535
With a smile and words of thanks, Israeli-US citizen Ilan Grapel, 27, returned to Israel on Thursday night after spending four-and-a-half months in an Egyptian jail on espionage charges.
Egypt released Grapel, who had been arrested in Cairo in June, and Israel freed 25 Egyptians in a prisoner swap that diplomats on both sides hope will ease strains between Cairo’s new rulers and the US and Israel.
Grapel, a law student at Emory University in Atlanta, is expected to fly back to his family’s home in Queens, New York, on Friday.
Standing with his mother, Irene, and US Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-New York) at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem just hours after his release, he spoke of his gratitude to the Israeli and American officials who had worked for his freedom.
“I want to thank the Israeli people,” Grapel said.
Making a reference to the biblical Exodus from Egypt to Israel, he said: “Once it would have taken 40 years to get out of the desert.”
Grapel thanked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other officials for enabling his release.
“I appreciate all the help and all the attention and all the care,” he said. “With all the turmoil going on in Egypt, I have to thank the Egyptian authorities that treated me respectfully and according to the tenets of their religion.”
Wearing a short-sleeved, blue button-down shirt, the tall young man joked a bit as he stood behind a podium talking with reporters.
“It seems that just yesterday I was at this podium,” he said.
He explained that he had in fact stood there five years ago when US President Barack Obama visited Israel as a senator and was interviewed by the press.
A photograph of Grapel taken during that interview was brought up during his interrogation in Egypt, he said.
Irene Grapel told reporters, “My heart was broken for fourand- half months” while her son was in jail. “There are not enough words in any language to say how thankful my husband and I are.”
She, along with Ackerman, stood on the tarmac to greet Ilan when he landed at Ben-Gurion Airport. They both gave him a hug and US Ambassador Dan Shapiro shook his hand.
Grapel was flown from Cairo in a small private plane, accompanied by the prime minister’s special envoy Yitzhak Molcho and MK Yisrael Hasson (Israel Beiteinu).
Grapel was then driven in a van to Jerusalem where he met with Netanyahu and was fed a dinner of a hamburger and french fries.