Egypt: And Now It Begins

In the Arab Muslim world labeling one's enemy a Jew immediately gives you political advantage. Hence, Mubarak was not just a dictator but a Jewish-Israeli dictator.

The mainstream media invented a feel-good narrative called The Arab Spring.

In this soft-focus tale, a multitude of young, freedom-loving tweeters, fed up with the fossilized Arab regimes, were bravely ushering in Jeffersonian democracy.

Seraphic Secret, along with other bloggers and writers who actually understand the Middle East, warned that the aspiring Arab Muslim democrats were, in fact, stalking horses for Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood. We could see the hand of the Islamists everywhere, from the malignant Jew-hatred in the streets to the sexual abuse of women in Tahrir Square.

From the chattering classes we kept hearing about “moderate Islamists” which makes about as much sense as moderate Nazis.

We have not written a great deal about the massacres in Syria because much as we deplore the murder of innocent civilians we understand that both sides are willing to use such methods. The only difference being that at the moment Assad has the attack helicopters. If the other side gets attack helicopters you better believe they will use them on civilians because that’s how things roll in the Arab Muslim world where tribalism and religious sectarianism define personal and political relationships.

Meanwhile, Israel sits on the sidelines watching various scorpions fight for dominance. And now, as in biblical days, Egypt is the state that most matters.

Seraphic Secret knows of no one as well-informed about the region as Barry Rubin who analyzes the current situation in Egypt:

A well-organized, well-equipped group of terrorists has attacked Israel from Egyptian territory Monday morning, possibly the second such Egyptian-assisted assault in a week.

An armed squad of two men—said to be Hamas, though this is not confirmed—crossed the border after travelling 30 miles from the Gaza Strip through Egyptian territory. They wore flak jackets, camouflaged uniforms, and carried a large amounts of explosives. Members of their support team remained on the Egyptian side of the border. The two men hid by Israel’s highway 12, near an area called White River Lake. When two vehicles came by, carrying workers finishing up a security fence to guard against just such attacks, they set off a bomb that had been placed on the roadway and fired a rocket-propelled grenade. Both missed but bullets from a Kalashnikov hit one of the vehicles which flipped over. One Israeli, an ethnic Arab labor contractor, was killed, two or three terrorists have been shot dead.

Within minutes, Israeli soldiers arrived and fired on the terrorists. Their bullets blew up a suicide vest being worn by one of them, killing two of the attackers.

This event follows a report in Haaretz newspaper, attributed to Israeli security officials, that the Muslim Brotherhood had asked Hamas to attack Israel. According to the story, an Egyptian Bedouin unit was given the job of firing a rocket, which landed in open ground in southern Israel. This story was not picked up by other Israeli newspapers, suggesting either that it was wrong or that it had been a security leak which the army had then stopped.

So far this year, 280 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel. This has prompted no international concern or action. The new fence along the Egypt-Israel border is mostly complete but due to difficult terrain the last portion will only be finished late this year.

At any rate, we are now at the beginning of Egypt’s involvement, directly or indirectly, in a new wave of terrorist assault on Israel. If the Muslim Brotherhood takes over Egypt, a likelihood made less probable perhaps by the military’s dissolution of parliament, this offensive will enjoy official support. Even if the army remains in control, the Brotherhood and Salafists will use their considerable assets to back this new insurgency war.

Full story here.