ently more stable and less
powerful, Israel's relationships
belligerent toward Israel. In
in the Middle East will be at
this respect, Turkey could
risk. For example, while the
be the model: a democracy
governments of Israel and
in a Muslim country whose
Saudi Arabia see eye to eye
relationship with Israel
on such issues as the Iranian
persists even at times when
nuclear threat and the rising
its government and people
danger of Shiite power, includ-
engage in harsh, anti-Israel
ing Hezbollah's ascendancy in
rhetoric.
Lebanon, the Saudi people —
Until the situations
like the people in Egypt and
Hosni Mubarak
in Egypt and elsewhere
Jordan — are more inclined
in the Middle East sort
to view Israel as a hated foe
themselves out, it seems there is little
rather than a country with which they
Israel can do but wait, watch and pray for
share common cause.
the best.
On the other hand, if countries such
That's not the case for the United States,
as Egypt or Tunisia were to become true
which wields influence in Arab capitals
democracies, they could become inher-

through a combination of aid, trade and
diplomacy. With future control over the
reins of power uncertain, however, the
United States is trying to keep all its
options open.
The balancing act the Obama adminis-
tration has tried to practice throughout the
Egyptian crisis offers a prime example.
With Egypt a longtime reliable and
stable ally, President Obama did not want
to alienate Mubarak in the event that he
stayed in power; otherwise, Washington
would be viewed as a turncoat, not a
friend. But if the street were to triumph,
Obama did not want to be seen as an
enemy of Egyptian popular will.
With Mubarak now gone, it's not clear
whether Obama's balancing act did the

trick — especially because it's not at all
clear who will lead Egypt.
If the Egyptian army controls the reins
of power, either overtly or behind the
scenes, it is likely that the situation will not
change drastically in the near term. The
army, much of it funded by the $1.3 billion
in annual U.S. aid to Egypt, is vested in its
positive relationship with the United States
and its working relationship with Israel.
Along with the Mubarak regime, the
army has been key to the fight against
Islamic terrorism; and it has helped con-
tain Hamas in the Gaza Strip and kept
anti-Israel elements in Egypt at bay.
The only thing that seems assured is
that more uncertainty lies ahead, in Cairo
and beyond.

Thoughts On Egypt

Local residents share impressions of the repercussions.

Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News

I

n late December, just over month
before Egypt's Tahrir Square began
filling with protestors, the Freeds
were there.
Eileen Freed, director of Israel/Overseas
and Community Relations for the Jewish
Federation of Washtenaw County, spent
four days in Egypt with her family: hus-
band, Gary, director of general pediatrics
at University of Michigan; Ben, a junior at
the University of Texas at Austin; Michele,
a participant in Young Judaea Year Course
in Israel; and Ariel, a sophomore at Ann
Arbor Huron High School.
Their tour guide in Cairo was Rafiq, a
young man in his early 30s, married with
a young child.
"I could kick myself for not having got-
ten his e-mail address',' she said, wishing
she could find out how he is doing. "He
told us that no one likes [President Hosni]
Mubarak," Freed said. "They say Mubarak
got 80 percent of the vote; but he said that
nobody he knows voted for him."
Noting his dissatisfaction, she said
they asked him about the possibility of a
revolution. His answer seemed to under-
score the importance of social media, like
Facebook, in making it possible for the
society to rise up as a group and create a
mass movement.
"He said: `Look, I'm not going to start it
by myself; but if there is a public uprising
I'll join in," she said, recalling his expla-
nation why change was so difficult. "He
didn't think anyone would start it because
they know what will happen — they'll be
arrested, and it won't go anywhere."
In Cairo, they would see people throw-

ing garbage anywhere; Freed remembers
asking Rafiq why people did that. He
explained that their culture was different;
she wonders if it was also a reaction to
having no stake in the way things were
run.
"I wonder if they'll now have a feeling
that it's more in their own hands:' she
said. "Maybe it will give them more of a
sense of responsibility for things around
them."
She said it was no secret they were vis-
iting from Israel, but it created no prob-
lems; and they didn't hear or see anything
special in Egyptian attitudes toward Israel
or Jews. But they did have armed security
as they headed through the Sinai and she
felt relief once they arrived back in Israel.
"My sense from what I saw there, and
what I've heard on television [during
the revolution], is that they were clearly
focusing on their own country and mak-
ing it better," she said.

Interested In Democracy
In the mid-1990s, Jack Caminker of West
Bloomfield spent several months in E gypt
working with Egyptian businessmen as
a volunteer with the U.S. Department of
Commerce.
"I learned there
are some very
intelligent people
there',' he said, add-
ing that the people
he spent time with
were much more
educated and
politically aware
Jack Caminker
than the average
Egyptian. "They
have different standards and mores about

how to conduct their lives, and that is
fine; but they also seemed very interested
in becoming more democratic.
"Not only were they very interested in
organizing and running a profitable busi-
ness," he recalled, but "they also asked a
lot of questions about our system of gov-
ernment in the United States and about
our freedoms."
Caminker said he was able to see
amazing artifacts throughout Egypt and
he's concerned about reports that some
were stolen or destroyed. "I don't think
they realize what they are tearing down:'
he said. "It really makes me sad."

Hopes And Fears
Rabbi Michael Moskowitz, of Temple
Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield and
president of the Oakland County-based
Michigan Board of Rabbis, said his first
reaction was positive after hearing of
Mubarak's resignation.
"I thought
about it being a
celebration for
democracy and
what it represents
for every person
having a voice
and being heard:'
he said. "But you
Rabbi Moskowitz
have to balance
democracy and
stability, both of which are very impor-
tant to us and to the Middle East."
He finds it encouraging that the
Egyptian military has said that it will
honor its treaties, because "while not
a warm peace, peace with Egypt is
tremendously important and provides
Israel with needed security." He also said

it was "quite promising" that the protest-
ers were largely peaceful.
While disturbed about reports of anti-
Semitic and anti-Israel signs and slogans
among the protesters, he said that overall
they were "very minimal."
"A lot of their focus has been on two
issues: food and jobs:' he said.

Prayer And Mitzvot
"I'm sympathetic to the legitimate
requests for democracy by the
Egyptian people said Rabbi Elimelech
Silberberg of the Sara and Morris
Tugman Bais
Chabad Torah
Center in West
Bloomfield. "And
I hope and pray
that the next
leaders will be
sympathetic to
Israel."
Rabbi Silberberg
But he doesn't
think they will be.
"They hated Mubarak and I assume
they hate Israel with a similar passion
because he was seen as a friend of
Israel," he said. "There is no question
that the new government will be more
Islamic; and we have to assume that the
next ruler of Egypt will be more hostile
to Israel.
"There is no good example of Arab
democracy in the Middle East. In Iraq,
there is a democracy; but the killing
goes on as does the hatred of Israel,"
Silberberg said. "We have to wait now
and see what God has in store for us.
We can only pray and do more mitzvos
[commandments] to block negative
consequences." 1 I

13