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
Are you schizophrenic? You holler loudly that you don't want any US troops to be sent to Israel, and now you're complaining because there is no US military presence in Israel? You are seriously deranged. Go take your meds before you put you cat into the microwave, Urban Legend Lady.
Concur, and the biggest threat to our nation right now is the huge numbers of illegal and dangerous Islamic terrorist supporters and sleeper cells. But most of the IsraelHaters aren't at all concerned by that. One can tell from their posts ...
Do you agree it is conceivable that someone can be concerned about Islamic sleeper agents *and* Israeli espionage?
Remember, we don't know how many might one day die as a result of Pollard's treachery.
Let's stop Israel's Pollard's before they drive the knife into America's back again.
Vindication of what? What if they found a French spy - how is that connected to 9/11? Though, I admit, you believe anything that fits your prejudices. No doubt you'll put this up on your website. It's a perfect deflection piece about 9/11.
Do you believe every detail of that story? Why are you so eager to say I'm spinning. I've read the earlier Cameron pieces, which day by day devolved into logical incoherence. There were other articles, for one, about the two israelis who were providing the fake references for Visas. It struck me they were coyotes, and there are "art students" and the like all over the world getting into America. Think about the Swedish au pair scam, for one.
I also have read that Israel, Russia, Rumania (I think) are producers or conduits for designer drugs. Such explains my comment. Since the art students were hanging out with their wears in malls, I would think if they were doing something illegal it would not be spying on mallrats, but selling them "doses." Just a theory. BTW, isn't it interesting it is supposedly the DEA involved. See?
Given, there could be spies or something similar. Maybe they used the cover of the art student scam, rather than originate it. I also know that when anything is connected to jews, all sorts of crazy, disconnected, and even hallucinatory thing are said and connections made. That's the context of the world. Tell me, how does one "sell art" at the Defense Department? Or it's "facilities." Just walk into the Pentagon with a box of Thai velvet paintings and Nicaraguan pullovers, and wander down the halls? Went to homes? Did they go to all the homes on the street? Pictures? Do you believe everything? It all sounds paranoid. There may be some truth to it, conflated with all sorts of other nonsense, unrelated truths, and disinformation.
P.S. - Supsa is in Georgia, not Iran.
Don't forget 'bogus story' and 'there was no spy ring.' I feel for you guys I really do. You are so desperate for red meat but you keep coming up with oatmeal...
The use of the term "rings" is interesting with those arrested. I wonder if Israeli drug mafia is at issue, at least partly.
There is some weird stuff, like of the thirteen arrested, one was the son of a general, one was member of special forces. Wo what? Probably all of them have military connections since conscription is mandatory in Israel. And three Israelis arrived in Dallas on May 9. So what? Does the website say why this is relevant? They are connected to information companies? So? How many Arabs, French, English are? I'd say the biggest group is Muslim Indians.
What do you think the sixth fleet was doing in Haifa recently? No, they were not oranges in those crates. They were replenishing cruise missiles mfr'd in Israel along with other toys destined for your friends. BTW, I like the idea of having bases sprinkled in every Arab country...don't have to go as far to take care of business.
I'm sure.
The US gathers up and deports dozens of Israelis with links to the Israeli military and intelligence services for no reason at all. They have absolutely nothing better to do with their time these days
And Pollard was framed
As were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
And OJ is still looking for the real killer...
No, of course I don't want any American soldiers to die for Israel, but that doesn't mean I don't support US military and financial to Israel.
And I would argue that history shows that the latter will lead to the former.
Besides, it's not clear that from a militray standpoint that Israel even needs the USA. Remember, Israel is a nuclear power with the most capable military in the world. IOW, Israel doesn't need the USA to fight its battles.
If you or others feel that this is something more, whatever that may be, fine. But please don't ascribe to me your motivations and interpretations.
'U.S. Denies Breaking Up Israeli Spy Ring
'U.S. officials on Tuesday denied a French newspaper report that the United States had broken up a huge Israeli spy ring and said no espionage charges were ever brought. The officials said there had been suspicions within the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that Israeli art students may have been spying, and the agency even did a draft report about it, but the Justice Department and FBI found the suspicions were groundless. "No one's been charged with espionage with regard to this matter. That's the bottom line," an FBI official said. "I'm unaware of any great interest in this here."
Why would you even trust the French, after the Olympics and all....
There is nobody in the US who would have still been thinking this was an accident after the second plane hit.
Most of the people I know were pretty sure that this was some sort of Arab-terrorist hit at that point.
. 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
Only the US is responsible for a multitude of interests (that is, the entire West). Israel, while it is the only "Western" presence in the Middle East, cannot dictate our policy and cannot be allowed to spy on us or use us.
Frequently, our aims coincide; but sometimes they do not, and I do not want the Israelies to use us anymore than I want the - say, Taiwanese - to use us.
As far as I'm concerned, if anybody is spying on us, out they go. In any case, they hadn't been Israelies, but nationals of any other country, they'd be in jail right now.
At least five of the spies resided in Hollywood, Florida, where alleged hijacker Mohammad Atta and four accomplices in the attacks also lived, the paper said.
You will have to chase Iraq and Israel via the Czech Republic and Great Britian to get the straight story on the anthrax in the U.S.
Both groups play off each other. Rubin is a prime example of the latest in the Middle east mafia game. A side note. Tinker A.F.B. Hmmm. AWACS? Drug interdiction sound familiar? It should.
You keep missing the real picture.
In Washington on Tuesday, U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Susan Dryden said of the Le Monde report, "At this time, we have no information to support this." U.S. officials said some Israeli students had been expelled for immigration violations, not for spying.
A U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman cited several instances when his agency had arrested Israeli nationals, on student or visitor visas, who were selling art. They were deported before the Sept. 11 attacks, he said. "To my knowledge, these individuals were arrested for immigration violations. I have no knowledge of any linking of the art students to any espionage activity."
The FBI official said the students were very aggressive in their solicitation tactics, contacting government employees and others at home and setting up booths in malls. "They were acting very overtly. That's not the way an espionage operation works."
In Israel on Monday, a spokesman said the prime minister had no comment on the matter.
By the way...just who are these 'un-named' FBI and immigration spokesman? The only source 'named' used 'wiggle words', i.e. "at this time"...
I'm quite content letting this play out in the press. Perhaps we'll have some inspired 'journalist' like Woodward or Bernstein sort this out for us.... LOL!
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.