Egypt Catch an Israeli Spy.

Yesterday (13/6/11) the Egyptian security services announced that they have arrested a 27 year old US/Israeli dual national on charges of spying and inciting violence.

The allegation is that after being wounded during the 2006 Lebanon war Israeli paratrooper, Ilan Chaim Grapel was discharged from combat duties. He then returned the the United States, where he was born, and enrolled to study law at the Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Emory is said to be one of the top 25 universities in the US, has close links the the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), has challenged the US government over the treatment of Guantanamo Bay inmates and boasts former US President Jimmy Carter as a faculty member.

Using contacts from the university Grapel travelled to Egypt on his US passport just before the start of the Egyptian uprising on the pretext of volunteering for the Saint Andrews Refugee Services charity. However St Andrews claim that he only worked for them for a total of four days and they had no knowledge of either his Israeli citizenship or his military record. Then following the January 25th "Day of Rage" which started the Egyptian uprising Grapel played a central role in the protests and the occupation of Tahrir square where he was photographed holding a placard saying "Stupid Obama. This is a pride revolution not a food revolution." During the protests Grapel used both the cover stories of being an Egyptian American who had returned to Egypt to support the uprising and being a foreign journalist who was in the country to cover the protests. He is said to have paid and otherwise incited protesters to violently attack the Egyptian army - something that surely would have caused the uprising to fail as the army retaliated against the protesters.

Following Mubarak stepping down on February 18th Grapel then went to ground in the Imbada district of Cairo which was scene of deadly rioting between Salafist Muslims and Coptic Christians following the burning of a Church on May 5th. Here Grapel is accused both of inciting sectarian divisions and violence between Christians and Muslims and trying to recruit Egyptians as Israeli agents/informants. He was finally arrested at a five star hotel in central Cairo and is currently being detained by the authorities for a minimum of 15 days. He has already been granted contact with US Embassy officials who no doubt also want to have a long chat with him about his activities.

Incidentally this story is making front page across most of the middle east yet the BBC has not reported a single word about it.