Why Israel Is The Arab World's Enemy

Mohammed Salem / Reuters

Let’s Hear It For Israel, The Arab World’s All-Purpose Enemy -- George Jonas, National Post

And how is the Arab Spring? Well, there’s bad news, and good news. The bad news is that since the beginning of the phenomenon that has been discussed more and understood less than any in recent years, hostility to Israel in the region has only increased. The good news is that while the appetite to harm the Jewish state and its inhabitants has grown in the Arab/Muslim world since the fall of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia launched what was supposed to be the region’s democratic renewal, the capacity to do so has diminished.

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My Comment: Israel has not helped the situation by it's treatment of the Palestinians .... but it is true .... if Israel did not existed, the Arabs would have to invent someone else.

The last two paragraphs of this commentary is a must read ....

We won’t understand much about the Arab Spring as long as we persist in looking at it through Western eyes. We see popular uprisings against dictatorships as moves in the direction of Western-style democracy. If they happened here, they probably would be. Where they’re actually happening they’re taking their societies in the opposite direction.

The Arab Spring is an attempt to return the region to its roots. It’s not to Westernize the Middle East and make it more democratic; it’s to Easternize it and make it more Islamic. If the early 20th century was about the East trying to join what it couldn’t lick, the early 21st may be about the East trying to lick what it hasn’t been able to join.

Top Israeli General Expects An 'Islamic Winter'

Major General Eyal Eisenberg. Photo from Israel Frontline

IDF General: Likelihood Of Regional War Growing -- Ynet News

Senior IDF officer warns of 'radical Islamic winter' that may lead to regional war, could prompt use of WMDs; new, more lethal weapons discovered in hands of terrorists during latest round of fighting in Gaza, Major General Eisenberg says.

Recent revolutions in the Arab world and the deteriorating ties with Turkey are raising the likelihood of a regional war in the Middle East, IDF Home Front Command Chief, Major General Eyal Eisenberg warned Monday.

"It looks like the Arab Spring, but it can also be a radical Islamic winter," he said in a speech at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

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My Comment: Let is hope that he is wrong.

Israel Is Preparing For War

With Iran And Its Allies In Mind, Israel Builds Up Air, Sea Arsenals -- Star Tribune

JERUSALEM - With new anti-missile systems and submarines that can carry nuclear weapons, Israel is readying a new generation of armaments designed to defend itself against distant Iran as well as Iranian-backed militias on its borders.

Having failed to crush Hamas' firepower in its Gaza offensive last winter, or Hezbollah's in its 2006 war in Lebanon, Israel is turning to an increasingly sophisticated mix of defensive technology.

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My Comment: It appears that Israel has made the decision that another war is down the horizon, and that it would be best if they prepare themselves for the worse. This is a clear vote of no confidence in the peace process and/or U.S. policy in the Middle East .... or any other policy for that matter.

Can Obama Avert An Arab-Israeli Disaster? -- A Commentary

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Time is running out for Israel and the Palestinians. Barack Obama may be the last American president to have the option of pursuing an accord leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, the so-called two-state solution.

If that fails, another generation will be locked into bloodshed and strife. That is the bleak scenario painted by two senior American Middle East experts in a new book, Restoring the Balance, a Middle East Strategy for the Next President. It is the product of an 18-month joint study by the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations, two pillars of the U.S. foreign policy establishment.

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