In the sharpest of all possible contrasts, Israel, already under existential nuclear threat from Iran, is in the aftershocks of the biggest upheaval to have hit the region in more than 30 years. The events in Egypt and Jordan have potentially added another two hostile fronts to those existing with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza. What kind of time is this to be playing games with the head of the Israel Defense Forces? And for personal reasons?
Those aftershocks are not just military but also political. The WikiLeaks and Al-Jazeera disclosures have seriously damaged the credibility (if it ever existed) of Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah leadership. Having learned nothing from his poker game with Arafat, Ehud Barak continues to use his position as de-facto foreign minister to bet the Jewish house on Abbas – a man whom Ariel Sharon famously described as “a chicken without feathers.”
If a man as powerful and entrenched as Mubarak can be ousted in less than a month, what possible value can there be in a peace agreement with Abbas – let alone an agreement under which Israel surrenders the hills overlooking Ben Gurion Airport?
All the self-hating Jewish loudmouths in the Diaspora amount to nothing in terms of endangering Israel when compared to Israel’s own government ministers who irresponsibly and cavalierly indulge their power trips in such dangerous times.
This is the Jewish people’s only state. Stop playing with it.
Zalmi Unsdorfer is chairman of Likud-Herut in the UK. He blogs at www.zalmi.net.
