Israeli art students, aka Mossad agents

[barton]

*Originally posted by Daoloth *
**Uh, Barton, are you trusting antiwar.com now? They seem to be oddly anti-Semitic, focusing obsessively with Israeli crimes. Oh, and they’re connected to the IHR, a Holocaust denial group. **

I don’t trust much online - that’s why I started this thread, to get more info.

Just looks like a far-left outfit to moi, haven’t seen anything anti-Semitic from them. Wouldn’t surprise me, though. My girlfriend sent me a link recently claiming microwave ovens cause cancer, and I pointed out to her that it also featured links to - guess what - Holocaust denial.

[drhess]

Anything new on this story, or did some alternative reporters just show why they aren’t writing for bigger gigs?

[Measure_for_Measure]

Um, just because the NYT, WSJ, CNN doesn’t cover a story, doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. http://www.projectcensored.org/

[Daoloth]

*Originally posted by flowbark *
**Um, just because the NYT, WSJ, CNN doesn’t cover a story, doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. http://www.projectcensored.org/ **

::investigates website::

That site is only a credible source to hardline leftists that are into conspiracy theories. And it’s infrequently updated…new articles talk about the “massacre in Jenin” and “Taliban controlled Afghanistan.”

[Measure_for_Measure]

The site is lefty. IMHO, it is not hardline left by European standards, though it may be far left by US standards.

I don’t see any wacko conspiracy theories there, but perhaps that is my selective blindness.

Let’s take a look at their top 3 under-reported stories of 2000.

1. "Corporations often argue that their presence and investment will improve human rights. This practice is referred to as “constructive engagement”. Major international energy corporations such as Mobil, Exxon, Enron, and UNOCAL have engaged in major business ventures in countries known as major human rights violators. Major U.S. governmental grants, as well as corporate capitol investment, have funded the suppression of media, political opposition, and personal rights in Turkmenistan, India and Burma. The myth of “constructive engagement” has failed to improve human rights, and yet has been endorsed both by international corporations and the U.S. government. "

IMO, to say that Corporations play a nonconstructive role in Myanmar doesn’t sound like a conspiracy theory to me.

2. "Multinational pharmaceutical companies focus their research and development on high profile, profit-making drugs like Viagra instead of developing cures for life threatening diseases in poorer countries… A recent and effective medicine for African sleeping sickness was pulled from production, while older remedies are no longer available because they are not needed in the US. "

Hey, the pharm-companies aren’t in the charity business. But I fail to see where an implausible conspiracy theory has been asserted.

3. "More than half the funds raised by the ACS [American Cancer Society] go for overhead, salaries, and fringe benefits for its executives and other employees, while most direct community services are handled by unpaid volunteers. The value of cash reserves and real estate totals over $1 billion, yet only 16 percent of funds go into direct services for cancer victims. Conflicts of interest affect ACS’s approach to cancer prevention. "

Don’t see a conspiracy theory there either. IMHO, investigating institutional malfeasance where it occurs is a good thing. Others disagree; not everybody is a fan of civil society.

[Daoloth]

Well, credibility speculation of the site aside, I couldn’t find any article about Israeli spies.

[Measure_for_Measure]

Touche, Daoloth; I was making a more general point.

Fans of the mainstream press may enjoy this AP article, which states, "Authorities have arrested and deported dozens of young Israelis since early last year who represented themselves as art students in efforts to gain access to sensitive federal office buildings and the homes of government employees, U.S. officials said.
A draft report from the Drug Enforcement Administration - which first characterized the activities as suspicious - said the youths’ actions “may well be an organized intelligence-gathering activity”… The DEA report said a majority of the students questioned by U.S. investigators acknowledged having served in military intelligence, electronic signals interception or explosive ordnance units in the Israeli military. "

Yeah, yeah, I know: lots of young Israelis serve in the military. Hey, I didn’t write the article.

Well, special agents, I’m afraid this calls for a deep wet operation. Let me provide the following quote from Jane’s Information Group, as cited here.

The absence of reporting hasn’t gone unnoticed. The authoritative British intelligence and military analysis service, Jane’s Information Group, on March 13 chided: “It is rather strange that the U.S. media … seem to be ignoring what may well prove to be the most explosive story since the 11 September attack, the alleged breakup of a major Israeli espionage operation in the United States which aimed to infiltrate both the Justice and Defense departments and which may also have been tracking al-Qaida terrorists before the aircraft hijackings took place.”

Strange indeed. Coincidence? Or more than a coincidence??? ::Adjusts foil hat::