Spies, or students? Israelis trying to sell paintings, or agents in an espionage ring?

Ha'aretz ^ | 5/13/02 | Nathan Guttman

[veronica]

You will never guess who is selling crowd control tanks to Mugabe. . .

Your whine du jour.

[veronica]

And from what I understand dennisw will be back. Soon. :)

[WaterDragon]

I think this story is an urban legend that won't go away. Does anyone think that if there was a shred of truth to it, the government wouldn't be all over it? And probably has been, just because of the LIBERAL media not letting it go.

A non-starter.

The American government doesn't go easy on spies from any country. Witness the continued incarceration of Pollard. He's right where he belongs.

[Lent]

Look's like the pseudo AF crowd got dennisw banned. Isn't that the accusation you guys make about the so-called ISF crowd: they control the moderators or are the moderators; there's no free speech because the ISF'ers control the agenda on FR; the Mossad controls FR....etc. etc.? Maybe we'll get on a site like The Liberty Forum and cry and whine about how we're hard done by and how there's a conspiracy against the ISF'ers.

[LarryLied]

What part is an "urban legend?"

Were they selling art? Did they have fake green cards and visas? Were they deported? Is the DEA memo a fraud?

Something sure seems to have occurred. The mainstream "liberal" media you mention has not reported this except the Washington Post which ran a vague government denial. This has been carried by the Jewish publication The Forward, FOX NEWS, the Washington Times, Le Monde, Insight Magazine and Jane's Intelligence Review. If there wasn't anything to this , it is doubtful they would have reported it at all.

[LarryLied]

Look's like the pseudo AF crowd got dennisw banned

Playing the persecuted victim knows no bounds does it? Ever consider spamming one thread with 40 odd replies demanding to know someone's race and religion so you can bash them might, just might, not meet with the approval of management?

I don't push the abuse button when people violate forum decorum and engage in personal attacks and gutter language. If I did, I would not have time to reply to anything.

[Lent]

I don't push the abuse button when people violate forum decorum and engage in personal attacks and gutter language. If I did, I would not have time to reply to anything.

Neither do I push the abuse button. But it's those same tactics you've indicated which got me booted when I posted some pro-Israel material back a year and half or so ago. I got spammed by an assortment of anti-Semites and Israel bashers. I got the boot along with the posters.

This story is an example of the kind of provocative nonsense which parades around from time to time. Do a search on this myth of a story and you'll see (if they haven't been removed because of their length) volumnious posts regarding it. It has been overworked, overused and exploited. Its rehashing, just like the U.S.S. Liberty, notwithstanding the substantive factual aspects of the latter as compared to this art-student-spy bs, is predicated solely on a mischief. That mishchief is to attempt to construct another, in this case fictitious, canard to drive a wedge in American-Israel relations. If some posters answer rhetorically and with hyperbole, they are fully justified in doing so to match the nature of the story itself. The story itself is a spam everytime its posted.

[SJackson]

This story is an example of the kind of provocative nonsense which parades around from time to time... Its rehashing, just like the U.S.S. Liberty, notwithstanding the substantive factual aspects of the latter as compared to this art-student-spy bs, is predicated solely on a mischief. That mishchief is to attempt to construct another, in this case fictitious, canard to drive a wedge in American-Israel relations.

Very well put.

[Aim small miss small]

All real Americans remember the USS Liberty. Get it? Thank you very much.

[Aim small miss small]

Doesn't it make you mad that all those "dual loyalists" are messing up your version of America? What would you do to them....if you had any courage?

I'd make 'em eat ham sandwiches till their arms got tired..

[vance]

**All real Americans remember the USS Liberty. Get it? Thank you very much.

Truth be told very few Americans even know about the USS Liberty. It seems to be the exclusive obsession of a small cabal here at Free Republic. Most normal Americans are much more concerned with the events of Sept. 11, the Cole, the true dangers facing our country.

[vance]

**Ran a vague government denial.

From what I recall it was not vague. It was definitive and strong. I might be able to find the article. All of the various newspapers and sites you point to circulated the same story. I remember lots of crazy stories that circulated after Sept. 11. Crazy, crazy stuff.

[Aim small miss small]

Like I said, all REAL Americans remeber the Liberty, thanks for the proof.

[vance]

**Like I said, all REAL Americans remeber the Liberty, thanks for the proof.

Something like a dozen Congressional investigations have been done on the Liberty event, which was deemed an accident. If you think people concerned with Sept. 11 are not real Americans you must be a bit touched. I have never heard the President speak of the USS Liberty. He speaks of Sept. 11 every day. And the Cole as well.

[LarryLied]

Operation Shenandoah was bad too but gets little attention. The entire situation in the mideast might be different today had it not been for the Lavon Affair. There may be some wiggle room concerning the Liberty but there is none about what Israel did to the USA in Egypt.