Replying to an excuse for the Egyptians

In the entry, “Mob storms Israeli embassy in Cairo,” Stan S. writes:

I need to comment on something Ken Hechtman wrote:

“No representative Egyptian government, left, right or Islamist, is going to be on Israel’s side while Israel is fighting a war with people who look and talk and pray like Egyptians.”

This is a deplorable statement, for two reasons:

1. Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979 whereby Israel returned to Egypt the entire Sinai, a territory that had given Israel invaluable strategic depth and an oil field worth many billions. In addition, Egypt accepted from the United States $2 billion in annual economic and military aid. Egypt’s only obligation under the treaty was to cease its hostile propaganda against, and to maintain peace with, Israel. The whole point of having a peace treaty is that Egypt is obligated to remain neutral in conflicts between Israel and “people who look and talk and pray like Egyptians.”

2. Mr .Hechtman writes that Israel is fighting a war against, presumably, the Palestinian Arabs. Putting it this way is absurd. If there were really to be a war, either or both of the Palestinian Arab governments could be overthrown in a few days. But of course, the last time Israel conducted a serious military operation against Hamas, it was forced to stop short by American and European pressure. The same thing happened when Israel fought Hezbollah in 2006. So, on one hand, Israel is prevented, and by its closest ally, from fighting seriously even against those terrorist groups that are completely open about their intention to destroy Israel. Yet, on the other hand, Israel is to be talked about (and treated) as though it actually were fighting a war at all times, so that all kinds of outrages against Israel, including attacks on Israeli diplomats abroad, become “understandable.” This is the sort of sly rhetoric that anti-Israel polemicists use all the time.

See my reply to Stan.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 11, 2011 09:40 PM | Send