PAGE 2A HERITAGE FLORIDA JEWISH NEWS, SEPTEMBER 5, 2014
Spencer Platt/Getty
Iraqi families who fled ISIS fighters near the Iraqi city of Mosul prepare to sleep on the
ground near the Khazair temporary displacement camp in a Kurdish-controlled part of
Iraq, July 3, 2014.
By Uriel Heilman
(JTA)--Between the war
in Gaza and gains by Islamic
militants in Iraq, Syria and
Libya, there's plenty of cause
these days for pessimism
about the Middle East.
But amid all the fighting,
there's also some good news
for Israel.
If it wasn't obvious before,
the conflagrations have
driven home just how much
the old paradigms of the
Middle East have faded in an
erawhen the threat of Islamic
extremists has become the
overarching concern in the
Arab world. In this fight
against Islamic militancy,
many Arab governments find
themselves on the same side
as Israel.
A generation ago, much of
the Middle East was viewed
through the prism of the
Arab-Israeli conflict. Then,
during the Iraq War era of
the 2000s, the focus shifted
to the Sunni-Shiite divide
and the sectarian fighting it
spurred. By early 2011, the
Arab Spring movement had
become the template for the
region, generating excitement
that repressive autocratic gov-
ernments might be replaced
with fledgling democracies.
Instead, the Arab Spring
ushered in bloody civil wars
in Syria and Libya, providing
openings for violent Islamists.
Egypt's experiment in democ-
racy resulted in an Islamist-
led government, prompting
a backlash and coup a year
ago and the restoration of the
old guard.
After witnessing the out-
comes of the Arab Spring, the
old Arab order appears more
determined than ever to keep
its grip on power and beat back
any challenges, particularly
by potent Islamist adversaries.
The confluence of events
over the summer demon-
strates just how menacingly
Arab regimes view militant
Islam. A newly declared radi-
cal Islamic State, known by the
acronym ISIS, made rapid ter-
ritorial gains in Syria and Iraq,
brutally executing opponents
and capturing Iraq's second-
largest city. In Libya, Islamic
militants overran the Tripoli
airport while Egypt and the
United Arab Emirates carried
out airstrikes against them.
Concerning Gaza, Arab
governments (with one no-
table exception) have been
loath to offer support for the
Islamists who lead Hamas.
Let's consider the players.
Egypt
Having briefly experienced
a form of Islamist rule with
the election and yearlong
reign of President Mohamed
Morsi, a leader of the Muslim
Brotherhood, the pendulum
has swung back the other way
in Egypt.
The Egypt of President
Abdel Fattah al Sisi, who
seized power from Morsi, is
far more hostile to the Mus-
lim Brotherhood than Hosni
Mubarak's was before the
coup that toppled him from
the presidency in 2011. Sisi's
Egypt has outlawed the Broth-
erhood, arrested its leaders
and sentenced hundreds of
Brotherhood members to
death.
The Brotherhood's pain
has been Israel's gain. During
the Morsi era, Egypt's Sinai
Peninsula became a staging
ground for attacks against
Israel and a conduit for funnel-
ing arms to Hamas, a Brother-
hood affiliate. But after Sisi
took charge, he all but shut
down the smuggling tunnels
between Egypt and Gaza,
clamped down on lawlessness
in the Sinai, and ended the
discord that had taken hold
between Cairo and Jerusalem.
When Hamas and Israel
went to war this summer,
there was no question about
where Cairo stood. For weeks,
Egyptian mediators refused to
countenance Hamas' cease-
fire demands, presenting only
Israel's proposals. On Egyp-
tian TV, commentators lam-
basted and mocked Hamas
leaders.
With its clandestine air-
strikes in Libya over the last
few days, Egypt has shown
that it is willing to go beyond
its borders to fight Islamic
militants.
