February 15, 2011
"Telling It Straight"
Enough, a part of my brain keeps telling me. Take a rest from the writing. And yet I find myself compelled, again and again, to make points that must be made.
What I'm seeing in too many quarters is a simplistic rejoicing at what has happened in Egypt, for --according to those who rejoice -- we're witnessing a new day, with the flowering of democracy. The people have spoken.
Coupled with this is criticism -- both implicit and overt -- of Israel for being the "spoil sport." Why are we not joining the celebration? Why are we so stuck in our old thinking, and so negative?
And it's not just that old Israel-basher Tom Friedman, either.
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Coupled with this, of course, is the push for us to take advantage of this wonderful new time and quickly sit down with Mahmoud Abbas and forge a peace treaty.
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Thus have I decided to write: To reinforce the points that need to be made, yet again.
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The notion that we must quickly achieve a peace agreement with the Palestinian Arabs (which, in fact makes the erroneous assumption that they'd even sit down with us now) can be dispensed with quickly. For the fact that a government with which we had a peace treaty was overturned in a little over two weeks, so that the treaty is now at risk (with some potential future leaders calling for its cancellation), is sobering and provides a very salient lesson in caution.
Precisely how dumb does everyone think we are?
Mubarak maintained a sort of control in Egypt that Abbas would never achieve were he to stay in office until 100. And yet Mubarak went down. Abbas cannot be sleeping well at night. Before all of this unrest, he was afraid to venture into certain PA areas, and he already knew Hamas was breathing down his neck. And now?
What would it avail us, to withdraw (Heaven forbid!) from major parts of Judea and Samaria in the name of "peace," only to find that the PA had fallen and Islamists were at our (vastly more vulnerable) border?
And this concern does not even factor in another unease: We now know, as the world knows, that the American administration cannot be counted on when the going gets tough.
So let's move on...
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To a person, I think, we here in Israel would rejoice if there were to be true democracy in Egypt. But the modest chances of this happening are further diminished by the very rush to see it happen quickly.
Yesterday I cited an Egyptian in exile who pointed out that 30% of Egyptians are illiterate -- they cannot sign their own names, never mind read their nation's constitution. They have never been exposed to written political analyses or proposals for platforms. They are likely to go with what they know and what has made them comfortable. And for many, this is the Muslim Brotherhood -- a Brotherhood, by the way, that has provided food and medical care for many of those struggling Egyptians..
This is the simple fact of the matter.
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We here in Israel have a better understanding of the radical Muslim mind, and Islamist subterfuge, than most in N. America do. It's born of hard experience, and we are not so quickly taken in.
Fervently do we wish that our words might help others -- starting with the White House -- to fashion a more cautious, and thus ultimately more successful, approach. But I see scant chance of this happening.
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Bret Stephens, writing today about the Muslim Brotherhood in the Wall Street Journal, begins his piece thus:
"...On Feb. 16, 1979, the New York Times ran a lengthy op-ed by Richard Falk, a professor of international law at Princeton, under the headline "Trusting Khomeini."
"'The depiction of [Khomeini] as fanatical, reactionary and the bearer of crude prejudices seems certainly and happily false,' wrote Mr. Falk. 'What is also encouraging is that his entourage of close advisers is uniformly composed of moderate, progressive individuals.'
"After carrying on in this vein for a few paragraphs, the professor concluded: 'Having created a new model of popular revolution based, for the most part, on nonviolent tactics, Iran may yet provide us with a desperately needed model of humane governance for a third-world country.'"
Wake up world!
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Continues Stephens:
"The Times is at it again. Last week, the paper published an op-ed from Essam El-Errian, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's Guidance Council, who offered this soothing take on his organization: 'We aim to achieve reform and rights for all: not just for the Muslim Brotherhood, not just for Muslims, but for all Egyptians.'
"It's easy to be taken in by the Brotherhood: Eight decades as a disciplined, underground organization, outwardly involved in charitable social work, have made them experts at tailoring messages to separate audiences.
"...Today the Brotherhood has adopted a political strategy in keeping with [founder] Banna's dictum that the movement must not over-reach on its way toward '[subjugating] every unjust ruler to its command': 'Each of these stages,' he cautioned his followers, 'involves certain steps, branches and means.' Thus the Brotherhood has gone out of its way in recent weeks to appear in the most benign light, making an ally of former IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei and forswearing any immediate political ambitions.
"But that doesn't mean the Brothers don't have an idea of what they're aiming for...
"Nor should there be any doubt about what the Brotherhood is aiming against. 'Resistance is the only solution against the Zio-American arrogance and tyranny,' Muhammad Badie, the Brotherhood's supreme guide, sermonized in October. 'The improvement and change that the [Muslim] nation seeks can only be attained . . . by raising a jihadi generation that pursues death just as the enemies pursue life.' (Emphasis added)
"...unless Egypt's secular forces can coalesce into serious political parties, the people for whom Islam is the solution won't find the fetters of democracy to be much of a problem."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703584804576143933682956332.html
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For the non-radical or reasonably democratic opposition parties in Egypt to get their acts together will take time, and guidance and funds. Education of the populace regarding various party positions, and what their choices are, is part of what must be done to foster democracy.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which does have its act together, is now in the process of preparing application to be a legal party.
Understand, they have been outlawed until now and have succeeded in winning elections and achieving seats in the parliament via persons affiliated with the Brotherhood who ran as independents. And once they are a party?
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Khaled Abu Toameh explains why a group like the Brotherhood is better organized than moderate groups:
"For decades, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and other Arab dictators used to tell Americans and Europeans that if they did not support them, the result would be Muslim extremists coming to power.
"This is why these dictators never took drastic measures against Islamic fundamentalist groups in their countries.
"This pattern gave the Muslim Brotherhood a chance to grow and win over more supporters, as the local people became more and more disgusted both with their dictators and the Western governments who supported them.
"Instead of focusing their attention on the Islamists, Arab dictators chose to chase secular reformists, liberals, democrats, newspaper editors and human rights activists; by suppressing the emergence of these people, the Arab dictatorships paved the way for the rise of radical extremists."
http://www.hudson-ny.org:80/1877/arab-dictators-radical-islam
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I encourage you to also hear the fantastic interview of Harvard history professor Niall Ferguson, who touches all the important bases:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9sMo-LTdSc
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Lastly, I wish to raise an issue that I have not taken the time to look at before, with all that had to be reviewed: That is, the damning of Mubarak in the street demonstrations by painting a Star of David on his face.
I provide a couple of photos showing this, below. There are many more. Not only is this blatantly anti-Israel and anti-Semitic, please note the "moderate" garb of the people carrying the signs.
There would be something wrong with us in Israel, if we were not very worried about what comes next.
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© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner, functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
see my website www.ArlenefromIsrael.info
Technorati Tag: Egypt.
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