America and Mubarak: The Résumé of Betrayal

About a month after the outbreak of the riots, the president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, has resigned from his post and transferred his powers into the hands of the Egyptian army. This is the end of a meaningful and critical chapter in the political and statecraft life of Egypt, the largest Arab country. But this is also a milestone in the American conduct toward this great and significant ally of theirs — one located in the strategic triangle between Islam, the Arab world and the African continent.

No one should have doubt: The problematic American demeanor has left in the Arab countries a taste of betrayal — and they, unlike us, do not forget just like that.

The American conduct in the last month, since the first riots in Tunisia broke out, could be described as that of an elephant comporting himself in a china shop. The speed with which President Obama sought to exploit the revolt in order to call for democracy and a new order in the Middle East, has given a huge tailwind to the forces of radical Islam all over the Arab world. It is important that we’re clear here: Even if such pictures have not always been delivered through TV lenses and Internet translations, the forces of Islam were behind most of the demonstrations and disorders in Egypt.

Years of incitement in mosques have been a critical addition to the dissatisfaction with the Egyptian economy. In front of the foreign media the extremists placed an acceptable “presenter” in ElBaradei, but kept on running the show behind the scenes.

When the tumult burst out in Tunisia, Obama blessed the mobs on the streets for their war on corruption. Even then, we argued that this policy will have repercussions for the rest of the rulers of the Arab world. We said that, but we still watched in astonishment when it became apparent that it wasn’t a slip of the tongue, but a clear-cut world view, adjusting itself to the emerging dynamic and riding the wave constantly surging up.

American actions have worried the leaders of the Arab world for quite a long time. In Egypt, it has been proven that they were right in their concern — for the fact is that the maneuvers have already caused an earthquake. The Saudi king did not remain inactive and leaked his conversation with Obama last week to the British publication “The Guardian.” In that conversation, it was said that he demanded Washington to stop hurting Mubarak, and even threatened that if Washington severs foreign aid to Egypt — Saudi Arabia would replace it in that role.

The Saudi king understood that should turmoil start to the west of his country, populated mainly by Shiites, or in the midst of the Shiite population of Bahrain or Abu Dhabi, Washington might take a position similar to that taken in Egypt. America, yesterday’s strategic mainstay among the moderate leaders of the Arab world, has turned into a dangerous one for them.

I’m not claiming that democracy is unsuitable for the Arab world. A part of the protesters on the Egypt streets indeed aspire with all their might for Western liberal democracy, and this should be respected. But a gradual and structured process could have been built to bring democracy to the region — and not the kind of process that would enable an anti-democratic factor to make use of the available organizational infrastructure in order to gain control of Egypt. We fear for what is likely to happen in Egypt — we’ve seen that in Gaza with Hamas. They rose through democratic processes, but now, needless to say, democracy does not exist there any longer.

Contrary to American actions, which have changed directions in an extreme and impetuous way since Obama’s election to the presidency, Jerusalem has proceeded steadily and kept a smart silence. And it was clever to do so. The Israeli silence has managed to leave Israel out of the demonstrations — and for the first time in that many years, relations with Israel have not been on top of the agenda of the struggles in the Middle East.

This is a positive change indicating a direction of hope for the future. Beyond that, this is an opportunity to strengthen strategic connections with diverse Arab countries — connections not necessarily going through Washington.

The people of Israel tend to forget quickly. We sign a peace agreement and make yesterday’s enemy a friend. It’s not this way in the Arab world — its leaders won’t forget how America dumped the big buddy of theirs.

What is Israel to do now? Israel should develop an independent agenda vis-à-vis the moderate Arab countries — an agenda based on shared strategic interests that are to shape tomorrow.