American-Israeli anarchist Ilan Grapel is on a plane from Cairo to Tel Aviv (about an hour's flight) as I am writing this post. When he arrives in Israel, he will be brought to Jerusalem to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu (according to Israel Radio and the JPost) or to be debriefed by Defense Ministry officials (according to YNet). Grapel's mother is waiting for him at Ben Gurion and will take him back to the States when he is done with his 'meeting.' Somehow, I suspect we won't be seeing him again here for quite some time, unless he goes to another Arab or Muslim country and we are asked to ransom him again.
JPost writes that the Grapel deal was cover for Egypt to resolve its tensions with Israel over par(they don't say this) Egyptian participation in the August terror attacks along the border outside Eilat.
The United States, which provides the army that now runs Egypt with billions of dollars in military aid, had called for Grapel's release. Analysts said the exchange provided a cover for Egypt to resolve diplomatic strains with Israel.
"I consider it a cover for returning this spy with pressure from the United States," said political analyst Hassan Nafaa.
"The release of those 25 represents a cover that has no meaning in fact. It does not harm Israel and it does not significantly benefit Egyptians," he added. Many of those detained by Israel were convicted of smuggling offenses.
The Egyptian prisoners were given a warm welcome upon their arrival and were greeted by family members and an Egyptian TV crew, which broadcast the handover live. The first three to be transferred were minors. Upon crossing the Taba border they kissed the ground. The three told an Egyptian reporter they were treated well in Israel but have no intention to return in the future.
Upon their arrival in Egypt, some of the prisoners told local TV about their confinement conditions. "It was hard to be in prison, we were separated," one inmate, who spent six years in jail, said. "I was told I'm getting out on Tuesday." Another prisoner charged with drug trafficking claimed they were all treated "very badly."
Israel's Supreme Court has turned down appeals against the release of 25 Egyptian terrorists from Israeli jails, and the 25 will be exchanged on Thursday morning for American-Israeli anarchist Ilan Grapel.
The two Israelis who negotiated Grapel's release with the Egyptians – Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's envoy Yitzhak Molcho and Kadima MK and former deputy Shin Bet head Yisrael Hasson – are scheduled to fly Thursday afternoon to Cairo with Grapel's mother to retrieve him.
Grapel is expected to land at Ben-Gurion Airport at about 5 p.m., and then drive to Jerusalem for a brief meeting with Netanyahu.
A spokesman for the Israel Prisons Service said that the Egyptian prisoners, who were gathered together at the Beersheba prison on Wednesday, will be taken to the Taba border crossing with Egypt most likely Thursday afternoon.
All of the Egyptian prisoners, according to information supplied by the Israel Prisons Service, are serving time for criminal – rather than terrorist-related – offenses. The group of prisoners also includes three minors.
Most of these people are accused of drug or weapons running. How weapons running is not a 'security-related offense' is beyond comprehension. And drug running is the way that terror is financed.
But we are giving up 25 terrorists for an anarchist who went to Egypt on his own and who has barely lived in Israel. The US is much smarter. They are giving up nothing.
Israel to trade 25 'non-security prisoners' for Grapel
Sorry for taking the last couple of hours off. I have a lot of work (thank God) and a bad cold. I'd like to get rid of the cold so that I can do the work, so I laid down for a while.
Israel's cabinet is considering a deal that would free American-Israeli anarchist Ilan Grapel in exchange for 25 Egyptian 'non-security' prisoners who are being held in Israeli jails.
The Prime Minister's Office clarified that the jailed Egyptians were not security prisoners and that the deal between Israel and Egypt still needed the approval of the security cabinet.
Egyptian media revealed Saturday that Israel and Egypt were putting the “finishing touches” on a list of prisoners to be freed in exchange for the American-Israeli charged with spying.
Al-Youm al-Sabeh newspaper reported that Yasser Reda – Cairo’s ambassador to Israel who has been serving as an intermediary between the two countries on the issue – provided the prisoner list to Egypt’s Foreign Ministry this weekend.
Grapel, a law student from Queens, New York, has been charged with sedition and inciting Egyptians to violence during the revolution that unseated president Hosni Mubarak. The 27-year-old’s release was reportedly worked out as part of the deal that brought home IDF soldier Gilad Schalit last week after five years in Hamas captivity.
