Crisis in Egypt Tests U.S. Ties With Israel
Share with others:
WASHINGTON -- The demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak's government in Egypt are rocking the relationship between the United States and its most important Arab ally. But they are also rocking an even more fundamental relationship for the United States -- its 60-year alliance with Israel.
Obama administration officials have been on the telephone almost daily with their Israeli counterparts urging them to "please chill out," in the words of one senior administration official, as President Obama has raced to respond to the rapidly unfolding events.
But the crisis raises many questions about how the United States will navigate its relationship with Israel -- in particular the balance between encouraging the development of a democratic government in Egypt and the desire in Washington not to risk a new government's abandoning Mr. Mubarak's benign posture toward Israel.
The unsettled outlook in Egypt has also scrambled American calculations about nurturing peace talks back to life between Israel and the Palestinians. And it has left both American and Israeli diplomats wondering about a broader regional realignment in which Israel would be left feeling more isolated and its enemies, including Iran and Syria, emboldened.
Israeli government officials started out urging the Obama administration to back Mr. Mubarak, administration officials said, and were initially angry at Mr. Obama for publicly calling on the Egyptian leader to agree to a transition.
"The Israelis are saying, après Mubarak, le deluge," said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator. And that, in turn, Mr. Levy said, "gets to the core of what is the American interest in this. It's Israel. It's not worry about whether the Egyptians are going to close down the Suez Canal, or even the narrower terror issue. It really can be distilled down to one thing, and that's Israel."
A White House spokesman, Tommy Vietor, said on Friday that administration officials were reassuring the Israelis that "we fully understand Israel's security concerns, and we're making clear that our commitment to Israel's security is unshakeable."
First Published February 5, 2011 12:01 am
