No right-minded person would truly think that Ilan Grapel is a professional spy. Since there are many right-minded people in Egypt, it is rather hard to understand what is behind the intensity with which the reports from there are describing the arrest of an Israeli Mossad agent. This might the onset of "autumn" in the relations between the two countries in the wake of the Egyptian Spring. Perhaps what we have here is an Israeli/American tourist who was engaged in highly problematic behavior in his journey of self-discovery.
Undoubtedly, Ilan Grapel is a unique individual, a highly motivated new immigrant from the U.S. who joined the Israel Defense Forces paratroopers brigade as a lone soldier. He even volunteered in various hasbara organizations to serve Israel's cause. How many citizens do you know who wouldn't strongly embrace such a man-
But this Ilan Grapel has also shown great interest in Arabic and the Arab world, so much so that he travelled to Egypt to support the young revolutionaries at Tahrir Square. With all due respect to the global village in which we live, there still exists a border between Israel and Egypt (and not just in the physical sense). Grapel innocently crossed over that border without noticing.
Judging by the images from Grapel's latest visit to Egypt, the guy seems to know exactly the right sites to visit. These are the exact sites that I visited just a few weeks ago. This does not constitute a spy's itinerary. Rather, this is just a young individual seeking to find himself - nothing less and nothing more.
With social media contributing to the revolution in Egypt, in our era one can also assume that it played a role in Grapel's arrest. A brief look at his profile exposes his connection to Israel, even if he entered Egypt on a U.S. passport.
The claim that Israel and Egypt no longer have any relations and that the bilateral channel of communications has been severed is false. Amos Gilad has been visiting Egypt and the Rafah Border Crossing has yet to be fully opened, but the atmosphere is now different. What the Arab Spring has in store for us is not all good. Thus, every Israeli citizen must act wisely when opting to visit an Arab country these days, even if they have dual citizenship.
The fact that Grapel has had representatives from our embassy in Cairo visit with him on Tuesday might signal his pending release. After searching for himself high and low, he was eventually found - but by the Egyptians.
