Hosni Mubarak is a dictator. He is not good for his people. As a liberal, I should be delighted at the prospect of his overthrow, but I'm not. Who will replace him if the mass riots bring his downfall? Probably not the mild-mannered Muhammad El-Baradei, former chief of the International Atomic Energy Ageny. He isn't very popular in Egypt, despite the fact that he's the opposition leader who is most prominent in Western media. The most popular movement in Egypt is the Muslim Brotherhood, the undemocratic fanatically Islamist older brother (or father) of Hamas.
Having Hamas ruling Gaza is bad enough. Having a Hamas-like movement ruling all of Egypt, together with the prospect of Hezbollah ruling Lebanon, is quite a scary idea for us Israelis. But in a way, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt would be worse for Israelis than Hezbollah in Lebanon. We don't have a peace agreement with our northern neighbors anyway. With Egypt, there is a risk of this important Arab country rejoining the ranks of our enemies, and actively arming Hamas against us.
Egyptians, if you get rid of Mubarak, please don't replace him with religious zealots!
A Great Day for *The Atlantic*
2 weeks ago
I have to say that flicking through a few favourite Zionist haunts of mine, you’re the only one (that I’ve seen so far) who’s actually reacted the ‘the situation in Egypt’. I appreciate, if nothing more, your candour.
ReplyDeleteRather predictably, you’re getting it spectacularly wrong by seeing everything though the lens of ‘de Gamas’ (did that conditioning training cost much or is it free of charge in Israel?)
Fears of the Muslim Brotherhood are simply largely unfounded. Not only isn’t this revolt led by TMBH, as a movement they really have little sway in Egypt. It’s a tame bunch of rather conservative old people (should be right up the sleeve of the Ultra Conservative religio nationalist junta that rules you, when you think of it…) Right now they don’t really seem to be calling for anything but perhaps later they may want to participate in something. That of course would be something the Axis of Evil (TelAwashington/London/Paris) wouldn’t be too keen on and we all know what happens when ‘democracy’ doesn’t yield the results that are optimal for the defence of the Zionist Entity…
TMBH is the fig leaf Mubarak has been using all along: “it’s me (bad) or them (worse)” (now keep the money flowing and we won’t talk about it again). And Westeners (like you) with a black and white outlook on the ME/Muslim/Arab world fall for it hook, line and sinker.
”He isn't very popular in Egypt, despite the fact that he's the opposition leader who is most prominent in Western media.”
Did you mean:
He isn't very popular in Egypt, because he's the opposition leader who is most prominent in Western media?
El Baradei is indeed the new serviton the West might want to try and parachute in there.
You a ‘Liberal’? Don’t make me crack up again. An Usraeli neoliberal, maybe…
Basically, it's the fear of the unknown here.
ReplyDeleteI'm not seeing this through the lens of Hamas, but rather through the (admittedly egotistical) lens of "how will this effect me?", and I have to admit I'm not an expert on Egypt, so I have no idea how it really will effect me. I know Mubarak's attitude towards Israel. I don't know what the attitude of another regime might be. Will the Muslim Brotherhood take over, and if it does, will it be a radical Islamist government? Only time will tell.
And, yes, I'm a liberal (sans neo), just not the bleeding heart type.