I picked up my wife at the train today and hushed her as she got into the car. "I have to hear this." David Makovsky, who wears two hats– Israeli lobbyist at WINEP, and improbable spokesman for the Arab world– was on to talk about the book he wrote with Dennis Ross. And golly if Makovsky didn't do it again: speak for the Arab world's interests.
Go to 4:00 or so on that link and you'll hear Robert Siegel of All Things Considered ask about Israel's apprehensions about Iran getting a bomb. It's not an "existential" threat to Israel, Siegel says he heard lately from an unnamed foreign minister of an unnamed country– and good for Siegel for saying so– but Israel fears a regional rival in Iran and the possibility that Arab states will be "cowed."
Makovsky responds by saying nothing at all about Israel's interests, which are something I believe he knows very well–heck the guy spoke at AIPAC this year–but about the Arab states' interests. "Given the historic enmity between the Arab states and Iran, this is something that is of concern to them…" Indeed, Makovsky said that "one Arab official" said to him recently that Israel has a bomb, but it keeps it "in the basement," whereas the Arabs fear that if Iran has a bomb, it will "wave it" around. O dem crazy Persians!
I addressed the false claim that the Arab states are somehow on Israel's side on the urgency of Iranian nukes last week, in a post about Mark Whitaker's comments on the subject on MSNBC. My expert informs me that While it's true that the Arab states don't want Iran to get a bomb, they are far more concerned about the peace process in Israel, and ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That is a graver threat to regional stability, in their view. Having been in Cairo for Obama's speech, I can tell you that none of the 20 or so Arabs I talked to afterward were upset about Iran. They were talking about Palestine.
Makovsky is an Israel lobbyist. When he's asked about Israel, he should talk about Israel. And if NPR really cares what the Arabs want, it should put more pressure on the Obama administration to show evenhandedness in Israel/Palestine.
