Egypt Good For Israel Good For Egypt?

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Of course the front page of this morning’s Maariv asks the wrong question. To ask if the upheavals across the Arab world and now in Egypt are “good for Israel” is understandable enough if you happen to live in or care about Israel. But it’s still the wrong question because it reflects a narrow and short sighted perspective, not the worst, but a gross kind of national egoism. The question suggests that the person or people who ask it don’t really care about a population of  90 million people. The “real” question is if the upheaval in Egypt is good for Egypt. The jury is still out, but I would like to hope and it just might be that what’s good for Egypt is good for Israel. I’m going to entertain the naive thought that what peace must surely mean is the integration of interests and people into a universal good. That’s called “cosmopolitanism.”

About zjb

Zachary Braiterman is Professor of Religion in the Department of Religion at Syracuse University. His specialization is modern Jewish thought and philosophical aesthetics. http://religion.syr.edu
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