Israel and Egypt’s Unrest: Rounding Up the Reax

• Are Bibi/Fayyad economic policies insulating the West Bank from the Arab protests? Joel Mowbray sees a connection: The West…

By Pesach Benson February 07, 2011

• Are Bibi/Fayyad economic policies insulating the West Bank from the Arab protests? Joel Mowbray sees a connection:

The West Bank has among the quietest “streets” in the Arab world right now. No doubt a primary reason is the robust economic growth the area has enjoyed recently.

Sharansky speaks. I’m glad Newsweek and the WSJ got the message. (Paywall alert: click via Google News for the WSJ.)

• Would you sleep any better if — instead of following Iran — Egypt became the next Pakistan?

• Why Israeli is Worried: Seven Scenarios. And here’s an eighth which NBC News digs up: Egypt has a WMD program of its own:

If Egypt was to withdraw from the treaty, there would be no restraints on its development of nuclear technology, whether for energy or for weapons.

• The Christian Science Monitor looks at how Syria managed to avoid the protest movement sweeping the Arab world. The byline (“A correspondent”) speaks volumes. But who knew about the Facebook Fail Factor?

There has been no organized opposition in Syria since the quashing of secular, religious, and Kurdish figures who came together in 2005 to sign the Damascus Declaration asking for reform. Furthermore, most of the 15,000 who by Friday morning had joined the Facebook page calling for revolution were believed to live outside the country.

• Will its Egypt coverage finally gives Al Jazeera entree to US airwaves.

• While you were riveted to Cairo footage, Ambassador Ron Prosor fired a broadside at The Guardian for its handling of the PaliLeaks, and a cabinet minister summoned correspondent Harriet Sherwood (who was in Egypt at the time).  Stay tuned . . .

© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025

Pesach Benson

Pesach Benson

A Baltimore native, Pesach was with HonestReporting from 2011 to 2020. He edited the Israel Daily News Stream and authored the e-book, Red Lines: HonestReporting’s 8 Categories of Media Bias. Before moving to Israel in 1995, he worked as a reporter for the Baltimore Jewish Times. Pesach has a B.A. in political science from the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, where he was executive editor of the campus newspaper.

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