At the time of writing these lines, the sun continues to shine and even though the Muslim Brotherhood is in power in Egypt, the country has not been cloaked in darkness. It was not out of excessive love of secularism that Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi declared in Tehran that Egypt is a modern, constitutional democracy. Egypt has not adapted itself to the Brotherhood, it is the Brotherhood that has adapted itself to Egypt, which is known as "Umm al-Dunya," the mother of the world.
And at a time when the emissary of the prime minister of the only democracy in the Middle East - National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror - was busy requesting the blessing of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef to bomb the Iranian nuclear project, Cairo was filled with demonstrators demanding that the Brotherhood movement be dispersed. Democracy works in strange ways.
After he was elected, Morsi announced that he was resigning from the Muslim Brotherhood, and Egyptian journalists, with such chutzpah, surrounded the presidential palace to see if they could find a brother lurking there. I had a malicious thought: What if there was a demand here, in Israel, to disperse the religious parties that are strictly political parties but at the same time are occupied with typically civic tasks as education, charity and economic projects? I recalled the flood of poisonous curses uttered by Rabbi Ovadia against the Arabs and then I stopped thinking. As we all know, too many thoughts are bad for our health.
During the month of Ramadan, the television station Al Kahera Wal Nas, meaning "Cairo and the Public," broadcast a popular program of interviews under the title "Brotherhood Time," which, other than its title, was the total opposite of "Brotherhood time." The well-known director, Khaled Youssef, said on the program that the time of the Brotherhood would not last more than a few months. He stated that, had it not been for the agrarian reforms introduced by former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser - a bitter enemy of the Brotherhood - the fellahin, the agricultural laborers among whom Morsi grew up, would still be using donkeys. For his part, popular journalist Ibrahim Issa said the Brotherhood's power should not be underestimated. He described them as a military organization that resembles Hitler Youth, an organization whose members are brought up on discipline.
From day to day, it becomes clearer that democracy is actually good for the Arabs. In Tunisia, political life is bustling and the television is full of secular content even though it is "Brotherhood time." In Libya, democratic elections were held. In Yemen, a plebiscite took place and the squares turned into a giant parliament. In Morocco, the king is actually letting the opposition do what it wants. In Syria, the bloody regime is continuing because the world is not intervening. And in Saudi Arabia, huge demonstrations have taken place, which, for some reason, are not being reported. But here, in Israel, it's as if time is standing still.
"The Arabs are the same Arabs," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says repeatedly. And the Arab world is seen by some Middle East experts as the Wild West; one big Tora Bora. All that's missing is merely a proposal that it be locked up behind bars. But as absurd as it may sound, the Arab nation, like other nations, is not a nation of suicidal people. And now that the sun has begun to rise, lots of colors are appearing simultaneously and Arab society can be seen in its amazing technicolor.
That being the case, democracy not only benefits the Arabs but the Arabs also benefit democracy. It is a shame that, after 64 years, people here don't understand Arabic and don't know about Arabic history and culture. They don't even understand Arab humor. Because it is only by looking at Egyptian television stations that one can feel the intoxicating fragrance of the Arab spring. The period of corrupt leaders who made treaties with the hypocritical West is over. Now is the time of the Arab nations. And if we go back to the eternal question - is it good for the Jews? - the answer is affirmative. And don't let them try to disconcert you.
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