The World Wonders: "Is Arab Democracy Good for Israel?"

"...the dilemma is most acute inside Israel, where each Egyptian scenario has an almost immediate impact. It is impossible to exaggerate the degree to which Israel will feel the shockwaves of this Arab revolution. But it is unclear just what that impact will be. That's why Israelis have used tectonic metaphors to describe the situation. Many have called it "an earthquake," while others have said that Israel is now "living on a volcano."...

... Nothing fosters realism more than heavily armed enemies on your borders. As Yossi Klein Halevi explained, "Israelis want to rejoice over the outbreak of protests in Egypt's city squares." But, he added, "the grim assumption is that it is just a matter of time before the only real opposition group in Egypt, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, takes power."

....The showdown in Cairo drew into sharp focus the inconsistency between the democratic West's avowed values and its realpolitik behavior. While Washington and its European friends speak out loudly for political freedom and human rights, they have spent decades knowingly supporting Arab dictators who violently suppressed democracy, for the sake of stability....

The ambivalence was apparent in Israel, when the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement saying that Netanyahu, in private conversations, had told other leaders that Israel is a democratic nation that supports democratic values in the entire Middle East. "The advancement of these values will help peace," Netanyahu said, before adding, "However, if this will make it possible for extreme forces to take advantage of democratic processes to rise to power and promote anti-democratic goals -- as happened in Iran and elsewhere -- then the results will harm both peace and democracy." The statement came after Netanyahu had urged the West not to abandon Mubarak....

One of the most dangerous aspects of today's events is that, while many of the Arab autocrats have good relations with Washington and often quietly good relations with Israel, their populations have been fed a diet of anti-American and especially anti-Israel conspiracy theories..."