American arrested as Israeli spy in Egypt

A 27-year-old American-Israeli man was arrested in Egypt on charges of being an Israeli spy.

Ilan Grapel, who moved to Israel from the United States in 2005, was arrested at a hotel in central Cairo on Sunday. He will be detained for 15 days, during which time Egyptian authorities will continue their investigation.

Egyptian officials claim that Grapel attended protests in Tahrir Square in order to incite protestors to violence, and spread chaos in the Egyptian public and harm the state's political, economic and social interests.

Cairo's Tahrir Square was the focal point of Egyptian popular revolt which ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February.

Additionally, Egyptian intelligence services said they have been conducting a covert investigation on Grapel, concluding that Grapel had been assigned by Mossad (the Israeil spy agency) to collect intelligence during the revolution.

Grapel, who studied International Relations at Johns Hopkins University and is currently a law student at Emory Law School, served as a paratrooper for the Israeli army in the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Friends and family told the Jeruselum Post that Grapel was very pro-Arabic and liked hanging out in Egypt. Grapel's father told Ynet that his son was sent to Egypt as part of his studies.

Israeli officials say they have no knowledge of the detention of any Israeli citizens.