US arrests 200 young Israelis in spying investigation By Ben Fenton in Washington
Last Updated: 11:53PM GMT 06/03/2002

UP to 200 young Israelis, some of them former members of military intelligence units, have been arrested in America in the past year, a leaked government report disclosed yesterday.3

Some had used cover stories to gain access to sensitive government buildings and the homes of American officials. The report said the actions of some of the Israelis, most of whom had outstayed tourist visas, "may well be an organised intelligence-gathering activity".

None of the Israelis, about 140 of whom are believed to have been detained before the September 11 attacks, has been charged and most have been deported, according to the US government.

A spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Yaffa Ben-Ari, said it was "nonsense" that they had been spying on America. There has been no formal American allegation of spying by Israel although Tel Aviv has launched espionage operations against its principal ally in the past.

The leaked report was compiled by the Drug Enforcement Administration after some of its offices were allegedly targeted by Israelis posing as art students. "That these people are now travelling in the US selling art seems not to fit their background," the DEA report said.

On Oct 31, the FBI and Immigration and Naturalisation Service officers arrested about 60 young Israelis in San Diego, Kansas City, Cleveland, Houston and St Louis. All had been selling toys at kiosks in shopping centres across America and the FBI is reported to have been investigating this as a front operation for espionage activities.

Before that date, about 140 young Israelis had been detained, some for long periods, by the FBI and other federal agencies.

There is no evidence linking these arrests to the September 11 attacks although some intelligence commentators have pointed to allegations that Israel may have been shadowing Arab militants in America without sharing its knowledge with Washington.

The DEA report said most of the students questioned by American investigators acknowledged having served in units of the Israeli armed forces specialising in military intelligence, electronic signals interception or explosive ordnance.

It added that one person questioned was the son of an Israeli general, another had served as the bodyguard to the head of the Israeli Army and a third served in a Patriot missile unit.

Young Israelis are required to serve in the military and there is a long tradition that after completing their national service they take advantage of their freedom to go out and see the world.

In 1984, Jonathan Pollard, a US naval intelligence officer, was sentenced to life in prison for spying for Israel.