If the rationale for paying the price for Shalit was that we sent him into battle, and that we have a universal draft so that he had no choice but to go, what is the rationale for trading anything for this guy? The Americans aren't giving anything for him and he spent about a year in Israel in total. Why should we be paying the price? This is a very bad precedent.
MK Michael Ben Ari (National Union) has sent a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu demanding that Israel not pay any price for the release of American-Israeli anarchist Ilan Grapel, who is being held by Egypt as a 'spy.'
Ben Ari noted that according to reports in the press, Grapel is to be freed in exchange for over 80 criminal prisoners, including drug smugglers and others whose names and circumstances of arrest have not been published.
"Grapel associates himself to an anarchist group… with an agenda of breaking up governmental systems wherever they exist," he wrote "He does not see himself as a Jew or belonging to the Jewish people, but as a citizen of the world."
"As part of his anarchist activity, he took part in violent protests against IDF soldiers at Naalin and Bilin, and at Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood in Jerusalem," added Ben Ari. "His activity in Egypt against the regime during the revolution was without doubt provocative... Egypt's claim that Grapel was trying to inflame internal conflicts is not without merit."
Indeed. Why are we paying for this nutjob's release?
Once again, anarchists from Israel and abroad have set fire to fields near Bat Ayin in the Etzion bloc (Hat Tip: David H).
Twelve anarchists – five Israelis and seven foreign nationals – were arrested by security forces Thursday morning on suspicion that they had set fire to a field owned by Jewish settlers.
The fire consumed some 50 dunams (about 12 acres) of land near the West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin.
The incident began at around 8 am when a group of 30 anarchists, accompanied by a number of photographers from the Al-Jazeera television network, arrived at the site. The anarchists set the field on fire and planted olive trees in the torched soil.
According to the settlers, the method is commonly used to take over land. "When the olive trees grow the Civil Administration has a difficult time determining who the land belongs to," one of them said.
The grove has been set on fire three times over the past few weeks by anarchists.
The disputed land is located some 100 meters (330 feet) from Bat Ayin. "These lands have been under Jewish ownership since 1934," said Yaki Morag, the head of security at the settlement. "However, we have no claims to these fields and we do not plan on cultivating them or settling on them. So we don’t understand what the frenzy is about or why they repeatedly target us.
"This has been going on for a year and a half now, on an almost weekly basis," he said. "Yesterday and the day before anarchists burned 90-year-old trees on land that belongs to the Jewish National Fund near Kfar Etzion."
The foreigners should be expelled and the Israelis should be locked up (notice - no 'Palestinians' involved in this), but that's not likely to happen.
By the way, this is quite typical of what's really going on when you hear stories about olive groves being burnt.
Foreigners, Leftists filmed setting forest on fire
A group including foreigners and Israeli Leftists was filmed setting a forest on fire near Bat Ayin in the Etzion bloc on Sunday.
Let's go to the videotape.
And why would these 'Palestinians' and their supporters bother to set a forest on fire?
Dov Mark, land supervisor for the Gush Etzion Council, said such acts have taken place a number of times. "This is a known Palestinian method to take over state land," he said. "With the support of anarchists, who usually come from abroad, they come to an area of natural woodland which has never been cultivated, burn it on purpose and at the same time plant trees. It's all supposed to alter the reality on the ground."
Mark warned that "in this way, it's hard for the Israel Land Administration to work from the moment they plant trees on the land or cultivate it for agricultural crops. In today's case, some 80 dunams (20 acres) of natural woodland were burned by a group of 25 Palestinians and anarchists."
This type of activity is a symbol for the 'Palestinians' wishes generally: They don't want to build a state of their own. They want to destroy the Jewish state.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
American-Israeli anarchist Ilan Grapel is on a plane from Cairo to Tel Aviv (about an hour's flight) as I am writing this post. When he arrives in Israel, he will be brought to Jerusalem to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu (according to Israel Radio and the JPost) or to be debriefed by Defense Ministry officials (according to YNet). Grapel's mother is waiting for him at Ben Gurion and will take him back to the States when he is done with his 'meeting.' Somehow, I suspect we won't be seeing him again here for quite some time, unless he goes to another Arab or Muslim country and we are asked to ransom him again.
