| by Lorie Kramer 
        Were the Israelis just trying to sell their 
        paintings, or agents in a massive espionage ring? Some speculate the 
        alleged spy ring knew about the (911) attack in advance.   WASHINGTON - It could 
        be the biggest espionage scandal of the century, or the greatest 
        journalistic non-starter in many a decade, but it's clear that the story 
        of the Israeli art students in New York -- dozens of alleged spies 
        living in the United States -- refuses to die down.   Anyone who believes the story says that everything 
        is accurately documented and confirmed, and that only a conspiracy on 
        the part of the U.S. administration -- which is desperate to keep the 
        affair quiet, partly out of shame and partly because of its warm 
        relations with Israel -- is keeping the affair out of the spotlight of 
        public discussion. Those who repudiate the affair say it is baseless, 
        just another unfounded urban legend that has taken on a life of its own 
        on various marginal Internet sites.   Either way, the story of the Israeli spies is alive 
        and kicking. The most recent mention of the affair came last week in the 
        highly respected Internet magazine, Salon.com, which recapped the main 
        points of the scandal and even added some new details of its own.
          The official Israeli response was the same as ever: 
        "Nonsense," they say. The outline of the scandal is the same wherever it 
        is published, with the more respectable journals taking more care over 
        the details and relying more on reports and documented evidence, while 
        the more marginal publications pile on spurious details and compare the 
        scandal to the great conspiracies of the past.   According to reports of the scandal, around 120 
        young Israeli citizens, posing as art students and selling paintings 
        door-to-door, have been arrested and deported from the United States. 
        The door-to-door sale of art works, it is claimed, was a front for a 
        sophisticated spy ring: the students would turn up at homes and offices 
        -- especially at buildings housing federal authorities and military 
        bases, and even went to the homes of those employed in these offices. 
        The students attempted to form friendships with federal employees, 
        photograph their offices, tap their phone lines and infiltrate their 
        databases.   It is also claimed that the spy ring kept tabs on 
        Arab targets inside the United States, including Arab Americans who were 
        in contact with the Al-Qaida network. According to some speculations, 
        the Israelis' intelligence work enabled the spy ring to know in advance 
        of the planned terror attack on September 11, without lifting a finger 
        to prevent it.   Beware of students selling art     There is one source for all these stories and it is 
        not an unreliable one. The source is the 60-page draft of an internal 
        report by the intelligence division of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). 
        The draft was leaked to the media and its existence was confirmed by 
        spokesmen from the DEA and the Justice Department, which is responsible 
        for running the DEA. But confirming that the report exists is not the 
        same as verifying its contents.   According to the report's author, whose identity has 
        never been published, DEA officials identified an increase in the number 
        of incidents in which young Israelis, claiming to be art students, tried 
        to sell them works of art. "It is entirely possible," said the report, 
        "that this is an organized intelligence-gathering activity."   A warning was sent out by the federal anti-espionage 
        office to other federal agencies in March 2001, warning them to be wary 
        of students trying to sell them art works and gain entry to federal 
        facilities. The document records several encounters between DEA 
        officials and Israelis all over the United States. In one incident, the 
        report documents an attempt to gain entry to the Tinker Air Force Base 
        in Oklahoma City, where the AWACS spy plane and the B-1 bombers are 
        serviced.   What is really keeping this story alive is the claim 
        of a link between the Israeli "students" and Israeli intelligence. The 
        original report, as well as subsequent media reports, say that many of 
        the young Israelis arrested served in the IDF's Intelligence Corps and 
        were involved in operating electronic bugging equipment; one even said 
        he was the son of a senior Israel Defense Forces officer. It took just 
        one small leap to turn this into a conspiracy, whereby all the Israelis 
        arrested were in the pay of the Mossad.   The report also documents how those arrested in the 
        U.S. were connected to Israeli companies that had provided telephone 
        services for American companies and U.S. federal authorities, while also 
        claiming the Israeli companies should be investigated, in case they had 
        installed "back door" services, which would allow some future operative 
        to access the American companies' systems.   The DEA, it is claimed, purchased communications 
        equipment worth some $100 million from Israeli companies five years ago, 
        and that is said to be the reason for the widespread Israeli activity 
        around this agency.   One paranoid official    Even though the claims made by the DEA and the 
        various journals that have delved into the affair sound convincing and 
        well-based, so do the Israeli counter-claims. Firstly, say anonymous 
        Israeli representatives in the United States, it is true that more than 
        100 young Israelis were arrested in the U.S. following the events of 
        September 11-- all of them for immigration and visa infringements.
