A ploy by Egypt's military regime

If the Egyptian government has documentary evidence that Ilan Grapel was a Mossad agent - that he frequented dark alleys, whispered in the ears of innocent Egyptians, gathered documents and made secret recordings (like the proverbial spy returning from the desert) - then they should publicize that evidence on the Internet.

But if they lack such evidence, and what we're dealing with is an empty pretext for trumped up charges, then this is a worrisome premeditated effort to unravel yet another thread in the delicate relations between Jerusalem and Cairo. Israel is a graduate of the painful school of Azzam Azzam, the Israeli Druze jailed by Egypt for eight years without evidence.

On the basis of what has been published so far, and solely on that basis, what is Grapel's crime? Photographs reveal that he carried a placard denigrating Barack Obama. How is that a violation of Egyptian law? Let's even assume, in the words of the Egyptian government, that he "incited" against it and its leaders, what is "criminal" about that? Nothing.

An endless number of foreigners in Israel interfere with the army's lawful actions, as well as stir up crowds and shout defamatory remarks.

Placards, you say? You'd need a special computer to count the number of "peace activists" hanging out in or around demonstrations here while waving our enemies' flags and shouting our leaders' names alongside the word "murderer." It's not very nice behavior and contrary to the polite demeanor one would expect of a guest, but it is not against the law.

If Grapel were indeed a Mossad agent, it would be enough to make both Meir Dagan and Tamir Pardo hang their heads in shame. In their very first lesson in cadet school, every junior agent learns that he must try, more than anything, to resemble an alley cat: blend into the population, don't stick out, don't attract attention, don't make waves.

Everything we know so far about Grapel contradicts this rule. He did everything possible to arouse the curiosity of Egypt's secret police: waving a provocative placard in Tahrir Square, hanging out on the street corner where Muslims violently clashed with Copts and ostentatiously posing for photographs in traditional Egyptian clothing. If he is a Mossad agent, then the Mossad is a danger to Israel.

It's possible that the Egyptian government wants to aggravate relations with Israel in order to balance out reports about real al-Qaeda agents it recently caught. It's also possible that it got caught up and now wants to extricate itself from this situation. The last thing the military regime that grabbed power from Hosni Mubarak wants is to fight with an American president who has described its actions as the "Arab spring."

Indeed if Grapel is responsible for all this, then he has gone from being a student posing as a journalist to a real media professional. This is how we should expect the next journalist covering a foreign country to behave.

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