Aftermath of an Egyptian Rebellion: Comments trailed:

@ TNR: Justifiable stupidity page 2

@ Terry's: The Egyptian Revolution

Jews for peace message to Egyptians and Clueless with challa in BC

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Relevant to the above:

The highly respected Ehud Ya'ari, Israeli journalist and political commentator, reported today on Israel's TV [Unauthorized translation]:

"Egypt’s army had indeed announced that it would continue to honour the peace agreements with Israel, but a worrisome signal arrived this evening from the head of an opposition group in Israel’s neighbouring country as far as concerns the future relationiship between Israel and Egypt.

“The Camp David Treaty is finished," said today Dr. Ayman Nour, the head of “Tomorrow”, an opposition party leader in an interview to an Egyptian radio station. Nour had spent a few years in Egyptian jail and the US administration had exerted many efforts to have him released. He intends to run in the presidential elections due to be held in a few months.

Dr. Nour added: “At the very least, Egypt has to re-negotiate the terms of the peace agreement. “ Dr. Nour is not a member of the extreme group “Muslim Brotherhood”; he is secular and democratic. That’s why this statement is particularly worrisome, the first of its kind so far." (H/T: Ginzy)

Source in Hebrew:

צבא מצרים הודיע אומנם שיכבד את הסכמי השלום עם ישראל, אבל איתות מדאיג מגיע הערב מראשי האופוזיציה במדינה השכנה בכל הקשור ליחסים בין ירושלים וקהיר

הסכם קמפ דיוויד נגמר", אמר הערב ראש "מפלגת המחר" במדינה, ד"ר איימן נור, בראיון לתחנת רדיו מצרית. ד"ר נור בילה שנים בכלא המצרי, וארה"ב פעלה רבות כדי לשחררו. עכשיו הוא מתכוון לרוץ לנשיאות מצרים, בבחירות שיתקיימו בעוד מספר חודשים

בראיון הוא הוסיף כי, "מצרים צריכה לכל הפחות לנהל משא ומתן מחדש על תנאי ההסכם". ד"ר נור הוא איש אופוזיציה מצרי שאיננו נמנה על "האחים המוסלמים" הקיצוניים, אלא דווקא נחשב ליברל ודמוקרט, ועל כן ההתבטאות מדאיגה במיוחד - למרות שהיא הראשונה מסוגה כרגע.

Another source, here

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http://www.robinshepherdonline.com/western-folly-in-mideast-comes-home-t...

"Q) Why is mass anti-Semitism incompatible with genuine liberal democracy?

A) Because anti-Semitism represents an emphatic rejection of the universalist principles which underpin liberal-democracy. This is why anti-Semitism can emerge as a mortal danger to non-Jews as well as Jews. The social, cultural and political forces unleashed by anti-Semitism are inherently antithetical to the classical liberal values of the Enlightenment. They are also antithetical to reason itself. All polities dominated by virulent anti-Semitism will therefore struggle to produce liberal-democratic outcomes. Some will produce extreme tyrannies. Christopher Hitchens was hinting at precisely these thoughts in the following remarks made in an article for Slate in February 2006: “…only a moral cretin thinks that anti-Semitism is a threat only to Jews. The memory of the Third Reich is very vivid in Europe precisely because a racist German regime also succeeded in slaughtering millions of non-Jews, including countless Germans, under the demented pretext of extirpating a non-existent Jewish conspiracy.”

Q) So, given the presence of both mass anti-Semitism in Egypt and, in the form of the Muslim Brotherhood, a major political movement ready to hone down and exploit this anti-Semitism, is liberal-democracy impossible in Egypt?

A) It depends on whether and to what extent anti-Semitism becomes a dominant theme in the political discourse in the manner that it has long been a dominant theme in the cultural and religious discourse. But given the near ubiquity of anti-Semitism in mainstream society, the great danger is that anti-Semitism will become an ideological mainstay of whatever new regime emerges. Here’s how it might unfold: The Muslim Brotherhood becomes part of a government dominated (initially) by Egyptian nationalists. Anti-Semitism emerges as the common denominator holding these two forces together. In political terms this leads to a much more hostile approach to Israel. During a flashpoint, like Operation Cast Lead for example, the Islamists demand direct support for Hamas. The nationalist constituency opposes such a move thus handing the initiative to the Brotherhood which discredits its opponents by portraying them as agents of the US-Zionist conspiracy. At this point we get an Islamist takeover. "

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@ Pyramidion: Dr. Ezzat repeats a conspiracy report. He doesn't really believe it but what the hell, it can still be put to some use. Same old canards under a new name: Democracy

"On Sunday night, 30^th January and on one of the live news shows that was discussing the uprising in Egypt, Omar Afifi, a former Egyptian police captain told BBC Arabic TV that – according to his resources in Washington- there is a close cooperation now between Mubarak and Israel as to how to control and subdue this uprising. Even more, he said that a cargo of special automatic sniper rifles were being shipped from Israel to the Egyptian internal security forces to be used to take down the leaders of the protestors in case the demonstrations were growing in number and getting out of control.

Any way and despite the fact that the veracity of those statements remain hard to verify but it goes without saying that Israel is watching this dramatic scenario of a close ally to Israel going down with great concern."

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Egyptian Liberation joke (H/T: Nizo):

All Israelis left Egypt due to the unrest.

Except for Hosni Mubarak