Israel Matzav

'You're in deep doo-doo'

The US consul in Cairo met with alleged Mossad spy Ilan Grapel, who was arrested in Egypt last week, and told him he was "in big trouble," Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reported Friday.

According to the report, Grapel asked during his stay in Egypt to extend his visa, and wrote on the application that he is a Muslim who came to Cairo to study.

On Thursday, Al-Ahram reported that Grapel, an Israeli-American citizen, could face indictment next week over accusations by Egypt that he was spying for Israel.

According to the newspaper, Grapel confessed to charges that he was working for the Mossad to foment unrest in Egypt and recruit Egyptian citizens to help him in his espionage campaign. The paper added that Grapel confessed to sending his Mossad handlers intelligence reports on a daily basis from Internet cafes in the Egyptian capital.

If true, the reports would run contrary to the conventional wisdom expressed in recent days by senior Israeli officials, including Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, that the 27-year-old American- Israeli will be released in the coming days.

The same Al-Ahram report also stated that Grapel claimed to be Muslim on the visa application that he submitted at the Egyptian consulate in Tel Aviv.

In addition, he tried to gain intelligence on Egyptian popular opinion of the Hamas-Fatah unity deal and “penetrated” meetings of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist parties, Al- Ahram reported.

Labels: Egypt, Ilan Grapel, Mossad

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:52 PM