The Israeli Art Student Papers

Antiwar.com ^ | March 21, 2002 | Introduction by Justin Raimondo

[H.R. Gross]

The ‘Israeli Art Student’ Papers
March 21, 2002

Secret Government Report on Israel’s Spy Operation in the US Thanks to John Sugg of Creative Loafing (Atlanta) and WeeklyPlanet (Tampa) – Read his updated report here.

Read the leaked DEA Report here. Also available as a .zip file

Introduction by Justin Raimondo The story of Israel’s underground apparatus in the US, and the secret war conducted against the US on our own soil, has been covered here on Antiwar.com since late November, 2001. At that time, I noted a story in the Washington Post reporting the arrest of some 60 Israelis immediately after 9/11. As government officials explained to the immigration judges, they were being held because they were "of special interest" to the feds – putting them in the same category as hundreds of mostly Arab men rounded up since the attacks. As I wrote at the time: "As long as 60 Israeli citizens are being held – under conditions of great secrecy – in connection with the 9/11 investigation, it is no longer tenable to dismiss the possibility of an Israeli angle in this story." On December 11, the story broke into the "mainstream" media. Carl Cameron of Fox News presented the first of a four-part series detailing an extensive Israeli spy operation in the US, citing a senior law enforcement official off-the-record as claiming that, while "’There is no indication the Israelis were involved in the Sept. 11 attacks,’ we are told, ‘investigators suspect that they may have gathered intelligence about the attacks in advance and not shared it." Bits and pieces of the story, gleaned from government documents leaked to Fox News and unattributed remarks of government officials, added up to this: a large number of Israeli citizens had been arrested, and detained, in the weeks prior to and immediately after 9/11. Many had tried to enter government offices on the pretext of being Israeli "art students," and they gave differing accounts of their mission: to sell their paintings, to "promote" their artwork, to "promote" Israel. Concentrated in Florida – within a stone’s throw of Hollywood, where Mohammed Atta and his fellow hijackers had their abode – and Texas, these Israeli "art students" were organized in teams as they systematically sought to penetrate government offices, military facilities. The majority were "ex’-members of intelligence, communications interception and explosive ordnance units of the Israeli army. At least 120 were arrested prior to 9/11, in what appeared to be a major Israeli covert operation aimed at sensitive US government targets. Cameron also exposed the intimate links between AMDOCS, an Israeli company that has the contract for billing virtually all the phone calls made in this country, Comverse Infosys, which contracts to record and store US government wiretaps, and this underground Israeli apparatus. Cameron’s explosive report generated a yowl of protest from Israel’s apologists in the US, and there was a concerted campaign to spike the story: the story was pulled from Fox’s website. For months, there was not a word about this story written anywhere – except right here on Antiwar.com. In my "Behind the Headlines" column I gathered up the evidence, gleaned from a number of scattered local news sources, expanded on the story, and you can check it out as it unfolds here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Suddenly, at the beginning of March, after months of silence, the story began to break. In a column dated 11/28/01, I asked in regard to the post-9/11 round-up of Israelis: "What, exactly, is the meaning of this?" Today, I am relieved to note, the rest of the media is finally catching up to Antiwar.com and asking the same question. According to Fox News, when Carl Cameron asked his government source for more details on Israel’s 9/11 connection, here’s what happened,: "But when asked for details, he flatly refused to describe them, saying, – quote – ‘evidence linking these Israelis to 9-11 is classified.’" Well, it may be classified, but the documentary evidence that Israel did indeed launch a major spy operation in the US, utilizing an extensive underground apparatus and hundreds of agents, is revealed here on Antiwar.com in what we call "The ‘Israeli Art Student’ Papers": a compilation, by an inter-agency federal task force, of the hundreds of incidents reported by government offices, the arrests, the names and background of Israeli agents, the activities of their front organizations, their geographical reach and interconnections – it’s all here. Read it, and see for yourself. Thanks to John Sugg of Creative Loafing (Atlanta) and WeeklyPlanet (Tampa) – Read his updated report here. This document is available as an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file. You may already have Adobe Acrobat on your computer. If you click on the file and it doesn't load, you may obtain a Free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader here.

[BrooklynGOP]

I looked through a few of those links and its all based on what the french La Monde said, or a french "intelligence" web site posted.. So where's the proof? All those links are parroting the same 1-2 sources (french).

[BrooklynGOP]

No Official Proof can come out until the DEA's ongoing investigation of Ecstasy smuggling in the four biggest states is complete. But I'll repeat that "smoking gun" line from Insight Magazine for you.

What does ecstasy smuggling have to do with spying?

[Shermy]

I didn't post on this thread, but thanks. And what does your name mean?

May I brag for a moment? On one of these Justin posts I noted from my first post that I thought this smelled like a possible drug dealing ring. I had read that Israel and East Europe were major producers of the "party drug" ecstasy. I said so. DEA - get it? Seems I've been proven right. Also the reports about 'students" hanging out in malls.

One link you don't have is to the story about the Israelis who were bringing in the students. It's all their in the open. They got "fees" for giving support for work visas or the like. And they supplied the shoddy artwork. I noted this sounds like the Scandinavian Au Pair scam and similar methods for foreigners to get their "year abroad" in the USA. Surely the "students" are promised more than they will earn. Common. Except it involves Jews, so it triggers all the weak connect the dots games of the conspiracists.

