Egyptian Democracy Is Not a Threat to Israel

I can entirely sympathize with Israeli nervousness over the apparent advent of Egyptian democracy -- not yet certain under a military regime.

I have good friends in Israel/Palestine about whom I care greatly. But I think this historical event gives them new powers to enlist justice for themselves and abused Palestinians. None but a suicidal mad person would attack Israel now and risk its massive capacity for retaliation. On the other side of the fence Israelis (e.g. Avigdor Lieberman and his party from the old Soviet Union) had better shape up if they don't want to bring down the wrath of their Muslim neighbors, but also their understandably nervous fellow Israelis!

It now may be possible to put some pressure on such as Hamas to take democracy seriously as well as Israelis to recognize that Palestinians are fellow humans!

I criticize Israel for its its abuses; my right wing classmates on a small 1956 Yale list accuse me of being an anti-Semite. This is a bit ironic as I exposed Yale's anti-Semitic admissions practices as Chair of the Yalie Daily.

Hopefully the U.S. will redirect its financial aid to Egypt and Israel from the military to the real needs of people. We need not blow so much -- as the original rationale under Carter no longer exists -- keeping the peace between the two with big handouts. Others are equally, if not more deserving. And it is time for us to move from being the world's arms brokers to becoming a global peacemaker.
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"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
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Ed Kent [blind copies]