A few hours after being released from an Egyptian prison on Dec. 10, Ouda Tarabin met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his office in Jerusalem. “We had long talks with the Egyptians for years,” said Netanyahu, “and we are happy to see you with us now. I said that we would bring you back here, and it has happened. Now you may start over.”

A press release issued by the prime minister’s office stated that Israel had discharged two Egyptian prisoners who had been jailed in Israel and completed their sentences. Later, Egypt reported that Israel had released four additional prisoners in the swap that began with two Egyptians last week.

On Dec. 13, at the start of the Cabinet meeting, the prime minister touched again on Tarabin’s release, telling his ministers, “I worked with three Egyptian presidents — [Hosni] Mubarak, [Mohammed] Morsi and [Abdel Fattah] al-Sisi — to request his release. I gave them my word that he was not a spy for Israel.”

Tarabin was released from prison after completing the full 15-year sentence that he had been handed in absentia by the Supreme State Security Court in Cairo after he was charged with espionage.