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The Middle East riots as depicted by the Israeli media

“Demonstrations + Twitter + Google Maps + Real time updates = Addicting”, announced Michael Baum’s status on Facebook a couple of days ago. It received many “likes” and a number of comments, such as:

“I know what you’re saying, I’m glued to the TV.”

“No man, I’m glued to the computer. It’s much more fun”

“Yeah, you’re right. TV is the old media, I guess I have an anachronistic personality.”

“Have you read this one: ‘China has just blocked the option to search the word ‘Egypt’ on the online searching engines and social networks, on grounds of an aspired attempt to organize a demonstration against the government.”

“Of course I’ve read it. Check out this one: An Egyptian father has named his daughter ‘Facebook’, as a way of thanking the site for its role in helping protesters organise the demonstrations.”

Michael Baum and his friends are all Israelis. The Middle East riots have been occupying them and their likes for the past weeks. This is THE conversation of the day in Israel, and THE Facebook topic of the week and THE subject of bloggers, Twitter users, and commentators in the Israeli web-sphere lately. One can argue that this statement would be true everywhere in the world these days, which is probably right, but with one difference - Israeli youths are much closer to the events in the Middle East. They see the Arab nations as their neighbours - geographically and mentally speaking. They follow the news as they would follow an event in their own neighbourhood. This proximity to the riots arouses two opposite emotions in the Israeli public – a feeling of brotherly empathy on the one hand, and a tremendous fear on the other.

“There’s not much to say, the events in the Arab world are just astonishing. The public victory in Tunisia and Egypt, the cruel craziness in Libya, Morocco, Iran and Bahrain – it’s unbelievable. Absolutely amazing. Is there a chance that I will live to see the results of this mesmerising drama? Or will this privilege be kept only for my children?”
This is a post by Ronen Meir, one of the senior bloggers on the scene.  His verbal admiration emphasises the surprise aspect of it all. No one really saw this coming. But it shows yet another aspect – pride. Israelis see themselves as “the people”. There are not many elites in the Israeli society and social class distinction is not as pronounced as in Europe. Thus, everyone is part of the public, of “the people”. So when a neighbouring public rebels against its elites, most Israelis are first of all, proud of it.

But pride is not all of it, as Udi Burg’s blog, another veteran in the sphere, reveals:
“In principle, we are not supposed to have any problem with these riots. In most of these countries, the reign is comprised of corrupt families that rule for decades, and take care only of a certain part of the population and deprive the other part. But the whole story becomes entangled, and not for Israel’s best interests, when the only possible replacement for Mubarak is the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’, who’s not considered a big fan of Israel. And what will happen if they will take over? I guess I shouldn’t scare the already scared among us, but I can tell you that good won’t come out of it”.

Yes, Israelis do fear the rising of the “Muslim Brotherhood” movement in the Arab world, like other people do. It seems as if most of the Western world shares this fear. But in Israel this feeling bears a slight difference. Israel’s current government is comprised of a coalition of six parties, three among them are considered religious, and therefore attract mostly religious voters. Jerusalem, the capital city, has had mayor Uri Lupolianski, a religiously orthodox man, for the past five years. Thus, Israelis should know from up close that religion doesn’t necessarily mean lack of democracy.

Israelis, in general, have a large consensus over the idea of democracy. They may differ in how they see it being fulfilled, argue for decades over the occupation of the Palestinian territories, or fight over the Jewish character of their democracy; but they do agree on democracy as a general idea. This is why it is surprising that when it comes to Egypt or any other Arab country, they fear it.

One reason for that fear may be the difficulty in understanding that supporting a democratic regime in Egypt does not necessarily mean supporting the rise to power of the “Muslim Brotherhood” or any other Muslim-orthodox regime. It just means that the diversity of the Egyptian people could be expressed by its political class, as it is expressed in Israel. Roy Chicky Arad, an Israeli journalist, who often travels to Egypt, wrote the following in Haaretz newspaper:

“I don’t see why we should feel threatened by the riots. I don’t understand how people have the arrogance to think that democracy is a toy that belongs to the Western world alone. This moment had to come. We shouldn’t be afraid or surprised by it; we should just wonder how come it didn’t happen a long time ago”.

Democracy, as Israelis should know, is just the starting point. Yes, it has its share of problems, such as wars, financial crisis and occupation, but as a starting point, it’s quite alright. The people in Tahrir Square demonstrate for their freedom, the freedom to say what is on their minds, the freedom to express their satisfaction or disappointment with their leaders by means of demonstrations or elections. They deserve it, as anyone else does. Therefore, this is what Israelis should wish for their Arab neighbours - a good starting point, just as they have had.

Tags: bahrain, china, egypt, facebook, haaretz, im, israel, jerusalem, journalist, mayor, michael baum, michael baums, middle east, mubarak, muslim brotherhood, online searching engines, ronen meir, roy chicky arad, social networks, tahrir square, tunisia, twitter, uri lupolianski,

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