Monday, February 21, 2011

Why is America a better friend of Israel than Britain?

Last Friday saw the UN Security Council vote on a Palestinian proposal to call for Israel to stop building in towns in it's West Bank communities and to criticise Israel for its actions.  While in the past I have been very critical in the past of Obama's leadership in terms of the Israel-Palestinian peace-process, I was pleasantly surprised that the USA correctly to choose it's veto and was the only country of the 15 members of the Security Council to vote against this proposal.

The USA correctly understood that as a friend of Israel that wants to achieve peace it can not put all blame for the lack of a peace agreement on one party, while letting the Palestinian's to continue to get away with refusing to accept as a Jewish State that has a right to exist.  The only way to get any peace agreement is to work with the Governments and people of both Israel and the Palestinian Authority in order to achieve a negotiated peace.

And yet Britain, which continues to claim to be a friend of Israel, voted to support this Palestinian people.  This not only could put any peace agreement at risk but showed how little Britain and the world cares about Israel.  This is because at a time when the Arab world is in turmoil, the world and Britain continues to criticise Israel a democratic country trying to live in peace, while the UN ignores the Governments of Libya and Bahrain massacring its own people.  

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Egypt - What do we want for it's future?

It has been reported in the Israeli press this morning that British Foreign Secretary William Hague has warned Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to tone down his language about his worries about the current protests in Egypt.
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William Hague is right to be concerned about trying to ensure stability in the Middle East and for peace to continue or be achieved between Israel and it's Arab neighbours.  I do feel though that Hague has been again leant on by his Foreign Office advisers and not fully understood the concerns that Israel has as we watch the continued protests in Egypt.

As the only fully democratic country in the Middle East we in Israel should of course want to see greater democracy in our neighbouring countries, so that the will of the people can be fully achieved.  However, sadly in Arab countries this does not often seem to be the case.  Just as David Cameron warned that Britain should not give into radical Islam which has been on the rise, we in Israel are concerned about radical Islam next door to us on our borders.

That is why Israelis and our Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are concerned about seeing the current regime in Egypt be overthrown.  This is because for the past 30 years Egypt has been one of the few countries that has been at peace with us.  We therefore want to see fair elections occur in Egypt but we do not want a revolution with the Muslim Brotherhood taking over like in Iran 30 years ago where following the revolution led to a radical Islamic Government that now wants to destroy Israel.