Saudi Arabia
It may be many years before
Israel reaches a formal peace
agreement with the Arab
monarchy that is home to
Islam's two holiest cities, but
in practice the interests of
the Saudis and Israelis have
aligned for years--particu-
larly when it comes to Iran,
Hamas and Hezbollah.
Saudi and Israeli leaders
are equally concerned about
Iran -- both are pressing the
U.S. administration to take
a harder line against Iran's
suspected nuclear weapons
Nations on page 18A
The Zionist Organization
of America expresses "appall"
at the Gaza resolution under
UN Security Council consider-
ation--and especially at the US
for apparently agreeing to it.
The proposed ceasefire res-
olution does not specifically
condemn Hamas by name, but
rather equates Hamas terror-
ism and the Israeli response
to it. The resolution wording
condemns "all violence and
hostilities directed against
civilians, aswell as indiscrimi-
nate attacks resulting in civil-
ian casualties, and all acts of
terrorism." No differentiation
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is made between the "indis-
criminate attacks" launched
by Hamas and intended to
kill unarmed civilians, and
the Israeli counter-attacks
designed to kill only terrorists
who hide behind civilians.
ZOA National President
Morton A. Klein said yester-
day, "We are appalled that
President Obama has chosen
to join this initiative to pass
a UN Security Council resolu-
tion that would grant a tre-
mendous victory to Hamas--
a practical victory, in terms
of easing the blockade on
Hamas-controlled Gaza, and
a moral one, by having the
military action of both Israel
and Hamas condemned as
if they were of equal moral
quality."
The resolution under UN
consideration was framed by
British, French and German
diplomats. It was learned yes-
terday that the U.S. had also
joined the initiative.
The ZOA also condemned
the ceasefire proposal for
calling to lift parts of Israel's
lawful blockade of Gaza. The
organization notes that the
blockade is designed to pre-
vent weaponry and war ma-
teriel reaching Hamas.
Klein termed the resolution
"morally worthless," in that it
does not condemn the Hamas
terrorist aggressor by name,
even though Hamas is listed
by both the US and the EU as a
terrorist organization that ac-
tively calls for the destruction
of Israel. He added thatthough
this is the type of resolution
that would normally result in
either a US veto or appropriate
modifications, "instead, the
Obama Administration ap-
pears to have climbed on board
this shabby, dishonest and
fraudulent document, which
represent amoral politics of the
lowest common denominator."
The ZOA found some posi-
tive in the proposed resolu-
tion: "We are aware the reso-
lution contains other, useful
elements--prohibition of the
sale or supply of weapons and
munitions to Gaza, security
arrangements to prevent re-
sumption of hostilities--but
long experience of the UN
system has shown that these
calls are merely aspirational
and rarely lead to any results."
"We call upon the U.S.
Congress and indeed all
Americans to urge the Obama
Administration to amend or
else veto this resolution," the
ZOA concludes.
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LOS ANGELES (JTA)--
Comedian Sarah Silverman
broke out a Jewish joke as she
took home atrophy at the 2014
Emmy Awards.
Silverman won for Best
Writing for a Variety Show
for her HBO comedy special
"Sarah Silverman:We are Mir-
acles." Upon being announced
as the winner, she dashed onto
the stage barefoot and thanked
heragents, saying,"Thankyou
to my Jews at CAA."
Prior to Monday night's
ceremony, Silverman set the
Internet abuzz when she an-
nounced in an interview on
the red carpet that she had
brought with her a vaporizer
with liquid pot.
Another Jewish winner
was Julianna Margulies, who
took home the Emmy as
Outstanding Lead Actress in
a Drama for her role as Alicia
Florrick on CBS's "The Good
Wife." It was the third Emmy
',rman wins
Sarah Silverman
for Margulies, who had won
earlier for "The Good Wife"
as well as for "ER."
The Emmy for Outstanding
TV Movie went to HBO's "The
Normal Heart," based on the
1985 play by Larry Kramer, a
Jewish writer and AIDS activ-
ist. Kramer's screenplay lost
to Noah Hawley for "Fargo."
