The Israeli "art student" mystery

Salon ^

[jennyp]

We did buy a nice piece of artwork though.

You too - please take a pix & post it here.

[Burn24]

Ping.

[AshleyMontagu]

It's a good racket. Spy and make some extra cash at the same time.

[genefromjersey]

Just as a quick point of information: Israel and Holland sited factories make the popular "Rave" drug Ecstasy,and the primary importers / distributors of this drug tend to be Israeli or Dutch- which might account for an attempt to penetrate DEA offices.

As to military/strategic penetrations, I imagine any thinking person would acknowledge Israel is an ally - but is not joined at the hip to us.

[IsItTimeYet]

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

Most people just call that voice "the voice of reason" and it can be pretty unerving if your not used to hearing it.

Sometimes, the voice of denial quiets down enough that these zany thoughts start leaking in. But there's too much at stake to start believing facts and other such nonesense. Don't trust your thoughts! trust the experts instead. They're paid to think for you anyway </sarcasm>

[AshleyMontagu]

No one is saying Israel doesn't spy on the US. We certainly spies on Israel, and Britain. And both spy on us. We all spy on eachother for different reasons.

But as an American I have a one-sided view: We should spy on them. We should not let them spy on us. Don't you agree?

[College Repub]

I agree. Anyone who gets cought gets in trouble. If they are an American, they get in even more trouble. These guys, spies or not, were deported. What more do you want?

[IsItTimeYet]

No one is saying Israel doesn't spy on the US. We certainly spies on Israel, and Britain. And both spy on us. We all spy on eachother for different reasons.

Part of what you say is true, we do all spy on each other. But assertion that "no one is saying that Isreal doesn't spy on the US." is very wrong. That is exactly what they are saying. This story and many like it are discredited regardless of how inately credible they are. It's not fashionable to address the topic of espionage at the hands of our allies. That sort of thing could get people upset and pretty soon, we wouldn't even trust our own best friend.

[AshleyMontagu]

What more do you want?

The truth.

[mikegi]

Who did you make your check out to? What company was behind these "art students"?

It would be pretty easy to verify if these were truly art students selling artwork. Find out what company they're working for and contact that company. Since no one seems to know who these students worked for, I have to assume they were here for nefarious purposes.

Over the years, we've had people going door-to-door in our neighborhood. Many of them use bogus "college student" claims. One said he was a scholarship soccer player at UGA when, in fact, UGA doesn't have a soccer team.

[LarryLied]

Each apparently with a combo platter of conflicting and unsubstantiated theories. Hardly a modicum of hard fact in any of them.

No Proof! Inneundo! Hearsay! Let's move on...and do the Lanny Davis Cha-Cha-Cha!

It is the categorical denials which makes this story fascinating. The Clinton excuses. The curious fact that a group of people on FR denied this was true from day one before they could know what happened. The same people who now have zero interest in examining this story but resort to blanket denials and claims this is "tin-foil hat" stuff or motivated by antisemitism.

[scratchgolfer]

They were deported for visa violations. So were many others after 9-11. Mostly Arabs.

[LarryLied]

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

Good point which leads to another question. What about unwinding an operation such as this? There is income tax to pay, Social Security tax to pay, state income taxes to pay, multiple state sales taxes to pay and on and on. Even one person traveling around doing something such as this runs across a plethora of permits and regulations. Sometimes bonds are required.

And these people simply were told to leave and no one is interested in seeing they obeyed various state, local and Federal tax and other laws? That makes no sense.

[vance]

The spy aspect and the reports on which it was based were flimsy from the gitgo. Like Clinton's denial of sex with Monica. Any fool could see he was lying. We did not need the facts to know that, just as the spy art student idea was ludicrious and based on nothing.

[galt-jw]

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

yeah, sounds almost as crazy as terrorists taking over a plane, no wait, three or more planes, and crashing them into big buildings in the US, even the pentagon....straight out of hollywood man...kinda makes you wonder if folks who scream about tinfoil are either faced with a paradigm shift or spreading control based ridicule.

[AshleyMontagu]

There is income tax to pay, Social Security tax to pay, state income taxes to pay, multiple state sales taxes to pay and on and on. Even one person traveling around doing something such as this runs across a plethora of permits and regulations. Sometimes bonds are required.

Since they weren't US citizens these rules need not apply. Just ask any Mexican national working in the US. The fact that the Israelis actually got deported (when was the last time you saw a bunch of illegal alien Mexican gardeners sent packing) tells you that something more was going on.

[LarryLied]

Recall any story on Free Republic concerning America's national security being dismissed as without merit so vociferously?

I can't.

[wheezer]

They were deported for visa violations. So were many others after 9-11. Mostly Arabs.

True, but I haven't read anything about Swedish/Danish Au Pairs or Chech students being deported for Visa problems.

We're way too tight with Israel for some of their Art Students to be treated so seriously by our authorities over solely Visa problems. Don't you think?

[AshleyMontagu]

It's not like it's topical or anything. Seriously, it is amazing how a certain group immediately popped up to tell the curious on FR how to react to the allegations before anyone knew a thing about them. Then there is the "everybody does it" defense used by some. Deny it on the one hand, then when pressed pull the Clintonian excuse card.