Low profile?
Sorry guys, but this is dumb.After an entire weekend where we're told that Israel is keeping a low profile and not taking sides, Haaretz comes out with this in the Monday morning paper.
Israeli officials are keeping a low profile on the events in Egypt, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even ordering cabinet members to avoid commenting publicly on the issue.Sorry, but no. Our interest is not Mubarak's survival - we should be neutral on that question.
Senior Israeli officials, however, said that on Saturday night the Foreign Ministry issued a directive to around a dozen key embassies in the United States, Canada, China, Russia and several European countries. The ambassadors were told to stress to their host countries the importance of Egypt's stability. In a special cable, they were told to get this word out as soon as possible.
EU foreign ministers are to discuss the situation in Egypt at a special session today in Brussels, after which they are expected to issue a statement echoing those issued in recent days by U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Obama called on Mubarak to take "concrete steps" toward democratic reforms and to refrain from violence against peaceful protesters, sentiments echoed in a statement Saturday night by the leaders of Britain, France and Germany.
"The Americans and the Europeans are being pulled along by public opinion and aren't considering their genuine interests," one senior Israeli official said. "Even if they are critical of Mubarak they have to make their friends feel that they're not alone. Jordan and Saudi Arabia see the reactions in the West, how everyone is abandoning Mubarak, and this will have very serious implications."
Our interest should that if Mubarak is replaced, he should be replaced by a pro-Western government that will continue to abide by the Camp David treaty. The more we open our mouths to save Mubarak, the more likely we go down with Mubarak and the treaty goes down with him. That leaves us with an enemy on our southern flank who is much stronger than in 1967 or 1973, and we'd be starting from the 1949 armistice lines. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Labels: Avigdor Lieberman, Binyamin Netanyahu, Danny Ayalon, Egyptian riots, Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, Hosni Mubarak
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:52 AM
3 Comments:
Agreed. The last thing Israel should do is try to save a hated dictator. Its one thing to preserve a regime that is the least worst of all possible options and its another matter altogether to keep Mubarak around when his own people no longer want him.
What Israel should be doing is calling for real democracy in Egypt that respects the rights of its people, the rule of law and the free market and which will honor its international commitments. Israel should not want to be seen on the side of the Arab dictators, it should want to be on the side of democracy that embraces the above principles.
Israel should do it now.
What Israel should be doing is figuring out many hours it will take to reduce the Egyptian army to a pile of dust. The Arabs don't want democracy and never have, they only want war against Israel.
Why does everyone seem to be avoiding this conclusion?
The smartest thing for Israel to do is start looking menacing, because the situation is not looking good for them.
Carl, Out of everything I have been reading about this mess, you and NormanF make the most sense in this post.
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