Suspected Mossad spy is a US-Israeli student

A US-Israeli student, Ilan Grapel, suspected to be a Mossad spy is being questioned in Cairo after his arrest on Sunday 12th June. Grapel, 27, is accused of attempting to sabotage Egypt's uprising by inciting sedition.

Speaking about Grapel, Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Army Radio: "He has no connection to any intelligence apparatus, not in Israel, not in the US and not on Mars…This is a mistake or strange behaviour by the Egyptians…They have received all the clarifications and I hope the whole story will end quickly.”

On Monday 13th June, Egypt's State Prosecutor issued a statement saying that Grapel had posed as a foreign correspondent covering anti-government protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square, with the intention to foment Muslim-Christian tension and turn the people against the army following president Hosni Mubarak's resignation.

Israel insists that despite Grapel's reported "identification" by an allegedly "Israeli organisation," the Egyptian reports of a Mossad agent's arrest are unreliable. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yigal Palmor told the BBC on Monday: "There is no such thing, no Israeli agent has been arrested in Egypt… These reports are false. So far we did not receive any information from the Egyptian authorities on an Israeli citizen who has been arrested."

Sources: BBC News, Bikya Masr, Ynetnews

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