When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Egypt

Rage And Diplomacy: Has Israel Lost Its Last Allies In The Muslim World?

Op-Ed: This year’s Arab Spring may soon give way to a winter of discontent. Revolutions in Egypt, Libya and beyond have shifted the region’s balance of power. Stability will depend on how Turkey, Egypt and Israel handle simmering hostility suddenly brough

A May protest in front of the Israeli Embassy in Giza, Al Jizah, Egypt
A May protest in front of the Israeli Embassy in Giza, Al Jizah, Egypt
Christiane Schlötzer

In Cairo, thousands of Egyptians stormed the Israeli embassy. The ambassador had to be flown to safety in a military aircraft. In Ankara, too, Israel's representative was driven out – by the government of Turkey, the host country. The Arab Spring has segued into an incandescent Arab Summer now threatened by a cold snap. New Arabia has slammed up against the old Middle East conflict -- and the epoch-changing times in the Arab world could find themselves getting trapped in the well-worn trenches of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It was to be expected that emotions in Egypt and other Arab Spring countries would roil as soon as there were no more autocrats and club-wielding police to hold such displays in check. For decades, differentiated debate about the Middle East conflict was not possible in these countries due to lack of freedom of the press, but also because of anti-Israeli Islamist propaganda. Peace talk rhetoric never reached Egypt. A cold peace ordained from the top down prevailed with Israel, which has clung to it even after it was clear Mubarak had lost power.

The assault earlier this month on Israel's embassy in Cairo and the Eilat attack that killed eight Israeli soldiers in August confirm the fears of Benjamin Netanyahu's government that Israel could be the loser in the new Middle East. And the situation is not helped by the fact that the intensity of the latest demonstrations in Cairo is rooted in several different causes including frustration at the stalled revolution and unkept promises of democracy and economic upturn.

Erdogan's time

This is fertile ground for radical agitators. In the days of the anti-Mubarak uprising, anti-Israeli rhetoric played no role; protesters knew what they wanted – the fall of the dictator. Now Mubarak, strapped to his hospital bed, is being tried, but Egyptians are still waiting for the payback for their efforts to overthrow him.

Into this vacuum marches a self-described adviser who used to lay stock in coming across as a model of democratic virtue – the Turkish premier. Only now, Recep Tayyip Erdogan plays hothead in the hopes of getting approval from the Arab side. War ships from his country will patrol the eastern Mediterranean more often, and aid convoys headed for Gaza will be protected. And now his trip to Cairo, where he's hoping to win popular approval. Ankara has made assurances that NATO member Turkey is not forging any new flotilla plans against Israel's Gaza blockade. But the relationship between Turkey and Israel has been so damaged that simple appeasements don't count for much.

Responsibility, however, also lies heavily with the government in Jerusalem. To this day it is refusing to apologize for the death of nine Turks killed by the Israeli navy in May 2010 on the Gaza aid ship Mavi Marmara. A bit of the responsibility lay with both sides, but hardliners have prevailed in Israel and no admission to that effect has been made. A fatal error, because right now – post-Mubarak -- Israel needs every friend it can get in the region.

The cold war with Jerusalem is a disaster for Turkey, too. Nothing remains of Ankara's shining foreign policy role. And yet reasonable diplomats and credible negotiators are urgently needed. In a few days' time, the Palestinians will carry their wish to have their own country to the UN table. They can expect a "no" vote from the United States -- President Barack Obama, on whom the Palestinians formerly had pinned high hopes, is no longer supporting them. The Europeans are struggling to keep a united front so that discord doesn't destroy what little remains of their joint foreign policy.

In this charged atmosphere the worst thing would be for the people of Gaza and Ramallah to be frustrated again. Anger could also grow in Egypt and elsewhere in the region if the Palestinians are refused what the Arab revolutionaries are fighting for in their own countries: autonomy, freedom, dignity.

A blind veto on the part of Israel or the United States will not bring the goal any nearer, and the Palestinians will have just as little success if they try to use pressure at the United Nations. Only real peace negotiations bring real peace. If Turkey and Egypt want to continue to play a credible role in this epic conflict then they too have to play by the rules. The first step should be to ask Israel's ambassadors to return.

Read the original article in German

Photo - Gigi Ibrahim

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Society

Shakira, Miley Cyrus And The Double Standards Of Infidelity

Society judges men and women very differently in situations of adultery and cheating, and in divorce settlements. It just takes some high-profile cases to make that clear.

Photo of Bizarrap and Shakira for their song “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53”
Mariana Rolandi

-Analysis-

BUENOS AIRES — When Shakira, the Colombian pop diva, divorced her soccer star husband Gerard Piqué in 2022, she wrote a song to overcome the hurt and humiliation of the separation from Piqué, who had been cheating on her.

The song, which was made in collaboration with Argentine DJ Bizarrap and broke streaming records, was a "healthy way of channeling my emotions," Shakira said. She has described it as a "hymn for many women."

A day after its launch, Miley Cyrus followed suit with her own song on her husband's suspected affairs. Celebrities and influencers must have taken note here in Argentina: Sofía Aldrey, a makeup artist, posted screenshots of messages her former boyfriend had sent other women while they were a couple.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest