Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Grapel

Showing posts with label Grapel. Show all posts

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Report: Israel dropped opposition to F16 sale for Grapel, Tarabin

From YNet: The Palestinian Maan news agency reported Thursday that the United States has agreed to sell Egypt several F-16 fighter jets in order to facilitate the release of Israeli-American Ilan Grapel. Israel had opposed similar sales in the past. Grapel, who was arrested in June on espionage charges, is slated to be released later on Thursday. Israel will release 25 Egyptian prisoners in return. According to the Ma'an report, Israeli Bedouin...

Egypt, Israel agree on Grapel deal

From Al Arabiya: Egypt and Israel said Monday they have finalized arrangements to exchange an alleged Israeli spy for 25 Egyptians held in Israeli jails, on the heels of a Hamas-Israel prisoner swap. “Egypt has agreed to release Ilan Grapel and at Egypt’s request Israel has agreed to free 25 Egyptian prisoners,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement. According to the statement, the Egyptians lined up for release...

Grapel may be in Egyptian prison for two more months

From Ma'an/AFP: Egypt and Israel are adding the "final touches" to a deal to swap an Israel-American detained in Cairo for Egyptian prisoners detained in Israel, the official MENA news agency said on Saturday. "MENA has learned that the final touches are currently being made for a deal to swap Israeli spy Ilan Grapel, accused of spying on Egypt for Israel, for about 16 Egyptian prisoners and three detained children," MENA reported. Later Saturday,...

Report: Grapel deal imminent, no word on Tarabin

Israel Hayom quotes Israel Radio as confirming the Al Hayat story I noted yesterday that Ilan Grapel might be released in a swap as early as this week: Ilan Grapel, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen arrested in Egypt in June on espionage charges, is expected to be released from Egyptian custody just days after Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit, who has been held in Gaza for more than five years, returns home, Israeli officials confirmed on Monday, according to...

Grapel prisoner swap with Egypt may include terrorists (updated)

From AFP: Egypt is mulling its own prisoner exchange with Israel, swapping a U.S.-Israeli joint national suspected of spying for Israel for 81 Egyptians detained in the Jewish state, the state-owned daily Al-Ahram said Sunday. Ilan Grapel, who has been in custody since June 12, has been accused of being an agent of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and of sowing sectarian strife and chaos in Egypt during the uprising which ousted president Hosni...

Egypt now accuses Ilan Grapel of firebombing police stations

From JPost: Egypt added setting fire to police stations to the list of charges faced by American-Israeli law student Ilan Grapel, who has been detained in Cairo since June on suspicion of spying for Jerusalem, state-run Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reported on Monday. The state reportedly accused Grapel of throwing fire bombs at police headquarters at the Egyptian Interior Ministry in the wake of Egypt's January revolution, based on witness statements....

Sunday links

A Jewish couple, trying to reach a Jerusalem hospital while the wife was in labor, was attacked by Arab stone throwers and "nearly lynched"on Yom Kippur. Reports that relatives of the Fogel family murderers told Jews of Itamar "We'll Fogel you" while drawing their fingers across their throats. A Molotov cocktail was thrown at a Jaffa synagogue. Reports that Egypt is demanding 81 prisoners in exchange for Ilan Grapel, and that even the Egyptians...

Conflicting reports in Egyptian media on Grapel deal

From JPost: US Defense Secretary was making his way to Cairo on Tuesday in attempts to help free imprisoned US-Israeli Ilan Grapel, who was being held in Egypt on charges of espionage for Israel, AFP reported. Speaking to the press in Tel Aviv on Monday, Panetta failed to confirm reports that Grapel would be released in the coming days, or during the US defense secretary's visit to Cairo. Egyptian media sources speculated Tuesday that Israel...

