Were the Israelis just trying to sell their paintings, or agents in a massive espionage ring?
WASHINGTON – It could be the biggest espionage scandal of the century, or the greatest journalistic non-starter in many a decade, but it’s clear that the story of the Israeli art students in New York – dozens of alleged spies living in the United States – refuses to die down. Anyone who believes the story says that everything is accurately documented and confirmed, and that only a conspiracy on the part of the U.S. administration – which is desperate to keep the affair quiet, partly out of shame and partly because of its warm relations with Israel – is keeping the affair out of the spotlight of public discussion. Those who repudiate the affair say it is baseless, just another unfounded urban legend that has taken on a life of its own on various marginal Internet sites. Either way, the story of the Israeli spies is alive and kicking. The most recent mention of the affair came last week in the highly respected Internet magazine, Salon.com, which recapped the main points of the scandal an
