Early Thursday evening American Israeli Ilan Grapel returned to Israel after being held in Cairo since June on espionage charges. Grapel was met at Cairo airport by MK Israel Hasson and lawyer Yitzhak Molcho who brokered the deal with Egyptian officials on behalf of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government . The two accompanied him on the flight back to Israel. Grapel's mother Irene welcomed her son who landed at Ben Gurion Airport. From there he was taken to meet Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Shortly beforehand the 25 Egyptian prisoners freed in the deal crossed over the Taba border crossing back to Egypt where they received a hero's welcome despite the fact that they were all suspected drug dealers and also involved in trafficking women. Meanwhile the Palestinian Ma'an news agency said the United States agreed to sell F-16 fighter jets to Egypt if they go ahead with the deal to release Grapel. There was no Israeli response to the report.