By Rich Bockmann
After being detained in Egypt for more than four months on espionage charges, Oakland Gardens native Ilan Grapel was scheduled to return home Thursday.
U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside), the top Democrat on the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, announced Monday that Israel and Egypt had come to an agreement to release the 27-year-old Emory Law school student in exchange for 25 Egyptian prisoners.
The Associated Press reported that Egypt was expected to release him Wednesday and that he would be back in the United States by Thursday.
Israel’s Security Cabinet approved the swap Tuesday, paving the wave for Grapel’s release, AP said.
In June, Grapel, who holds dual citizenship in the United States and Israel, was taking part in a refugee-resettlement program in Egypt when he was seen taking photos of himself in an Israeli armed services uniform in Tahrir Square and posting them to his Facebook account.
Grapel had served in the Israeli army and fought in the 2006 war with Lebanon. Egypt accused the young man of being an agent in Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and inciting protesters against Egypt’s military.
“Ilan’s release is terrific news,” Ackerman said. “We cannot be more relieved and gratified that Ilan will finally be freed and that he will soon be reunited with his family. For four long months, we worked tirelessly to win Ilan’s release, and at last this long and terrible ordeal that Ilan and his loved ones have been forced to endure is almost over.”
The planned prisoner exchange comes one week after Egypt brokered an agreement between Israel and Hamas to exchange upwards of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who had been held captive by Hamas for five years.
“From the beginning, I was assured by the highest levels in Israel that in no way did Ilan have anything to do with espionage, the Mossad or any other type of spy agency. Ilan is a wonderful young man who loves Egypt and the Egyptian culture,” Ackerman said. “He’s a person deeply committed to the cause of humanity and bringing people together, and just found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Ackerman had worked for years to attain Shalit’s release, and when the plan was announced last week, he said conditions were conducive to arrange for a prisoner exchange with Grapel.
“I want to express my deep appreciation to the Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces as well as a number of very senior leaders in our government and in the Israeli government, all of whom we worked very closely with to keep this process moving steadily toward resolution, to keep Ilan’s family fully informed and to maintain focus on the real goal of fixing the original mistake that put Ilan into Egyptian custody,” he said. “We are also grateful that Ilan was treated well while in custody.”
Grapel had served as an intern in Ackerman’s Bayside office in 2002 and his family lives in Oakland Gardens.
“This is a great day for Ilan and his family and we share in the joy and relief that they are no doubt feeling,” Ackerman said. “We cannot wait for Ilan to return home to Queens so that he and his parents can finally wrap their arms around each other.”
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
