They ain't moderate. Whoever says
that they are loses credibility points.
David
"I don't understand why
the same newspaper commentators who
bemoan the terrible education given
to poor people are always so eager
to have those poor people get out
and vote."--P.
J. O'Rourke
On 1/30/2011 1:07 PM, [email protected] wrote:
No question that the MB is fiercely anti-Semitic and
anti-Israel
In so many words, if the MB is "moderate" what is extreme ?
=============================================================
Jerusalem Post
If
Brotherhood takes over, IDF will face formidable enemy
By
YAAKOV
KATZ
01/30/2011
02:29
Analysis:
This year is turning into critical one for Israeli
isolation in the Mideast. Turkey is gone and Egypt appears
to be on way.
The collapse of Hosni Mubarak’s
regime in Egypt is not yet about Israel but soon will be,
depending on his successor.
If the Muslim Brotherhood
grabs the reins in the massive Arab country, Israel will
face an enemy with one of the largest and strongest
militaries around, built on some of the most advanced
American-made platforms.
The impact on Israel will be immediate – the IDF will need
to undergo major structural changes, new units will need to
be created and forces in the South will likely need to be
beefed up. Since the Yom Kippur War
in 1973, the IDF has not had to worry about two fronts at
once. Until now.
The appointment of Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman as
the vice president in Egypt is a reassuring sign for Israel.
Suleiman has played a key role in Israeli- Egyptian
relations over the years and is considered in charge of the
“Israeli Dossier” His office has been responsible for
coordinating efforts to stop smuggling via tunnels under the
Philadelphi Corridor with Gaza and he is considered
something of a moderate in comparison to outgoing Defense
Minister Mohamed Tantawi.
In a cable published recently by WikiLeaks, Suleiman told
the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2009 that
Egypt was stopping Iranian money from making its way through
the country to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
A new regime in Egypt could change all of that, and the
transfer of Iranian funds to Hamas would be the least of
Israel’s concerns.
Due to the peace with Egypt and Jordan as well as the
toppling of Saddam Hussein
in Iraq, the IDF has spent the last decade focused on the
internal Palestinian threat, Lebanon, Syria and Iran.
Israel’s military buildup was performed accordingly,
including procurement plans regarding the number of tanks,
armored personnel carriers and fighter jets acquired.
“With its current assets, the IDF will currently find it
very difficult to be able to deal with two live fronts at
once,” a senior defense official admitted recently.
In the meantime, in Israel the hope is that Mubarak survives
the calls for his downfall and that the appointment of
Suleiman as well as the dismissal of the government succeeds
in easing the demonstrations on the streets.
At the moment, assessments in Israeli intelligence circles
are that Mubarak will survive. The demonstrations throughout
Egypt, while large and growing, do not have an organized
leadership behind them, and fearing a violent crackdown, the
Muslim Brotherhood is staying underground.
The question, though, is what happens the “day after”
Mubarak? Who will succeed him and what role will the Muslim
Brotherhood play? Israel’s concerns though are not isolated
to Egypt. One former senior Mossad official said on Saturday
that Israel needed to be more concerned with a potential
revolution in Jordan.
“In Egypt, Israel has Sinai as a major buffer zone,” the
official said. “This is not the case in Jordan, where there
is a massive Palestinian population that could directly
threaten Israel through the West Bank.”
This year is turning into a critical one for Israel, which
is finding itself increasingly isolated within the Middle
East. Turkey is gone and Egypt appears to be on the way.
--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
<[email protected]>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
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