Grauel is sometimes credited with being the key individual who persuaded the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine to recommend for the Partition Resolution of November 1947, creating the State of Israel.

[3] Grauel became very aware of the European Holocaust and the Zionist movement in 1942 through his close friendship with Judge Joseph Goldberg of Worcester.

Reverend Grauel enlisted in the effort immediately, leading a double life working for the America Palestine Committee and the Jewish underground.

Grauel became part of the Mossad LeAliyah Bet and sailed aboard the illegal refugee ship Exodus 1947 on March 23, 1947.

[3][5] After his escape, Haganah helped bring Grauel to meet Jorge García Granados, a member of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine and give firsthand testimony, emphatically declaring that there were no weapons aboard Exodus 1947 during the violent boarding.

His firsthand testimony was extremely effective in eliciting sympathy and understanding for the cause of unrestricted Jewish refugee immigration to Palestine.

Grauel said that his testimony before the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine was given more credence because he was a Christian, rather than a Jewish crew member.

He died at his home in Roosevelt, New Jersey, on September 6, 1986[8][2] and was buried in the Alliance Church International Cemetery at the Cemetery at the German Colony, Jerusalem,[9] Israel, at services attended by an Israeli Naval Honor Guard, B'nai B'rith, members of Aliyah Bet and fellow crew members of Exodus 1947.