by Ami Isseroff There are still a great many things that are unclear about the Arab revolts. Israelis, for example, watch nervously to find out if the new Egyptian government will honor the peace treaty. One message, however, is shouted out loud and clear to “progressive” opponents of Israel in Europe and the USA. Unbelievably, nobody is talking about it:
The revolts exposed the dirty little secret of most Arab and Islamic regimes. It is a “secret” that almost everyone in the Middle East knows, and it turns all the dogmatic cant about “Zionist imperialism” and “Apartheid Israel” into ludicrous drivel.
The dirty little secret of the Middle East is that most of the regimes of this region are repressive despotisms that would make Fascist Italy look like an enlightened democracy. Government-controlled media and Western ignorance shield Arab and Muslim despots from the truth. They have mounted a propaganda war against Israel, based on spurious rhetoric and charges of human rights violations and channeled their message though naive idealists in UC Berkeley, London’s SOAS and other respected institutions. Aided by oil-hungry Western powers, they have extended the farce to the United Nations.
Libya, a member of of the Human Rights Council, bombed its own citizens. Saudi Arabia, another member of the UNHRC, does not allow the most elementary rights to women or citizenship rights for its guest workers. Non-Saudis are not second class citizens. They are not any sort of citizens. They have no rights at all. How’s that for Arab “apartheid?” The same pattern is repeated in many Arabian Peninsula countries.
Iran hangs about two opposition leaders each day. Its leaders crow about imaginary Islamic revolutions in other countries, but are merciless in putting down domestic opposition in their own country. Bahai and other minority members cannot preach or practice their faith.
Syria is ruled as a caliphate of the Assad dynasty, Assad II succeeded Assad I. This government is very stable; we can be sure of election results. 100% of the voters will vote for Basher Assad, because nobody else is on the ballot. Opposition may be hazardous to your health. Syria’s Kurds have no rights, but nobody cares. The most “downtrodden” Arab in “apartheid” Israel has more civil liberties that any of the victims of “Arab democracy” in Egypt, Libya or Syria. He or she can publish their opinions, worship as they please and run for office in free elections. Israeli Arabs are guaranteed a fair trial and freedom from arbitrary arrest. These elementary freedoms are absent in the Arab and Islamic despotisms championed by American and European progressives, and that is why people are demonstrating. These rights are denied to Arabs living in the Palestinian territories, but they are denied by the Palestinian governments, not by Israel.
The Egyptian government was mild and orderly compared to most of these regimes, yet Egyptians loathed Hosni Mubarak with good reason. Corruption, incompetence, sham elections and persecution of the Coptic Christian minority characterized this “good” Arab country.
The “progressives” found an excuse that will distract everyone from the ugly reality: Egyptian tyranny can be blamed on the American imperialist colonialists or the Zionist imperialist colonialists. Take your choice. Of course, the despotism of Muammar Gaddaffi and the Iranian regime or the Assad dynasty cannot really be blamed on Israel or the United States.
Progressives would do well to save their compassion for the hapless victims of Arab and Muslim regimes, rather than the Hezbollah and Hamas. Those who are so eager to replace Israel with a “secular democratic state” should remember: There is really only one such state in the entire Middle East, Israel.
