if this is the case, why didn't we let American politicians broker a deal. Why does Israel always have to pay a higher price? What was Grapel's business in Egypt anyway????? Was he not rounded up with others in the student overthrow of the govt? Somehow, the pieces don not fit.

What....they did not give him any drugs to keep him happy ? I'm curious what the Egyptian judicial system will do with a drug dealer .

Anybody know?

they get F-15s and we get grapel..a far leftist traitor

What I read and heard about Grapel, he doesn't sound pro-Israel, more pro-Arab. Why did Israel have to broker a deal for him. He got caught up by his own stupidity. Israel, as a country, doesn't know what she's doing half the time. Netanyahu should rather be negotiating with the doctors, that is much more important than getting Grapel released.

What a disgrace! He is pro-arab, and anti-Israel. Why should we release anyone for him? He deliberately went to the center of controversy and deserved what he got~we should not be putting our own people at risk for this idiot. Israel needs to strip him of citizenship and ban him from ever coming back into Israel....

Giving up the group of Egyptians for Grapel who is my opinion could probably be but no proof a American Spy without getting Pollard or anything in return, By the way ask yourself why would the US sell F16's as reported by Ynet if the report is true for the release of a Israeli citizen even if he was a Mossad Agent, and why would he head back to the states? This is crazy in my opinion.

What is important is to "Buy" the Egyptian Provisory Leadership of today with what they are asking for, in order to gain some peaceful time before the Moslem Brothers take the power in Egypt.

I, for one, am glad to see Ilan Grapel free and re-united with his family. I might not agree with his politics, but anti-Israel he is NOT. He almost lost his life in battle fight for Israel in the 2nd Lebanon War. Ilan Grapel is a Zionist who hopes (naively) that we can all just get along. So, let us stop the slander!!!!

Ilan is not a traitor and he's not anti-Israel. He's an Israeli-American who volunteered as a lone soldier, fought and was wounded in the 2006 war, returned to the US for law school and was working in Egypt after the so-called Arab Spring, as a project from his university, helping African refugees. He studied Arabic in Israel and and is interested in Arab culture, but again, remains very pro-Israel. He's not a spy, just a naive person caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Both the US and Israel worked for his release. The Israelis returned the Egyptian prisoners, the US promised F-15s. Enough with the rumors and the lies.

This shows eygpt are not short on food like Hamas who send shalit so skinny

dear "Israel", don't send Spies to Egypt anymore, because the price next time could be nuclear weapons...LOL.

Now Obama got Israel to pull chestnut .

a more humble people.They don´t look agressive and animalesque like "palestinians".At least in these pictures.

but why the released Egyptian prisoners were interviews on air? that exaggeration in the case of Grapel is not exaggeration at all. Grapel!, take care when you are back in the US. no more Mabhouh/Dubai/Mossad affair.

sodomizing prisoners a Turkish jail specialty as exposed on tv's Sixty Minutes?

The Mansoura Air Battle on October 14, 1973 occurred during the Yom Kippur War. Israeli Air Force fighters attacking Egyptian air bases were intercepted by the Egyptian Air Force. On that day, 160 jet fighters, most belonging to Israel, battled for a record of 53 minutes over the Nile Delta town of Al-Mansoura. Despite the numerical and qualitative superiority of the Israeli warplanes, 18 Israeli planes were downed. The rest retreated. Egypt announced the loss of six planes, only three of which fell to Israeli fire. In 1250, King Louis IX of France was captured in the main Battle of Mansoura, and became confined in the house of Ibrahim ben Lokman.

1)what was he doing in Egypt? 2)parading around Tahrir Square in his israeli paratroopers uniform ? -give him back to his parents and charge them for the costs he incurred the state of israel

Send all 25 Egyptian prisoners back to Israel, ask the United States to cut off its sale of F-16s, and issue a travel warning for all Israeli citizens to Egypt. Grapel's hostage-taking was an act of extortion, illegal under international law. Egypt had no right to arrest a man on charges they knew were false, keep him without trial, and use him as a bargaining chip with Israel and the United States.

Netanyahu might had been negotiating with the obama gang over Grapel's release. Netanyahu needs that defense package that the US has promise, but has not made good is my understanding. I don't think Israel would had made any deals concerning Grapel on its own in this case. There might had been pressure from the White House in this deal. Who knowns, just my opinion.