By As'ad AbuKhalil - Mon, 2011-09-12 15:17
It will be a definitive moment—or one of the definitive moments in the on-going history of the Egyptian uprising. People may be compelled to distinguish between the history before the storming of the Israeli embassy in Cairo and the history after it. The media of the Arab counter-revolution (primarily Saudi and Qatari) were very nervous and awkward in covering the story. It happened on a Friday when all the propaganda outlets should be focused exclusively on Syria (because the rest of the Arab world has become democratic, thanks to efforts of Gulf Cooperatoin Council (GCC) in the region. Al-Arabiya (the news station of King Fahd’s brother-in-law) posted an odd picture showing barely anybody in Tahrir Squre accompanied by a story about “tens” of protesters attacking the Israeli occupation embassy in Cairo. Aljazeera Arabic was busy talking to Abu Muhammad and other unidentified witnesses in Syria as part of its propaganda show for Friday (which is so crude and sensational that it winds up helping the propaganda efforts of the repressive regime because Aljazeera has now stooped to the level of typical Arab regimes TV stations). Yet, all stations later realized that the story was big and is getting bigger. They were compelled to cover it although Saudi papers did not mind ignoring the story. Aljazeera’s correspondent in Cairo, who is an unabashed propagandist for the Military Council, basically condemned the protesters on the air, while the weak correspondent of Lebanese MTV expressed alarm at the protests because—he said—the “goals of the revolution have been achieved.” Egyptian liberals were very uneasy: the task of Arab liberals is to impress the White Man, and this moment was very embarrassing for them. Arab liberals are embarrassed by Arab popular antipathy toward Israel.
Zionists in Israel and the West were very nervous: Israeli media did what they often do: Propagate lies and fabrications. Israeli media earlier claimed that the Israeli embassy was not stormed. Only when the footage from the inside of the embassy was released by al-Masir al-Yawm, did the media admit the obvious. The New York Times and other Zionist media quickly agreed on the following scenario:
1) That the attack on the wall was a violent act (soon it will be classified as a terrorist act and perpetrators would be added to the US list of most dangerous Arab terrorists);
2) That the attackers were not really protesters but were “football hooligans”. Zionists cannot accept or acknowledge the extent of Arab hatred for Israel and for Israelis. One can never underestimate the extent to which Zionists delude themselves: they wanted to believe that King Abdullah of Jordan spoke for all Palestinians; they wanted to believe that Nasser was not popular; they wanted to believe that the PLO was hated by Palestinians; they wanted to believe that Palestinians would forget their homeland in a decade or two; they wanted to believe that Bashir Gemayyel can lead Lebanon towards “peace” with Israel; and they wanted to believe that Mubarak’s regime is immortal.
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| Arab popular anger at Israel is very real |
The showdown at the embassy was revealing. It exposed the delusional character of Zionist commentaries on the Egyptian Uprising. Thomas Friedman and other Zionists—including Arab cheerleaders for Zionists—have insisted for months that the Egyptian Uprising had no foreign policy goals. They wanted to believe that no uprising or even revolution can alter the Camp David reality. Zionists wanted to believe that Israel’s status in the region following Sadat’s ill-cited visit to Jerusalem would never change.
All these misconceptions were put to rest. Arab popular anger at Israel is very real, Israeli wishful thinking notwithstanding. Israel is increasingly being revealed as weak and impotent, regardless of its military superiority. The details of Israeli diplomatic activities during the embassy showdown were very revealing. How Field Marshal Tantawi, not known for his strong personality or defiance, ignored repeated phone calls to his office from top Israeli officials. How Israeli leaders repeatedly called US officials to help them evacuate their staff, terrorists and spies from Egypt. Israel has only the US to rely on, although the US is the best ally to have in this world we live in. But this behavior by Israeli officials during the crisis reveals a serious strategic failure on behalf of Israel. Even US help and rescue won’t save Israel from what will inevitably befall it.
Uprooted Palestinian
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