(World Affairs) Michael J. Totten - The Egyptians and Saudis aren't worried about Israel anymore. Cairo and Riyadh - like most Arab capitals - are far more worried about Iran, especially now that Washington is letting Tehran come in from the cold as part of the nuclear deal. Egypt's General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has turned out to be a staunch champion of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, not because he loves the Israelis - surely he doesn't - but because, like all Egyptian Army officers, he's painfully aware that another war with Israel would be just as stupid and pointless as the previous wars with Israel and that Egypt would get its ass kicked all over again for nothing. And he's realistic enough to know that the Israelis won't wake up some random morning and decide to bomb Cairo just for the hell of it. The Saudis are congenitally incapable of saying anything friendly about Israel in public, but behind closed doors, the Saudis get along with Israel fine. The real threat from Iran is uniting most of the Arab states, and it's triggering a serious rethink about the non-threat from the Jewish state.
2016-04-26 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive