The Israeli "art student" mystery

Salon ^

[Shermy]

This is an old one. It seemed to be a combination of anti-semitic paranoia, a visa scam for young foreigners, and some possible Extasy drug traders using the cover of the student scam. Maybe a spy or two. The story was "pulled" because it was crazy. But you can find it elsewhere, including the 70 page report by the cranks at the DEA. Once that report was released the commotion died down. This author does a disservice to the report. Here's his spin to the story:

The DEA report on which the French journals based their investigations contained a wealth of remarkable tales. To take just a few samples: (...listed...)

So it went week after week, month after month, for more than a year and a half. In addition to the locations mentioned above, there were "art student" encounters in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, El Paso, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, New Orleans, Phoenix, San Diego, Little Rock, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Arlington, Texas, Albuquerque, and dozens of other small cities and towns.

This is deceptive. All the stories did not sound anything like these - the "students" "sighted" were in malls, all sorts of businesses and residences, which sounded like they were selling candy door-to-door. There is interviews of some of the sellers, and they sounded like they were worried about their "work" visas.

The whole report sounded paranoid and fixed, though there might be interesting incidents. IMO of special interest there may have been a concern about the Ecstasy issue - note that it was the "DEA" and not "FBI" involved.

[Iwentsouth]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,47491,00.html

[Tennessee_Bob]

We did buy a nice piece of artwork though.

Better wrap it in tinfoil to stop the brainwashing signals...

[VinnyTex]

The U.S. government officially denies this, of course, but it knows that such spying goes on. In 1996, the U.S. General Accounting Office issued a report indicating that "Country A," later identified as Israel, "conducts the most aggressive espionage operation against the United States of any U.S. ally." A year earlier, the Defense Investigative Service circulated a memo warning U.S. military contractors that "Israel aggressively collects [U.S.] military and industrial technology" and "possesses the resources and technical capability to successfully achieve its collection objectives." The memo explained that "the Israelis are motivated by strong survival instincts which dictate every facet of their political and economic policies."

[Stingray51]

http://antiwar.com/rep/DEA_Report_redactedxx.pdf

I found this link to what appears to be the report in question. It certainly is detailed and contains what are supposedly the names and personal information of maybe a hundred of these secret art agents / drug conspirators.

[Dog]

ROFLMAO!!!!!!

[comitatus]

I had the same experience when we first moved into our new development, a young Israeli going door to door trying to sell art. I have no connection whatsoever with the DEA or any other government agency and, given the prices of Marin county homes, there aren't likely to be any other government workers in the neighborhood - so maybe the whole conspiracy is just an organized intent to actually sell art. Nah, that's no fun.

[hellinahandcart]

You need lots of tin-foil for this one.
And a Salon Premium membership.

And bifocals. 8^(

[IsItTimeYet]

It certainly is detailed and contains what are supposedly the names and personal information of maybe a hundred of hese secret art agents / drug conspirators.

That was my take on the document. I don't think anyone could have produced a fabrication with that level of detail. Much of the information can be corraberated by external sources as well, lending further credibility to it.

But I'm counting the seconds until the proIs horde stampede onto this thread to tell us how wrong headed it is to worry about something as innocent as 100 jewish artists with a passionate interest in post-modern government architecture.

Nothing to see here. Just a little art project for the mosaad. They are our friends. Move along.....

[LarryLied]

Jane's Intelligence Review, FOX News, Insight Magazine and the Jewish publication, Forward, have all reported parts of this story.

What is fascinating is that the day it was first posted on FR, a group of people, who had no way of knowing if this were true or not, jumped on anyone who wanted to know more.

Now we are seeing the Clinton excuses emerge. Source not credible. Recycled garabage. Old news...time to move on...

The attempts to debunk this story are as interesting as the story itself.

[kezekiel]

Oddly enough, on Monday night (two days ago) two Israeli art students appeared at our door. We live in the boonies and asked how they chose this location. They said because of the new houses in the area. Since I speak Hebrew, I spoke some Hebrew to the guy. I could tell he was surprised. We did buy a nice piece of artwork though.

OK, let's think this through... how much artwork would an Israeli student have to bring over to the States with them in order to get enough to pay for their round-trip plane ticket and their living expenses, let alone make a profit? I'm not suggesting anything nefarious; it just seems like a bad business model--especially since both office buildings and folks in your average American burb buy their art from places like Prints Plus in the mall.

[white trash redneck]

i beleive the whole thing.

So do I. The voices in my head tell me it's true.

[MississippiMan]

I bought two paintings from a guy claiming to be an Israeli art student maybe a year ago. Surely no connections to the DEA or any government agency do I have. The guy was going door to door at small businesses, was super polite, believable, and happened to have a couple of paintings I liked. I bought 'em.

MM

[LarryLied]

maybe the whole conspiracy is just an organized intent to actually sell art

No way. I know people who deal in this "art" (which is mass produced in Asia). Only idiots would try to sell it this way and they would not be selling it for long. You sneak into real art shows, rent hotel rooms and "four wall" the town, wholesale to stores or get a site at a flea market. Door to door retail selling....nah. Expenses will chew you up.

[vance]

**Jane's Intelligence Review, FOX News, Insight Magazine and the Jewish publication, Forward, have all reported parts of this story.

Each apparently with a combo platter of conflicting and unsubstantiated theories. Hardly a modicum of hard fact in any of them. Whereas the government sources denying the spy aspect are reliable and named.

[wheezer]

If the Art Students angle was even remotely on the level....they would not have been deported.

[VinnyTex]

No kidding. Innocent art students and they get rounded up, held in the slammer and then some of them get deported. We're still holding some of them. How many, I don't know.

[Sundog]

Dang.

We had the buggers here selling art too. It was interesting. Three of them came by wanting to help us decorate the office.

Don't put the tinfoil over your eyes.

Cheers.

[jennyp]

I bought two paintings from a guy claiming to be an Israeli art student maybe a year ago. Surely no connections to the DEA or any government agency do I have. The guy was going door to door at small businesses, was super polite, believable, and happened to have a couple of paintings I liked. I bought 'em.

Hey, you should take a picture & post it here! (Don't forget the extreme closeup of the frame... :-)