'Anxious' Israel backs Egypt regime

[Better Believe It]

'Anxious' Israel backs Egypt regime
As US and EU leaders urge Egypt to reform in face of popular uprising, Israel voices support for Mubarak's government.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
January 31, 2011


Israel has called on the United States and Europe to curb their criticism of president Hosni Mubarak "in a bid to preserve stability in Egypt" and the wider Middle East, an Israeli newspaper reports.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Monday that the foreign ministry, in an urgent special cable, instructed its ambassadors to key countries, to "stress ... the importance of Egypt's stability".

Increasingly, president Mubarak has been isolated by swift and at times harsh criticism from Western leaders who called for reform. It is unclear how angry Egyptians will interpret Israel's apparent support for their government.

The protests in Egypt have reportedly thrown the Israeli government into turmoil, with military officials holding lengthy strategy sessions, assessing possible scenarios of a post-Mubarak Egypt.

Read the full article at:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/201113177145613.html#


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Who’s afraid of democracy?
Op-ed: Israelis fear that Arab world democracy is step towards radical Islamic dictatorship
By Sever Plocker
January 31, 2011

We, Israelis, have been overtaken by fear: The fear of democracy. Not here, in neighboring countries. It’s as though we never prayed for our Arab neighbors to become liberal democracies. As though we never hoped to see free elections, multiparty systems, freedom of expression, and civil rights. Yet now that we see the flames of democracy engulfing the streets of Cairo, we are overcome by deep anxiety.

This fear stems from the perception that only oppressive regimes premised on a brutal secret police, dark apparatuses and the trampling of democracy can afford to make peace with Israel. Once dictatorship is gone, peace is gone too. Deep in our hearts we fear that the overwhelming majority of Arab citizens will not agree to live in peace with Israel. Hence, peace must be forced upon them.

This attitude isn’t surprising. Since its inception, Israel had not experienced peace with any democratic Arab state, because none of the Arab and Muslim states in our region ever experienced genuine democracy.

The protestors in Egypt, just like their predecessors in Tunisia, want a “regime change” – that is, the toppling of a dictatorial regime. This is a noble aspiration. Any civilized, moral person can identify with it. The Egyptians, Syrians, Iranians, Jordanians and Qataris deserve to live under a regime that respects civil and human rights, maintains individual freedoms, allows the existence of various political parties as an obvious element, and entrenches the independence of the judiciary through laws.

Read the full article at:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4021393,00.html