          Most of those arrested were deported after being 
        charged by the U.S. immigration service. The sources also admit that 
        many Israelis are currently working illegally in the U.S., occasionally 
        as door-to-door art salespersons.   As far as Israel is concerned, this is the only 
        explanation for the affair, and anything more is just a fabrication 
        based on the original reports, which in itself is based on the paranoia 
        of one government official.   There is also an explanation for the military 
        background of the arrested Israelis: every Israeli has a military 
        background, often in the various intelligence units. But this is not 
        easy to explain to the Americans, who see the Israelis as "former 
        intelligence officers" or "retired officers." As for the supposed 
        connection between the young Israelis and various high-tech companies, 
        all the companies mentioned strongly deny any involvement.   Those who deny that there is a spy ring in action 
        also ask why none of the Israelis arrested was ever charged with 
        espionage- related crimes. Why were their cases handled by the 
        Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), rather than the FBI, which 
        is responsible for investigating spies?   And the main question -- why did Israel choose the 
        DEA as its espionage target? Those who back the spy theory say that 
        because the DEA is not usually involved in security matters it is easier 
        to infiltrate, and that the DEA's war on the international drug trade 
        has provided it a wealth of information that could be useful to Israel 
        in a wide range of areas.   But while each side of the argument is sticking to 
        its guns, without either party presenting clear evidence that could 
        clear up the affair once and for all, the media is carrying out its own 
        merry dance around a fascinating spy story--whether it's true or not.
          The first mention of a mass arrest of Israeli art 
        students on suspicion of involvement in spying was on Fox News on 
        December 12, 2001. The dramatic report stated that around 60 Israelis 
        had been arrested for immigration offenses, but were suspected of spying 
        against the United States, and added that some of those arrested were 
        members of the Israeli military. The report also stated that some of 
        those arrested had failed lie-detector tests.   Instead of raising a storm, however, Fox's story 
        slowly died away and was only briefly reported in the international 
        press. Three months later, however, the affair came back to life, this 
        time on a French Internet site, Intelligence Online. The story was 
        immediately picked up by Le Monde. This time, the reporters claimed to 
        have the entire DEA report, and the number of people arrested climbed to 
        120.   At this stage, the American media also woke up to 
        the story. News agencies based their reports of the story on a French 
        Internet site and on the official U.S. reaction.   The Justice Department confirmed that it had 
        investigated the alleged connection between Israeli students and 
        anti-American espionage; the DEA confirmed that it had prepared a draft 
        report, but did not say what had become of it; the FBI said that it had 
        not received any complaint relating to spying by Israeli students.
          The New York Times, according to sources in 
        Washington, looked into the affair but, having concluded that it lacked 
        a suitable factual base, decided not to write about it. The Washington 
        Post, on the other hand, did publish an article, but cast doubt on the 
        veracity of the affair. Post reporters found that the report was written 
        by a "disgruntled [DEA] employee," who was upset that his claims of 
        Israeli espionage were not being treated seriously.   Even this report was not enough to finally kill off 
        the affair. Two weeks later, the New York Jewish weekly, Forward, 
        published a report connecting the spy affair with the arrest in New 
        Jersey, on September 11, of five Israelis whose behavior was defined as 
        suspicious.   The five were employed by a moving company and did 
        not have valid work permits. According to Forward, the FBI concluded 
        that the five were on a spy mission on behalf of the Mossad, and that 
        the moving company was nothing more than a front. This story also died 
        out quietly.   The final round of publications started last week 
        with the publication of the art student affair in Salon.com, which 
        repeated all the known details of the affair. It even added a claim that 
        the spy ring was active in more than 40 cities across the U.S., and 
        included offices belonging to the Secret Service, the FBI and the U.S. 
        military.   Now the story is coming to life once more, with news 
        agencies and at least one national television station regurgitating all 
        the details. The American public will continue to be divided over the 
        truth behind the so-called spy ring, with some believing that the 
        original DEA report was the work of a problematic employee and others 
        convinced that shadowy government officials are involved in covering up 
        the exposure of one of the largest spy rings ever to operate on American 
        soil. 
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