Editor's Note: Based on the State of Israel's history of international espionage, is this a credible story? This guy is a former Israeli soldier and more than likely a Mossad shill.....and he lives in Queens, NY. Incredible!
Queens Man Freed In Overseas Prisoner Swap Arrives Home
A Queens man made an emotional return home Saturday after spending four and a half months in an Egyptian prison. NY1's Ruschell Boone filed the following report.
Back on U.S. soil and in the arms of his family, it was an emotional reunion Saturday at John F. Kennedy Airport for Queens resident Ilan Grapel. However, he kept the moment light saying he knows the first thing he wants to eat: Chocolate chip pancakes.
Grapel was released from prison as part of a prisoner swap between Israel and Egypt. He was arrested back in June during the Egyptian uprising accused of spying for Israel, which he denies.
He says he spent much of his time in solitary confinement.
"They did give me conditions to make sure that my health was attended to. I would get anything I wanted to eat," Grapel said.
Israel freed 25 Egyptians in exchange for Grapel, a deal Queens Congressman Gary Ackerman helped to secure. Ackerman and Grapel's mother met the 27-year-old in Israel after his release Thursday then flew to New York Saturday.
Ackerman says Grapel was volunteering for a legal aid group in Cairo, but was in Tahir Square with some of the protesters during the revolt.
"They use that to make charges against him that he was a spy," said Ackerman. "They had the perfect profile. He came there as an American to help with an American passport. They discovered that he was a duel citizen, who's also Israeli, who is also a jew. He also spoke Arabic."
Grapel is also a law student and a former Israeli soldier who once interned for Congressman Ackerman.
Grapel says he has asked the congressman for recommendations before but never thought he would have to ask for a recommendation for something we did.
"I don't think he expected that I would need a recommendation that I'm not a spy in Cairo and it was more than the one-minute letter but it actually had to be a four and a half month working from the first day of my capture until now. And things I didn't see because obviously I didn't have NY1 so I was not aware of what was going on," Grapel said.
"It's fantastic," remarked Grapel's mother.
Now that he's home, Grapel is expected to continue his law studies at Emery University next semester.
Source: http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/149848/queens-man-freed-in-overseas-prisoner-swap-arrives-home
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