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Setting the Record Straight on Israel

(Weekly Standard) Lee Smith interviews Martin Kramer - Americans tend to assume that everyone wants democracy, and that more democracy is the solution for dysfunctional parts of the world. But parts of the Middle East resist because democracy and its freedoms undercut the entire political, social, and moral order. So if you bring down a dictator, you unshackled all the genies that the dictator locked up, such as Islamism and sectarianism. Americans sometimes forget that Israel really is a vibrant democracy. Israel's top leaders are sometimes faulted in America for not making "tough decisions" or taking "risks for peace." But they're politicians in a democracy, they answer to voters. In almost every household, there are soldiers and reservists who know the realities surrounding Israel through first-hand experience. Israel doesn't face a dire threat from any of its Arab neighbors. But the looming challenge is Iran's almost limitless regional ambitions. Blunting the thrust of Iran is a multi-decade project. The nuclear deal has postponed the reckoning, but the challenge still looms. Martin Kramer is the founding president of Shalem College in Jerusalem, where he chairs the department of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies.
2016-11-08 00:00:00
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