Juan Cole will be speaking on Egypt in New York in a week (at Columbia, along with Rashid Khalidi). He knows what the Egyptian revolution will do to American ideas about Israel:
And then there is the set of myths around Israel, that it is necessary for the well-being of the world’s Jews, that it is an asset to US security, that it is a great ethical enterprise– all of which are patently false.
A friend in Europe is in the same mood:
French television interviewed Omar Sharif, who went to Cairo on the 26 to support the protesters, and spoke with grandfatherly tenderness and pride of the “young people.” They asked him if he thought the protests would spread across the region, and he answered, “I wouldn’t find it in the least irritating if democracy spread throughout the region.”
And around the same time, the French morning television show, Telematin, which has a regular short sequence of shots of different cities all over the world as they appear at that moment, showed a shot of Jerusalem. The country Identification they post read “Terre-Sainte.” That would make a fine name for a single state combining Palestine and Zion.
Finally, here is George Soros, applauding the wave of “dignity and democracy” in the Washington Post. (Thanks to Jawad Ali.) The implicit criticism of Israel here is coded but important. This revolution is already having a huge American dividend. The neocons have lurched toward the center, and the center does not hold, no, the left is greatly empowered. The Post is opening its eyes. How long before Egyptians direct the American focus to Gaza and Hebron? How long before Ali Abunimah is allowed to make his case for a single democratic state in our mainstream media? Soros:
As regards contagion, it is more likely to endanger the enemies of the United States – Syria and Iran – than our allies, provided that they are willing to move out ahead of the avalanche.
The main stumbling block is Israel. In reality, Israel has as much to gain from the spread of democracy in the Middle East as the United States has. But Israel is unlikely to recognize its own best interests because the change is too sudden and carries too many risks. And some U.S. supporters of Israel are more rigid and ideological than Israelis themselves. Fortunately, Obama is not beholden to the religious right, which has carried on a veritable vendetta against him. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is no longer monolithic or the sole representative of the Jewish community. The main danger is that the Obama administration will not adjust its policies quickly enough to the suddenly changed reality.
I am, as a general rule, wary of revolutions. But in the case of Egypt, I see a good chance of success. As a committed advocate of democracy and open society, I cannot help but share in the enthusiasm that is sweeping across the Middle East.
