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http://archive.today/2019.07.31-223757/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1387069/US-arrests-200-young-Israelis-in-spying-investigation.html
US arrests 200 young Israelis in spying investigation
By Ben Fenton in Washington12:01AM GMT 07 Mar 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.
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.