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View Full Version : Israel shocked by Obama's "betrayal" of Mubarak



RBP
02-01-2011, 01:09 PM
(Reuters) - If Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak is toppled, Israel will lose one of its very few friends in a hostile neighborhood and President Barack Obama will bear a large share of the blame, Israeli pundits said on Monday.

Political commentators expressed shock at how the United States as well as its major European allies appeared to be ready to dump a staunch strategic ally of three decades, simply to conform to the current ideology of political correctness.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told ministers of the Jewish state to make no comment on the political cliffhanger in Cairo, to avoid inflaming an already explosive situation. But Israel's President Shimon Peres is not a minister.

"We always have had and still have great respect for President Mubarak," he said on Monday. He then switched to the past tense. "I don't say everything that he did was right, but he did one thing which all of us are thankful to him for: he kept the peace in the Middle East."

Newspaper columnists were far more blunt.

One comment by Aviad Pohoryles in the daily Maariv was entitled "A Bullet in the Back from Uncle Sam." It accused Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of pursuing a naive, smug, and insular diplomacy heedless of the risks.

Who is advising them, he asked, "to fuel the mob raging in the streets of Egypt and to demand the head of the person who five minutes ago was the bold ally of the president ... an almost lone voice of sanity in a Middle East?"

"The politically correct diplomacy of American presidents throughout the generations ... is painfully naive."

Obama on Sunday called for an "orderly transition" to democracy in Egypt, stopping short of calling on Mubarak to step down, but signaling that his days may be numbered. [nN30161335]

"AMERICA HAS LOST IT"

Netanyahu instructed Israeli ambassadors in a dozen key capitals over the weekend to impress on host governments that Egypt's stability is paramount, official sources said.

"Jordan and Saudi Arabia see the reactions in the West, how everyone is abandoning Mubarak, and this will have very serious implications," Haaretz daily quoted one official as saying.

Egypt, Israel's most powerful neighbor, was the first Arab country to make peace with the Jewish state, in 1979. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who signed the treaty, was assassinated two years later by an Egyptian fanatic.

It took another 13 years before King Hussein of Jordan broke Arab ranks to made a second peace with the Israelis. That treaty was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated one year later, in 1995, by an Israeli fanatic.

There have been no peace treaties since. Lebanon and Syria are still technically at war with Israel. Conservative Gulf Arab regimes have failed to advance their peace ideas. A hostile Iran has greatly increased its influence in the Middle East conflict.

"The question is, do we think Obama is reliable or not," said an Israeli official, who declined to be named.

"Right now it doesn't look so. That is a question resonating across the region not just in Israel."

Writing in Haaretz, Ari Shavit said Obama had betrayed "a moderate Egyptian president who remained loyal to the United States, promoted stability and encouraged moderation."

To win popular Arab opinion, Obama was risking America's status as a superpower and reliable ally.

"Throughout Asia, Africa and South America, leaders are now looking at what is going on between Washington and Cairo. Everyone grasps the message: "America's word is worthless ... America has lost it."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/31/us-egypt-israel-usa-idUSTRE70U53720110131

Teh One Who Knocks
02-01-2011, 01:16 PM
What a mess :wha:

All things considered, the administration is doing the right thing I think. We have to side with the protesters or we'll be seen as supporting a rather brutal dictator (he really is when you get right down to it) and if we do that, there's a chance that Egypt could turn into the next Iran.

Southern Belle
02-01-2011, 10:09 PM
That's always been the way, to support a dictator who maintains stability. It's not right by the people who suffer under the dictator. It's not right to sacrifice people's rights for political expediency.
And I personally don't give a shit what Israel thinks.

Godfather
02-01-2011, 10:54 PM
Meh, I get Israel is ticked off that they're losing a key ally in the region. I give a shit what Israel thinks because it will have a huge impact on stability in the region returning.

And Israel would be surprised, the US has backed Mubarak for a long time, it's not hard to see. But 'shocked?' :lol: They had to know that with 2 million people marching on the president it's awfully hard to side the dictator in the middle of the mess. Mubarak is a nut, Egypt is in turmoil. Maybe Israel should consider supporting whoever comes in too. Egypt seems to be one of the more reasonable players in the neighborhood.

Then again, you turn on the news and you see Egyptians screaming "we hate Mubarak, he sides with Israel and they are our immortal enemy." :roll: Why aren't we getting over this?....

There's no guarantee that whoever follows Mubarak will be good for the rest of the world... could be much worse, and Israel will pay for it first if that's the case.

Southern Belle
02-01-2011, 10:56 PM
Meh, I get Israel is ticked off that they're losing a key ally in the region. I give a shit what Israel thinks because it will have a huge impact on stability in the region returning.

And Israel would be surprised, the US has backed Mubarak for a long time, it's not hard to see. But 'shocked?' :lol: They had to know that with 2 million people marching on the president it's awfully hard to side the dictator in the middle of the mess. Mubarak is a nut, Egypt is in turmoil. Maybe Israel should consider supporting whoever comes in too.

Then again, you turn on the news and you see Egyptians screaming "we hate Mubarak, he sides with Israel and they are our immortal enemy." :roll:

That too.

RBP
02-01-2011, 10:59 PM
That's the risk and why we often favor stability. Better the devil you know...

Godfather
02-01-2011, 11:00 PM
Yep... but that's a hand that we in the west have seriously overplayed at times :wha:

It has lead to some evil people being allowed to do doing some evil things because of our involvement in one way or another

Examples don't even need to be listed...

RBP
02-01-2011, 11:03 PM
Perhaps, but democracy cuts both ways. Bush pushed the Palestinians for democratic elections and they elected Hamas.

Southern Belle
02-01-2011, 11:11 PM
Perhaps, but democracy cuts both ways. Bush pushed the Palestinians for democratic elections and they elected Hamas.

At least they elected who they wanted. It's not up to us to decide for them. Israel is a bully because they have our support.