What I am about to say may be the most "tin foil hat" thing I've had to say to date. That being said, I swear to you it is the truth to the best of my recollection. Some of you at least should know I am telling the truth because I mentioned the following incident to you several years ago. If my recollection serves (and I admit it may not be entirely accurate), the incident took place during the year 2001, after President Bush took office but before the events of September,11.
At the time, my office was located in Mary Esther, FL. I was visited at my office one afternoon by a young man claiming to be an Israeli art student on tour in the United States with other Israeli art students from his school back in Israel. I asked him what brought a troop of Israeli art students to Fort Walton Beach, FL. He told me they were in the area for an upcoming art contest. His pitch was just strange enough to peak my curiosity so I invited the young man into my private office. It just got stranger from there.
I ushered the man into my office and sat down at my desk. Rather than taking a seat on the couch in front of my desk though, the young man walked past my desk and stuck his head in the doorway of the rear of my office which leads to additional office space in the back before returning to the couch. He asked me if I had all the offices in back and also upstairs. I told him I did and he went on to ask me how many employees we had at the facility, how many additional offices we had and what the nature of our business was. I was busy and getting more than a little suspicious of the young man and gave him curt short answers. I went on to tell the young man that if he wanted to sell me some art he had better go get it and get on with his pitch.
He left my office and went out to a van in the parking lot, returning a few minutes later with what appeared to be several pieces of original artwork. He stacked them up in my office and brought out several pictures. The first I believe was a picture of the River Jordon. He continued to bring out pictures of places described in the Bible and most were depictions of places specifically located in the West Bank Occupied Territories, The Jordan River Vally and The Golan Heights. As he brought out these pictures he asked me questions. He asked if I'd ever visited the Holy Land. He asked me what I thought about the Palestinian situation. I gave vague answers to his questions and eventually purchased several hundred dollars worth of pictures from the man. I asked Tania to take the pictures to a local frame shop for framing and when she arrived, the clerk said, "let me guess, Israeli art students right?" He told her the pictures were turning up a lot in the area.
I called Steve later that day to tell him about the incident simply because the whole thing seemed entirely strange to me at the time. I haven't thought about the incident again until just the other day when I saw the FOX news clip from November, 2001. I sent you that video yesterday. Since then, I googled "Israeli Art Students" and there is a lot out there about these supposed Israeli Art students. Sure you can say I'm being paranoid but you should try reading some of the source material out there before you write the whole thing off. Whether you care or not, whether the incident has any significance or not, I find the event interesting (and a little disturbing) simply because of my related personal experience with Israeli art students.
MY COMMENTS (1)
RE: Urban myth, my ass!
Posted by Jon Tate on 09.06.07 @ 06:34 PM
What I am about to say may be the most "tin foil hat" thing I've had to say to date. That being said, I swear to you it is the truth to the best of my recollection. Some of you at least should know I am telling the truth because I mentioned the following incident to you several years ago. If my recollection serves (and I admit it may not be entirely accurate), the incident took place during the year 2001, after President Bush took office but before the events of September,11. At the time, my office was located in Mary Esther, FL. I was visited at my office one afternoon by a young man claiming to be an Israeli art student on tour in the United States with other Israeli art students from his school back in Israel. I asked him what brought a troop of Israeli art students to Fort Walton Beach, FL. He told me they were in the area for an upcoming art contest. His pitch was just strange enough to peak my curiosity so I invited the young man into my private office. It just got stranger from there. I ushered the man into my office and sat down at my desk. Rather than taking a seat on the couch in front of my desk though, the young man walked past my desk and stuck his head in the doorway of the rear of my office which leads to additional office space in the back before returning to the couch. He asked me if I had all the offices in back and also upstairs. I told him I did and he went on to ask me how many employees we had at the facility, how many additional offices we had and what the nature of our business was. I was busy and getting more than a little suspicious of the young man and gave him curt short answers. I went on to tell the young man that if he wanted to sell me some art he had better go get it and get on with his pitch. He left my office and went out to a van in the parking lot, returning a few minutes later with what appeared to be several pieces of original artwork. He stacked them up in my office and brought out several pictures. The first I believe was a picture of the River Jordon. He continued to bring out pictures of places described in the Bible and most were depictions of places specifically located in the West Bank Occupied Territories, The Jordan River Vally and The Golan Heights. As he brought out these pictures he asked me questions. He asked if I'd ever visited the Holy Land. He asked me what I thought about the Palestinian situation. I gave vague answers to his questions and eventually purchased several hundred dollars worth of pictures from the man. I asked Tania to take the pictures to a local frame shop for framing and when she arrived, the clerk said, "let me guess, Israeli art students right?" He told her the pictures were turning up a lot in the area. I called Steve later that day to tell him about the incident simply because the whole thing seemed entirely strange to me at the time. I haven't thought about the incident again until just the other day when I saw the FOX news clip from November, 2001. I sent you that video yesterday. Since then, I googled "Israeli Art Students" and there is a lot out there about these supposed Israeli Art students. Sure you can say I'm being paranoid but you should try reading some of the source material out there before you write the whole thing off. Whether you care or not, whether the incident has any significance or not, I find the event interesting (and a little disturbing) simply because of my related personal experience with Israeli art students.