Thread: Worse. Than. Carter.

Its [Israel´s] remarkable progress over the decades has not liberated it from a multi-pronged peril that includes nearly every means imaginable:weapons of mass destruction, conventional military attack, terrorism, internal subversion, economic blockade, demographic assault, and ideological undermining. No other contemporary state faces such an array of threats; indeed, probably none in history ever has.

The enemies of Israel divide into two main camps: the Left and the Muslims, with the far Right a minor third element. The Left includes a rabid edge (International ANSWER, Noam Chomsky) and a more polite centre (United Nations General Assembly, Canada's Liberal Party, the mainstream media, mainline churches, school textbooks). In the final analysis, however, the Left serves less as a force in its own right than as an auxiliary for the primary anti-Zionist actor, which is the Muslim population.

This latter, in turn, can be divided into three distinct groupings.

First come the foreign states: Five armed forces that invaded Israel on its independence in May 1948, and then neighboring armies, air forces, and navies fought in the wars of 1956, 1967, 1970, and 1973. While the conventional threat has somewhat receded, Egypt's U.S.-financed arms build-up presents one danger and the threats from weapons of mass destruction (especially from Iran but also from Syria and potentially from many other states) present an even greater one.

Second come the external Palestinians, those living outside Israel. Sidelined by governments from 1948 until 1967, Yasir Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization got their opportunity with the defeat of three states' armed forces in the Six-Day War. Subsequent developments, such as the 1982 Lebanon war and the 1993 Oslo accords, confirmed the centrality of external Palestinians. Today, they drive the conflict, through violence (terrorism, missiles from Gaza) and even more importantly by driving world opinion against Israel via a public relations effort that resonates widely among Muslims and the Left.

Third come the Muslim citizens of Israel, the sleepers in the equation. In 1949, they numbered merely 111,000, or 9 percent of Israel's population but by 2005, they had multiplied ten-fold, to 1,141,000, and to 16 percent of the population. They benefited from Israel's open ways to evolve from a docile and ineffective community into a assertive one that increasingly rejects the Jewish nature of the Israeli state, with potentially profound consequences for that the future identity of that state.

Israel's Predicament at 60: World's worst neighbourhood :: Daniel Pipes

In the ideological undermining bit, we know quite a bit here.

On the point raised before about conventional attacks, I agree with Pipes that while it has receded, there can be a danger from Egypt. Perhaps not a head on confrontation, but I think Egypt is a wreck, I think it would be worse in 10 years time, and is possibly going to be taken over by the Muslim Brotherhood or some other terrorist gang. Egypt is the major center in the Arab/Muslim World spreading anti-semitic propaganda, and its population is brainwashed with it. And Egypt for example has something like 700 Abrams tanks (which I understand are better than the Merkavas) and other advanced weapons - paid for by the US.

Originally Posted by Officer of Engineers

That Israel sucks at playing the turning your enemies against each other game.

Sir, I didn´t get your point. Could you explain it briefly?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Castellano

...And Egypt for example has something like 700 Abrams tanks (which I understand are better than the Merkavas) and other advanced weapons - paid for by the US.

We have Jimmy Carter to thank for that. Side agreements to the Camp David Accords require the US to give Egypt 75% of however much we give Israel. So if Israel gets $4 billion in aid, Egypt gets $3 Billion.

This is the deal Carter struck, and the US has been paying both countries to pretend they like each other ever since.