Israel Must Fear the Arab Revolution

The visit was unwelcome, routine in the midst of a revolution playing out in the Arab-Muslim bloc. During the annual governmental meeting, held this time in Jerusalem, well-meaning German advice to the Israeli government was interpreted as being a threat to their national security and even to their very survival.

In recent years, Israel has caused Turkey to break ranks, and whether Berlin can bring it back into the NATO fold is now little more than a faint hope. Hezbollah has taken over in Lebanon, armed by Iran, and is now forming the mullah’s bridgehead on Israel’s northern borders.

Washington is the mother of all worries for Israel

Then came the fall of Tunisia, and it wasn’t difficult to see that the revolutionary discontent in the depths of the Arab world would soon boil over, stirring up unrest in the whole neighborhood. Yesterday Tunisia, today Egypt and who knows where tomorrow?

Israel’s security stands or falls with Egypt, as do the containment of Hamas in Gaza (an offshoot of Egypt’s radical Muslim Brotherhood, which only awaits its big chance) and the prevention of a two-front war. Prime Minister Netanyahu reminded the world at a press conference that a youth revolt is far from being a stable democracy. In truth, however, Israel’s cold peace with Egypt isn’t recognized by the Egyptian masses but only by the ruling class.

But Washington is the mother of all worries for Israel. Will Obama repeat the mistake Carter made three decades before him when he allowed the Shah of Iran to be overthrown in the name of democracy? The Israelis are keeping their eye on a situation that appeared perfectly stable two months ago but is now embroiled in revolutionary turbulence — with consequences for the entire world.