Ilan Grapel affair

On October 25, 2011, Israel and Egypt agreed on the release of Grapel in exchange for 25 Egyptian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

The authorities also claimed that Grapel tried to incite violence amongst Egyptian protesters to spark a face-off with the military and spreading chaos in Egypt.

His mother, Irene, said her son "always wanted to do good for the world" and went to Egypt to perform legal aid as part of this commitment.

"[6] In the summer of 2002, Grapel worked as an intern in the Queens office of Democratic congressman Gary Ackerman, who has lobbied for his release.

[9][10] The arrest of Grapel sparked fears in Israel that relations with Egypt would sour after the fall of long-time Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak.

[11] Yaroslav Trofimov of The Wall Street Journal asserted that the arrest of Grapel and other Westerners in the aftermath of the 2011 Egyptian revolution was part of a "military-inspired xenophobia campaign" to distance Egypt's new military rulers from the West, "portraying pro-democracy activists as spies and saboteurs, blaming the country's economic crisis and sectarian strife on foreign infiltrators, and blasting the U.S. for funding agents of change".

[12] Boaz Ganor, founder and executive director of Israel's International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), said that it has always been dangerous for Israeli citizens to visit Arab countries.