Israeli Solipsism

I am Israel! Egypt is all about me, and so too is the United States (which better say pretty please if it knows what's good for it):

"The demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak's government in Egypt are rocking the relationship between the United States and its most important Arab ally. But they are also rocking an even more fundamental relationship for the United States - its 60-year alliance with Israel. Obama administration officials have been on the telephone almost daily with their Israeli counterparts urging them to 'please chill out', in the words of one senior administration official, as President Obama has raced to respond to the rapidly unfolding events. But the crisis raises many questions about how the United States will navigate its relationship with Israel - in particular the balance between encouraging the development of a democratic government in Egypt and the desire in Washington not to risk a new government's abandoning Mr Mubarak's benign posture toward Israel... Israeli government officials started out urging the Obama administration to back Mr Mubarak, administration officials said, and were initially angry at Mr Obama for publically calling on the Egyptian leader to agree to a transition. 'The Israelis are saying, apres Mubarak, le deluge', said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator. And that, in turn, Mr Levy said, 'gets to the core of what is the American interest in this. It's Israel. It's not worry about whether the Egyptians are going to close down the Suez Canal, or even the narrower terror issue. It really can be distilled down to one thing, and that's Israel'." (Crisis in Egypt tests US ties with Israel, Cooper & Landler, The New York Times, 4/2/11)

Face it, what's the US without me? Oh, and my maintenance should be going up, and soon. Only what I deserve, mind you:

"'The situation tends to highlight Israel's strategic value to the United States as a stable and unequivocal ally in a very unstable region', said Michael B Oren, Israel's ambassador to Washington. He added: 'The situation does reinforce the need for security guarantees, regarding a future Palestinian state, because we see how the current situation in the Middle East can change very rapidly'." (ibid)

My message to the US? My security comes first - and if that means delivering another Israel-friendly autocracy in Egypt, so be it. Screw the Egyptian people!:

"Mr Levy... said: 'The problem for America is, you can balance being the carrier for the Israeli agenda with Arab autocrats, but with Arab democracies, you can't do that'." (ibid)