Several months ago Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, considered the spiritual leader of Sunni Muslims and of the Muslim Brotherhood, gave a speech in Cairo's Tahrir Square. In that speech he called for Egypt to re-open the border with Gaza (previously closed to block terrorists and terrorist supplies from entering Gaza) and for Muslims to reconquer Jerusalem. That part of the speech, needless to say, was ignored by the Western media.
Since then, Egypt has re-opened its border with Gaza. Now Hamas' prime minister of Gaza, Ismail Haniya, has invited Qaradawi to come lead a public prayer in Gaza. And gee, what do you think Qaradawi is likely to pray for? A mutually-acceptable peace between Israel and the Palestinians? Don't hold your breath.
According to a recent Pew poll, 31% of Egyptians favor the Islamists, and 30% do not. But since those who disagree with the fundamentalists are disorganized, there's not much chance that they will be able to restrain the foreign adventurism of the Islamists.
And this is all happening as the Egyptian economy deteriorates. Tourism is down 60%, some 300,000 refugees from Libya swell the ranks of the unemployed, domestic and foreign investment is leaving, and foreign reserves are falling and may be depleted in six months. With a mess this big, there's really no choice but to flame the hatred of Israel (and America) to distract people.
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The following is NOT intended to be flippant: I wonder if there's ANY possibility the Jews would accept another territory in place of today's Israel? Their current location seems inadequate, to say the least. Might not peace and security trump historical roots? Where could they go? I invite research . . .
If you look at the history of Zionism, you'll see that lots of other places were discussed, including Madagascar. In fact, Stalin even set up a little (desolate) Jewish republic in the Soviet Far East.
But there's no empty space left. Palestine was one of the emptier ones when the Zionist movement got underway: poor economy, not densely populated, etc.
Nor do I know of any country that would be willing to accept 7-8 million Israelis as immigrants. Period.
Finally: Islamists like Qaradawi base much of their argument on Koranic passages attacking and denigrating Jews. Those passages have nothing to do with the State of Israel, nor will they disappear if Israel does.
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