroyed if it ever abandons Israel!
Now I know why Israel went to expense of developing Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. According to this Israel is not an ally, only a blackmailer who has infiltrated our government with their agents.

[sakic]

This also helps to explain why there was a group of Israelis celebrating on a rooftop in New Jersey, watching the Towers burn.

How does this explain that? What was the official outcome of that celebratorion story? Can you provide a link?

[sakic]

They have agents on a gazillion taskforces in other government agencies, so DEA asking for a file is normal.

If your numbers are correct it's no wonder the government is losing money. Are you saying that DEA is part of all criminal cases that have nothing to do with drugs?

[sakic]

They get stories spiked and threads pulled.

Is it your contention that JimRob is a pawn of the Jews, Israel, or both?

[sakic]

I really do not know which documents you read --- you should be reading doctor's prescriptions instead.

Actually she should stop reading the prescriptions and switch to ingesting the contents.

[sakic]

I just looked at your provided link and much to my surprise it offers nothing even resembling evidence of Israeli involvement in 9/11. All it has is your analysis of 60 Israelis being part of the 1000 or so people swept into custody after the WTC.

It fit in quite well with the other 20 articles you have posted that are clearly stated as anti-Israel which raises some interesting questions:

Why do you call yourself anti-war instead of anti-Israel?

Why don't you seem bothered by the fact that almost all of the people who hijacked those planes were Saudis?

Why do you seem to bear no ill will towards Bin Laden who has admitted blowing up the WTC and being happy about it?

[wtc911]

The DEA was involved probably because Israeli nationals have been revealed to be running a large part of the Extasy traffic between Europe and NYC/Miami. This is frequently reported in the NY press. In fact, there is a story in today's NY papers about a Boro Park family where two generations were arrested for this activity.

The good news here is that, if my surmise is accurate, the DEA ran across non-DEA related info and passed it to the appropriate agencies. This might not have happened pre-9.11.

[Magician]

As I've already posted on this thread, the Israelis DID have specific foreknowledge of the 9-11 attack. And they sent their intelligence people to Langley to the CIA about four weeks before the attack to tell the CIA what they knew. The French, Russians and Germans also had foreknowledge of the attack and also told the CIA what they knew. The only question I have about the Israelis vis-a-vis the 9-11 attack is the lack of action of our government in response to the information given our government by the Israelis.

The major questions in my mind are a) why did the CIA and FBI not question people known to be connected with Al Qaida in an attempt to forestall the attack, and b) who ordered our Air Defense Command to stand down during the attack?

Based on the above, I'm very suspicious that the attack was allowed to proceed so that it would galvanize American public opinion enough to justify sending American troops into Afghanistan, for three purposes:

1. Clean out Al Qaida and capture bin Laden.

2. Secure the pipeline route through Afganistan for Unocal.

3. Secure control of the drug traffic originating in Afghanistan.

There is a lot behind the operation in Afghanistan that needs further investigation and publication. You're a bright guy in a fine position to help clarify the situation. But no one will pay serious attention to you as long as your major theme is that Israel is to blame for everything in the Middle East.

[Dave S]

The DEA....it makes no sense at all!

Perhaps it was DIA and someone reported it wrong. Defense Intelligence Agency is responsible for communications intercepts. Just a thought. But DEA agents are supposedly serving with the FBI and others now due to heavy terrorist workload.

[SuperLuminal]

With friends like these, who needs enemies.

[weikel]

Everyone in Israel( except the Palis and a few religious nuts) has military training whats your point they told our CIA and the CIA & FBI screwed up.

[sakic]

Those Jews really do control everything in your mind, don't they?

[Burn24]

From: news.independent.co.uk Israelis 'spied on al-Qa'ida in America' By John Lichfield in Paris 06 March 2002 American agents have dismantled an Israeli spy network, which may have been watching al-Qa'ida members inside the US before the 11 September attacks, French publications reported yesterday. More than 100 Israeli agents, posing as students, were arrested in the first half of last year after trying to penetrate American law enforcement agencies, according to Le Monde and a French internet newsletter, Intelligence Online. The stories were dismissed as "bogus" by the FBI but Le Monde published extracts from a report by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which said the Israeli students – including many "attractive women, aged around 25" – were involved in "organised spying activities". This included attempts to penetrate the DEA and the FBI. A dozen students/agents are still under arrest in the US, Le Monde said. Most of the others – including the son of an Israeli general and the former body-guard at Israeli army headquarters – have been expelled. The newspaper said this was the most serious incident of Israeli espionage in America since the jailing for life in 1986 of Jonathan Pollard, an American naval officer convicted of selling defence secrets to Israel. Nothing in the extracts from the DEA report published by Le Monde suggests a link between the Israeli "agents" and al-Qa'ida. But the newspaper says that the fact that many of the Israelis were based near Ford Lauderdale – close to places where al-Qa'ida agents involved in the 11 September suicide hijackings were also based – has aroused the suspicions of the authorities. The newspaper says that some American officials believe the Israeli students were trailing al-Qa'ida operatives, without informing their American counterparts. Le Monde says, without offering any further evidence, that this suggests Israel knew more in advance about the kamikaze attacks than it told Washington. A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington dismissed the reports. "No one in the US is taking this story seriously," he said. "I categorically deny the claims and my embassy has received no complaints from the US. I am not aware of a single Israeli who has been charged with espionage."