Pluto and the Jews
07/26/11
Some years ago Pluto was downgraded to a planetoid. Now this is important to us because Jews always worry how anything of news value, local or international, would affect the Jewish community. So a joke started circulating that rabbis were announcing a sermon topic: Pluto is now a planetoid, is this good or bad for the Jews?
Now there is a very significant wind moving across the Middle East. It’s been more than six months since riots erupted in Tunisia forcing Ben Ali from power, and the start of the so-called Arab Spring. At first the West reacted to revolts in Tunisia, and then in Egypt, with enthusiasm. These were not military coups but struggles for freedom and human rights by people in the street. Rather than the Arab Spring we should call this the Arab street, say the experts. An enthusiastic professor from the Persian Gulf added: “At least 100 million people in this region are freer now. This is what’s really important. For the first time, the Arabs are on the right side of history and they are controlling events. These people’s positive energy will bring a change to the region, and it’s important that the West support the forces of change.”
Then the rejoicing gave way to anxiety – would civil wars break out in Libya and Syria, in Yemen and Bahrain? Were Jordan and Saudi Arabia vulnerable? Would there be takeovers by Islamic movements or a terrible economic crisis if interim governments could not feed populations?
The Middle East is closer to us than Pluto. Now is the time to ask whether the Arab Spring is good or bad for Israel, and is it good or bad for the US?
We have to face the worst case scenario that the Muslim Brotherhood will come to power in Egypt and repudiate the peace treaty with Israel. Egypt has already permitted Iranian warships through the Suez Canal (which Mubarak never did) and opened the Rafa crossing, admitting anyone and anything into Gaza that might be of support to the terrorist Hamas administration.
Yet, experts in the Middle East have pointed out that, among those fighting authoritarian regimes from Tunisia to Yemen, Palestinian suffering was very low on the street fighters’ agenda. Instead, the Arab street is aching because of unemployment, government corruption, and government abuse of the people and the peoples’ lack of rights. One of the benefits of the Arab Spring, therefore, is that the Islamic world – in fact, the whole world – is being reminded that not every problem in the Middle East can be blamed on Israel. If so, perhaps the Arab Spring will benefit Israel, forcing the masses to deal with an agenda consisting of a more realistic set of priorities.
How will things go for Israel, not to mention US policy, which also desires peace and stability in the region? I think it was the famous physicist Niels Bohr, or maybe it was Yogi Berra, who said, “Prediction is a very hard thing, especially about the future.”
Now there is a very significant wind moving across the Middle East. It’s been more than six months since riots erupted in Tunisia forcing Ben Ali from power, and the start of the so-called Arab Spring. At first the West reacted to revolts in Tunisia, and then in Egypt, with enthusiasm. These were not military coups but struggles for freedom and human rights by people in the street. Rather than the Arab Spring we should call this the Arab street, say the experts. An enthusiastic professor from the Persian Gulf added: “At least 100 million people in this region are freer now. This is what’s really important. For the first time, the Arabs are on the right side of history and they are controlling events. These people’s positive energy will bring a change to the region, and it’s important that the West support the forces of change.”
Then the rejoicing gave way to anxiety – would civil wars break out in Libya and Syria, in Yemen and Bahrain? Were Jordan and Saudi Arabia vulnerable? Would there be takeovers by Islamic movements or a terrible economic crisis if interim governments could not feed populations?
The Middle East is closer to us than Pluto. Now is the time to ask whether the Arab Spring is good or bad for Israel, and is it good or bad for the US?
We have to face the worst case scenario that the Muslim Brotherhood will come to power in Egypt and repudiate the peace treaty with Israel. Egypt has already permitted Iranian warships through the Suez Canal (which Mubarak never did) and opened the Rafa crossing, admitting anyone and anything into Gaza that might be of support to the terrorist Hamas administration.
Yet, experts in the Middle East have pointed out that, among those fighting authoritarian regimes from Tunisia to Yemen, Palestinian suffering was very low on the street fighters’ agenda. Instead, the Arab street is aching because of unemployment, government corruption, and government abuse of the people and the peoples’ lack of rights. One of the benefits of the Arab Spring, therefore, is that the Islamic world – in fact, the whole world – is being reminded that not every problem in the Middle East can be blamed on Israel. If so, perhaps the Arab Spring will benefit Israel, forcing the masses to deal with an agenda consisting of a more realistic set of priorities.
How will things go for Israel, not to mention US policy, which also desires peace and stability in the region? I think it was the famous physicist Niels Bohr, or maybe it was Yogi Berra, who said, “Prediction is a very hard thing, especially about the future.”