Reports that Ilan Grapel will be released this week

From Al Ahram: Al-Hayat newspaper claimed on Sunday that Ilan Grapel, an Israeli-American citizen accused of spying for the Mossad, will depart Egypt with the US secretary of defence, Leon Panetta, on Tuesday. The unnamed official source added that what Grapel did was not espionage and thus he can be released in return for economic benefits for Egypt. US congressman Gary Ackerman, who is lobbying for the release of Grapel, offered an increase...

Ilan Grapel to remain in Egyptian jail for another 45 days

A South Cairo court has ruled to keep Ilan Grapel in jail for an additional 45 days as the Egyptian government continues to look for evidence that the openly Israeli tourist was really a secret Mossad agent. Grapel has already been in custody for some five weeks. Efforts by the US to free him have not been successful. Meanwhile, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar announced that Egypt has nothing to fear from Hamas - but rather from Israeli spies...

Egyptian security keeps Ilan Grapel for another 15 days

From Ha'aretz: Egyptian authorities have extended the detention of Israeli-American Ilan Grapel, who is being held on allegations of spying for Israel. Grapel will spend 15 more days in detention. The Egyptian attorney general's office explained that more time was needed in order to continue its investigation into Grapel's activities. Grapel was arrested in Cairo in June. He has not been indicted. According to reports in the Arab media, the U.S....

Grapel still in custody

Last week Yediot Aharonot published a rumor that Ilan Grapel would be released in by the weekend. Obviously, that didn't happen. Palestine Today says that Egypt rejected a US plea to release Grapel, saying it is a matter for the Egyptian judiciar...

Will Ilan Grapel be released?

Arabic paper Palestine Times quotes Yediot Aharonot as saying that Egypt will release purported "spy" Ilan Grapel in the next two days. Anonymous sources claimed that there has been fruitful communications between Israel and Egypt on the matter. The US has also been involved in the negotiations. Official sources would not confirm the stor...

Egypt's Al Ahram obsessed with "spy" story

Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram, which is the most popular Egyptian daily, has been obsessed with the story of Ilan Grapel. Every day there are multiple stories with new and more bizarre accusations. Today we have: An analyst who tries to prove that Grapel's actions could only be explained by his being a spy, as tourists would never act the way he did. (Of course, Arabists...

Egypt in a frenzy over "spy"

Popular Egyptian newspaper Rose al-Youssef is claiming that alleged Israeli spy Ilan Grapel is a member of "Unit 101," an IDF special forces unit that was accused of massacres of Arabs, including at Qibya. The newspaper says that "Unit 101" is part of Israeli intelligence. Unit 101 hasn't existed since 1954. (He actually was part of the IDF Paratroopers 101st Battalion.) While many Egyptians are doubting the story, the news media is convinced that...

Egyptian newspaper covers "spy" story differently in Arabic and English

From Al Masry al Youm, English: The announcement of the arrest of an Israeli man, Ilan Grapel, on charges of spying in Egypt has been met with skepticism in some quarters, especially as accounts emerge of a man who, if he were a spy, could only be described as "bumbling". According to a Reuters report, Grapel was posting openly on his Facebook page about his presence and activities in Egypt – hardly the remit of a super spy. Meanwhile, the evidence...

More details on Ilan Grapel, "spy"

Reuters fills in some pieces about Ilan Grapel, who was absurdly arrested as a spy by Egypt. An alleged Israeli spy arrested in Egypt is an American immigrant to Israel who once wrote that he hoped to promote Israeli policies in the Arab world, according to information he and others provided on websites. The man, detained on Sunday in a development that could strain Israel’s relations with Egypt’s new leaders, was identified by the Egyptian MENA...

Egypt claims to catch Israeli "spy." Um...not quite. (UPDATED)

From CNN: A former Israeli military officer was questioned by Egyptian authorities Sunday and detained for 15 days on suspicion of spying for Israel, according to a spokesman for Egypt's general prosecutor. Elan Chaim participated in the Lebanon war of 2006, and was relieved of field combat duties after being injured, spokesman Adel Saeed said Sunday. He was apprehended in a five-star hotel in downtown Cairo, Saeed said. Investigators had kept a...