What do riots in Egypt mean for Israel?

Earlier in the month activists in the Arab Republic of Egypt brought tumult in protest against the country's failed economic policies, rising cost of living, unemployment, government corruption, and, summarily, the rule of their fourth president Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak has been in power since 1981 following the vacuum left by the assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat. He was re-elected for successive terms but under questionable circumstances.



Last Tuesday on the national holiday of Police Day, protest organizers called it a "day of rage" to highlight the role of police corruption. Egyptians took to the streets in large numbers, many singing the national anthem. Violence broke out.



Hillary Clinton stated, "These protests underscore that there are deep grievances within Egyptian society, and the Egyptian government needs to understand that violence will not make these grievances go away."



A Facebook page is set up and called "We Are All Khaled Said," named after an Alexandria activist who was, according to witnesses, brutally punched and kicked to death by police. Later in the day Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei posted statements of support for the protests on his Twitter account.



Electronic communication is shut down, leaving no access to cell phones, text messages, websites, or Twitter. Obama responded that Egyptian officials should “reverse the actions that they have taken to interfere with the Internet, cellphone service, social networks that do so much to connect people in the 21st century.” He added that “a meaningful dialogue with the Egyptian people” was necessary, as was “a path of political change that leads to greater freedom.”



Egypt remains on edge, as police and protestors clash throughout the country, even as Mubarak announces that he dismisses his government. Mubarak himself does not step down, and his whereabouts are unknown.



Protesters demand that he step down.
Israel

Meanwhile, according to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel stands by "anxiously monitoring what is happening. The peace between Israel and Egypt had endured for over three decades and our goal is to ensure that these relations continue."



Though the riots appear focused on domestic complaints rather than Egypt's alliance with Israel, there is fear of a possible chain reaction of domestic turmoil in states like Jordan and Syria, as well as the strengthening of the Islamic militant group Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank.



Since the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt, relations between the two countries have been cordial. Mubarak and Israel have worked together in enforcing a blockade and shutting weapons tunnels into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Concerns are now stirred about an increased flow of weapons into Gaza and about possible war on Israel's southern front, as well as the collapse of an alliance among Western-backed Arab regimes who share Israel's fear about Iran's intentions.



"A Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt – which presumably will not be committed to the peace treaty with Israel, or will be confrontational – is the nightmare scenario,'' according to Bruce Maddy Weizmann, a senior fellow at Tel Aviv University's Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies.




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