Yael Ovitz, a 32-year-old mother of two, had not heard from her husband David for five days and she was worried.
But now the Givatayim housewife is relieved. David Ovitz is in prison in Egypt and may face charges of complicity in espionage. But “at least we know what happened to him,” said his brother, Moshe.
Egypt officially notified Israel on Wednesday that it had arrested Ovitz, a furniture importer, in Cairo in connection with an alleged spy ring of Israeli Arabs.
He was linked to Farres Mussarti of Ramla, who was arrested in Cairo last week with his 17-year-old daughter, Faya, on suspicion of spying. Farres’s 21-year-old son, Majed, was apprehended Sunday entering Egypt from Libya.
The Ovitzes and Mussartis go back a long time. It is no secret that Farres Mussarti and his brother Ibrahim once worked in a garage owned by Moshe Ovitz.
When David Ovitz went into business, buying furniture in Egypt to sell at his shop in the Jaffa flea market, he took Farres along as an interpreter.
David speaks neither Arabic nor English, his wife explained. “I just hope the Egyptians will understand that they have made a grave mistake,” she said.
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem apparently thinks they will. It reportedly received information that Ovitz is not really suspected of spying and will be freed in a few days.
As for the Mussartis, Israel was told they could be interviewed by an official from its consulate in Cairo as soon as the investigation is completed. But there is a possibility the Egyptians are stalling to save face.
Sources here suggested Cairo had been hood-winked by Libya’s secret service into investigating a fictitious espionage plot to embarrass Israel.
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