Egypt officially notified Israel Wednesday that it has arrested a fourth Israeli national in connection with an alleged spy ring.
This time, the detainee is a Jew, David Ovitz, whom the Egyptians have linked to an Israeli Arab family detained in Cairo over the past week.
Israel vehemently denies it has any knowledge of alleged spies in Egypt. Sources in Jerusalem suggested that the Egyptian authorities were being hoodwinked by Libya.
The Israeli daily Yediot Achronot said Wednesday that the three Israeli Arabs arrested in Cairo may be the victims of an espionage plot by the Libyan secret service to embarrass Israel.
They are Farres Mussarti, 41, of Ramla and his 17-year-old daughter, Faya, who were arrested for questioning last week; and Farres’ 21-year-old son, Majed, arrested Sunday when he entered Egypt from Libya.
Ovitz was identified as a secondhand furniture dealer with a shop in the Jaffa flea market. The Egyptians say he had “commercial links” with Mussarti, who served as Arabic interpreter on Ovitz’s furniture-buying expeditions in Egypt.
The affair has strained Israel’s relations with Cairo, although Egyptian Interior Minister Mohammad Abdul Halim Mussa met Tuesday with the Israeli envoy to Cairo to soothe tensions.
The Israelis were angered that they had not been given access to the accused Israelis and had to learn about the matter through the Egyptian media.
The Egyptians directly notified Israel of Ovitz’s arrest, a day after Egypt’s interior minister met with Israeli Ambassador Ephraim Dubek.
At their meeting Tuesday, Mussa denied he had told the press that the Israelis were working for Mossad.
Nevertheless, the official Egyptian news agency, MENA, repeated Wednesday evening that the Mussartis were acting for Israel.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
