May 12, 2004
by Reb Yudel |
Did the war do Israel any good, or would it have been better to have left Saddam in place as a weakened and pursued tyrant? The answer is complex. Israel received generous guarantees for the rescue of its economy, the threat that had developed in Libya was removed, and Iran has encountered increasing pressure against its nuclear programs. This was the situation in the first moments of victory. But from the moment the wheel turned, and Iraq became a second Vietnam - a war without reason or purpose - the inevitable fallout from America's weakness has landed on Israel, its satellite in the region.The problem is not only in making Israel a scapegoat because the architects of the war are Jewish. The failure also has a diplomatic price....
The Americans do not understand the first thing about the Middle East and the Arabs. Bush's interview to the Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram demonstrated the gap. The Egyptian interviewer asked about the rights of the Palestinians, the stealing of their land and the right of return, and the president talked about "help to stimulate the entrepreneurial class so businesses will grow" in the Palestinian state.
Israel is now reaping the benefits of this ignorance. But the benevolent hour is waning. Even if Arab culture is foreign to the Americans, the skyrocketing prices of oil are well understood in Washington and in Texas. The stronger the reaction to the war grows in the United States, the stronger the call will be to exact a price from Israel. And this poses a complicated challenge to Sharon and his partners in the Israeli leadership.
