By Rich Bockmann
U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside) said Tuesday he was hopeful Oakland Gardens native Ilan Grapel would soon be released by Egypt, following the news that the Israeli government had released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who has been held captive by Hamas for five years.
Grapel, a former intern of Ackerman’s and Emory Law School student, was arrested in June on charges of being a spy before starting an internship with a non-government organization in Egypt to assist refugees. The 27-year-old holds dual citizenship and, while living with his paternal grandparents in Israel, had served in the Israeli armed forces in 2006, during which time he was wounded during the war with Lebanon.
Before he was seized by Egyptian authorities, he was seen in downtown Cairo taking photos of himself wearing his military uniform and posting them to Facebook.
“He got there a couple of days early and did what college kids do … in Tahrir Square of all places. This is not what Mossad agents do,” Ackerman said. “I can tell you he is not a spy.”
He said Emory Law school had produced evidence that Grapel had been on campus in Atlanta even though the Egyptians accused him of firebombing police stations at that time. The congressman accused the military of holding him on frivolous charges.
As a member of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, Ackerman had worked for several years with former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as an intermediary between Israel and Hamas to negotiate the release of Shalit, who returned to Israel Tuesday.
He said Mubarak had, on at least one occasion, presented a tentative agreement to release Shalit, which Hamas doubled back on. Mubarak stepped down in February under extreme pressure during the Arab spring, but the current Egyptian government brokered the arrangement with Israel that could see up to 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released.
Ackerman called the exchange of a reported 477 prisoners for Shalit a “historic decision,” and said that while there is no timetable for the freeing of Grapel, Shalit’s release makes conditions “conducive to more of these things.”
Israel was negotiating the release of some 80 Egyptian prisoners in exchange for Grapel, The New York Times reported.
“We hope to have as expeditious a conclusion as is humanly possible,” the congressman said.
Ackerman recalled Grapel as “a fine young man from the neighborhood” who was interested in Middle Eastern issues. Grapel attended the Bronx High School of Science and Johns Hopkins University, graduating in 3 1/2 years with degrees in economics and international relations.
Ackerman said that, until recently he belonged to the same synagogue as the young man’s parents, who live in Oakland Gardens.
He added he was grateful that Grapel had not been mistreated and said the Egyptians quickly honored a request by Ackerman to arrange for the young man’s parents to visit him in Cairo for three hours just before Rosh Hashanah.
“Throughout Ramadan I was calling, making good wishes, making my pitch in the spirit of Ramadan,” he said.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
