Why Israel's not happy with Mubarak being deposed
Here's an interview with Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz on some of the implications for Israel of what's going on in Egypt.Let's go to the videotape.
Elliott Abrams explains why Israel is not jumping for joy over what's going on in Egypt.
Fear is the main answer: fear that Mubarak will be followed by the Muslim Brotherhood immediately or after a few months or years. This fear is reasonable, for none of us can possibly know what the future holds for Egypt. The cold peace that Mubarak supported with Israel is certainly far better than war.Israel should keep quiet about this. The more we support Mubarak, the more we turn his people against him and the more we drive them into the waiting arms of the Muslim Brotherhood. But the US - as it did in Lebanon - needs to come out and say that although the Egyptian people can do whatever they please, if the Muslim Brotherhood gains control or plays a significant role in the next Egyptian government, they can kiss their American aid goodbye.
But Mubarak has ruled Egypt for 30 years and has failed totally to crush the Brotherhood. In fact as he leaves the stage it is united and powerful, while the moderate and centrist forces are in disarray. Why? Hosni Mubarak, who has for all those years crushed the moderate opposition. He prevented the formation of moderate (including moderate Islamic) parties, jailed moderate opponents (like Ayman Nour), and allowed the Brotherhood to thrive underground. The Israelis apparently do not see the irony that they are mourning the departure of the man who created the very situation they now fear.
Mubarak is 82 and would soon have left the stage anyway. His insistence on staying, his theft of last November’s elections, and his flirting with the idea of setting his son upon the throne have led Egypt to its present crisis. Now he has said that he won’t run in Egypt’s scheduled presidential elections in September. Too late. Had he done that even a month ago Egypt would have been spared this uprising and a smooth transition would have been possible. Now the crowds demand that he leave instantly, and the idea that this man will preside over the transition to free elections will strike them as grotesque—which it is.
It’s a sad ending to Mubarak’s long career. It could have been avoided. But the Israeli reaction of wishing he would stay on—thirty-five years? forty?—shows a deep misunderstanding of the situation in Egypt.
Labels: Egyptian riots, Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, Elliott Abrams, Hosni Mubarak, Politics, World Politics
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:51 AM
2 Comments:
Exactly. Israel should not be seen to be on the side of dictators.
It should make it clear that while it hopes the Egyptian people elect to follow a democratic and peaceful future, the Jewish State will not allow a MB led government to threaten its very existence.
Israel should draw a red line that it will not allow a future Egyptian regime to cross and the time to draw it is now.
Follows he Muslim Brotherhood English website--for now the strategy is to step back enough for the exit of Mubarak to proceed under their guidance and pressure but without getting to far out in front for Western media--so here they say they will respect international treaties but future relations with the US will depend on whether the US is friendly to the process of regime change, while also saying they won't take leading roles in a future govt--in Arab media we see the reports they urge war on Israel. Is Obama a factor in much of anything where there isn't a group consensus for him to slot into once a crossroads is reached?
btw, they seem to be already ditching ElBaradei--their web site "demands" I think it is that the Head of the Egyptian Constitutional Court assume the role of transitional President. Maybe ElB is too much of a pompous horse's ass to even serve as a convenient tool.
http://www.ikhwanweb.com/articles.php?pid=94
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