I gotta tell you - I read the report. It's no secret anymore - it was linked here at FR. Why it wasn't talked about is interesting in itself. I suspect is because it did not live up to the spy scenario, so it is ignored. It stated from the outset the suspicion that it was an ecstacy ring. Then it had repetitive "sightings" of "students" here and there. Most of it was decontextualized obsessive nothings, full of stories of how the students didn't or did cooperate with the authorities.

Reading this, it became my opinion, indeed confirmed it, that this "ring" was just what it was, young Israelis coming to America to work (like yanks in Europe before the EU) for the experience abroad. It is very possible that some people related to drugs used this as a cover, with or without the "nany scam" type coyotes, the Israeli couple. Who knows, maybe there were "spies." And spying on what? Since it invovles Jews, all sorts of linkages, insinuations, assumptions, and denial of alternative scenarios takes place.

I take heed with your Pipes bashing. He is responding to the massive spying allegations. If some, or even all of these people were part of some drug ring, that doesn't disprove him at all. The premise addressed is the "spying." The "smoking gun" Pipes challenged was about spying, and for some security/military purpose.

Interestingly, one possible premise not addressed is whose interests this disinformation, at least misdirected insinuation, serves. France? Arabs? Do calculating anti-semites who feel the current focus on Arabs has put their views in the background? Who's deflecting? All sides must be examined.

ty for the links, but what does the ADL have to do with "Israeli art student" thing?

Thanks for the ping.

[Shermy]

Oh, I do see there is a link at the top to this thread to the report. PDF format - booooooo! Anyways, it reads obsessive. Wish our Saudi visitors were tailed so closely.

[LarryLied]

This looks like it was a mistake. They were not supposed to be outed. They got caught in the post 9/11 sweeps.

[veronica]

As far as I am concerned diddly has been proven here. Not spying, not drugs, just.... plenty of nothing, as the old song goes.

[Sabramerican]

I confess.

I was there, in Mossad HQ, when the great Art Student Caper was hatched.

We Zionist/Mossad/ADL/JDL/LASIK/AOL/GED/JFK/UNCLE/IHOP agents were going to spy on the United States and we were going to turn espionage on its head. Where spies are usually covertly infiltrated, we are going to shout to everyone to look at our art. It was the perfect plan. We were going to get all of America's secrets.

Now at this meeting, Shlomo, not sure about his title, usually sits quietly. But he was getting all excited. He kept on jumping up and down trying to ask a question. He asked whether we were all crazy? He asked what kinds of secrets would roaming art students get under the best circumstances.

He asked. So you knock on the door of a defense contractor- lets say. The maid opens the door. You say you have art for sale. They tell you to go away or they invite you in to look at the art. Then what? How do you get from that to getting any secrets. Or are secrets plastered on the living room walls?

And then there are all the Federal buildings we could get into. All security at Federal buildings let down their guard in the face of persistant art students. And when we get into the Federal buildings, and make it into the elevator, well our job is almost done, John, the elevator operator will spill his guts on top secret materials.

Shlomo also complained that it's really stupid to carry art with you when spying. Where do you put the art when you need to quickly jot down some notes on top secret stuff you find or make a quick getaway exit down the fire escape- unseen.

Well we didn't listen to Shlomo and sent the "art student"/agent/spies/ anyway. Boy are we glad. We got so much good stuff and we are so much closer to making Chapter 21 of the Protocols a reality and control of the World is within reach. To celebrate, everyone then had fresh blooded Purim pastries.

And then we discussed how we could get everyone to not look at the "facts".

[BrooklynGOP]

There are facts here. That makes some people uncomfortable, who then claim (1) there are no facts (false), (2) the facts don't mean anything (also false, and (3) Israel has a right to spy on Americans (also false).

Uh. I asked like 3x on this thread alone for facts. All that was posted was same dozen articles which relied on Le Monde, some article that quotes an "unnamed" source, and somebody posted somethinga bout ecstasy smuggling which has nothing to do with spying... So where are these facts?

[Tarakotchi]

From the Forward article:

"Charlene Eban, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Washington, and Don Nelson, a Justice Department spokesman, said they had no knowledge of an Israeli spying operation.

'If we found evidence of unauthorized intelligence operations, that would be classified material,' added Jim Margolin, a spokesman for the FBI in New York."

So, they didn't spy, and besides, we wouldn't tell you if they did.

[Freetus]

Some of those students were more than students.

It might of been drugs. It might have spying. But it wasn't totally legit. It just wasn't.

[veronica]

It might of been drugs. It might have spying. But it wasn't totally legit. It just wasn't.

OK. Based on nothing you have come to that conclusion. That's OK, there are people who still think OJ is innocent, too. And there is no getting through to them.

[Freetus]

Explain to me how my position that "something sure seems fishy" is any more unyielding than your position that "this story was dead to me from the start." Talk about a preconceived notion based on no evidence!

I think any reasonable person reviewing this story would conclude that at least some of the art students were "undercover" in some capacity for some purpose.

[veronica]

Explain to me how my position that "something sure seems fishy" is any more unyielding than your position that "this story was dead to me from the start..."

Because the very first story to hit was the Fox piece, and it had many inaccuracies and omissions. And I specifically pointed them out at the time. So from the get-go, something did not add up. But now, with the information out there, and the official denials on the record, to conclude something else is not based on fact, but on mere speculation only.