After more than three thousand years of varying calamities, Jews have perfected survival against the odds. There is a joke they tell about “Jewish Zen”:
“Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Forget this and attaining Enlightenment will be the least of your problems.”
Right now, Israel and those who support the Jewish State are holding their breath, watching events in Egypt. What is happening is not inconsequential, given that Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979 after a series of wars in which it had been soundly defeated.
When the flamboyant Gamal Abed Al Nasser died, Anwar al-Sadat became Egypt’s president and, together with Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, they turned a corner toward peace. The treaty was greeted with angry demonstrations throughout the Arab world. Sadat, the peacemaker, was assassinated by Muslim zealots.
At that point Hosni Mubarak became Egypt’s president and he has held the position for three decades as the head of what is essentially a one party system. There have been a half dozen assassination attempts on his life. He is 83 years old. Like most Arab nations and other third world nations, he ran an authoritarian regime.
The peace deal included the return of the Sinai desert to Egypt by Israel. Under former Prime Minister Arial Sharon, Israelis who had lived in the Gaza strip were forced to leave and it was turned over to the Palestine Authority in a “land-for-peace” swap. The peaceloving Palestinians turned Gaza into a launch site for thousands of rockets into Israel.
Today, Egypt shares a border with Gaza which features an unknown number of tunnels used to smuggle in weapons and goods. Gaza is run by Hamas, a terrorist Palestinian organization that drove the PA out at gunpoint.
So the fate of Egypt is of importance to Israel. To Israel’s north, another terrorist group, Hezbollah, has taken over the government of Lebanon without firing a shot. Christians, Druze and Marists, along with others in Lebanon have once again lost control over their nation, formerly peacefully governed by a constitutional coalition of Christians and Muslims.
None of this bodes well for Israel as it looks around at Middle Eastern and northern African nations in which governments are being overthrown for being noxious oppressors.
Of great importance to Israel at this time is the question of what action the United States will or will not take regarding the current turmoil. Since the Egyptian uprising appears to be a genuine people’s rebellion, the question is who ends up with the reins of power there? My bet is on the military.
Meanwhile, however, yet another United Nations resolution aimed at Israel like a guided missile is making its way through the Security Council and, at this point, only the U.S. can shoot it down with a veto.
The UN resolution declares that any construction in the West Bank by Israel is illegal, even if it is in its capitol, Jerusalem.
No American administration has been able to broker peace between Israel and the so-called Palestinians, the oldest existing group of “refugees” in the world.
Following the end of a failed war against the then new state of Israel, the Arab population that fled became the sole object and purpose of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). No other refugee group in the world enjoys this status.
There is a Palestinian problem because there is a United Nations problem.
The United Nations is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of its Middle Eastern and Islamic members.
What was to be a UN emergency response in May 1950, UNWRA has cost American taxpayers billions since then. Today, UNRWA continues to operate in both the Palestinian Authority-ruled West Bank and the Hamas-ruled Gaza, taken from the PA in June 2007. As noted in a recent article by Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, in 2007 UNRWA employed more than 29,000, all but 200 of whom were Palestinians. Its “facilities and personnel have been tied to numerous terrorist attacks on Israel.”
Sixty years of stalled and failed peace talks, as well as terror campaigns against Israel, have deligitimized Palestinian claims.
Following Israel’s operation Cast Lead in December 2008 to stop Hamas and Islamic Jihad rocket attacks, the Obama administration promised $400 million for Gaza and $600 million for the West Bank.
Though not confirmed, the rumor-mill in Washington is saying that the Obama administration will not veto the latest in an endless succession of anti-Israel resolutions.
If true, President Obama would become the first U.S. President to not defend Israel’s sovereignty.
If true, it would signal to the entire Middle East and the world that America is abandoning the only true democracy in the region and its longtime ally.
The United Nations was founded in 1945 after World War Two. It has since become a cesspool of corruption and an international cancer determined to become a one-world government. The time is long overdue for the U.S. to stop funding it and, indeed, to withdraw from it.
If Obama does not veto the Security Council resolution, the U.S. will pay for that decision for decades to come. Israel will be in ever more certain peril.
© Alan Caruba, 2011
8 comments:
An excellent analysis my friend, one that I will share with MY friends on Facebook...
@TexasFred: THANK YOU!
I can't believe that the USA, led by Obama, is on the verge of abandoning Israel. America will lose my respect completely should they allow Obama and his bunch of radicals to finally put the nail in their coffin. Obama is a fool, but a dangerous one none the less. He’s play acting at the most important job in the world. He must be the first US President who was elected into office because of the collective guilt of a nation. A nation, who chose to ignore his history, radical liaisons and lack of any work experience, but still voted for him at 70%. Either it says a lot about the American psyche or the majority of the country was hood-winked good and proper. We can only pray that America comes to her senses in 2012 but I won’t be holding my breath. America relies far too much on what a person says and not on what they have done. For a clever nation, they sure can be stupid.
There's a song that comes to mind after reading this excellent article. The song is "Nobody Does It Better." And Alan has flat nailed it down. No one could have written it better. It is a moment for the Obama administration to face the music without a straddle. Ex-emeritus Ambassador John Bolton could offer enormous help in this moment.
@Lime & Travis: Thank you, gentlemen.
The world is at a turning point in the Middle East. It's either democracy or Islamic despotism. The latter is likely to win.
Alan,
Once again an on the head nail it moment!
It is my understanding Iran is ecstatic about the coming regime change in Egypt. If so, what does this do to the region? It in fact puts another knife at Israel’s throat along with another one aimed squarely at the U.S. which we know for sure will threaten oil supplies and therefore raise oil prices thus causing more economic problems.
One must indeed worry about the outcome of this, not only as to the probable radical Muslim takeover but also does this President and his administration even have the will or the ability to do the right thing. Lime Lite is 100% correct in his assertions. As I feel the boy wonder is completely oblivious to the obvious in this situation, it is a perlilous time indeed for Israel and the world.
Just one more reason to vote that pretender-in chief outa office.
@Alan:
I believe in the U.S. Army the term we used for what's happening in Egypt is "fluid" - the outcome could go either way.
Egypt would end up as another "Islamic Republic" ruled by the barbarian hand of the Sharia Law.
However, Egypt could end up as a good Republic where Lady Liberty reigns.
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