Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Mike Huckabee discusses the increasing level of anxiety in Israel

On the second day of his visit to Israel Mike Huckabee stated, "The events of the past few days in Egypt have created a very tenuous situation, not just for Egypt, not just for the Middle East, but for the entire world, and the destabilization of that nation has the potential of cascading across the globe."

H/T GOP12.com



WashPost: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressed that concern when he met with Gemany's Chancellor Angela Merkel for a joint news conference:
"In a state of chaos, an organized Islamic group can take over a country. It has happened. It happened in Iran," Netanyahu said. "A takeover of oppressive regimes of extreme Islam violates human rights, grinds them to dust . . . and in parallel also pose[s] a terrible danger to peace and stability."

JPost: Huckabee compared the Obama administration reaction to Egypt with it's reaction to Iran's recent uprising:
Unlike Egypt, Huckabee said, Iran is “anti-American, anti- Israel, anti-peace, and it wants to build a nuclear stockpile so it can blow up the world. It would have been a little helpful had [US President Barack] Obama offered some form of support and accommodation for the protesters in Iran a year ago.”

Huckabee said that Americans were torn, on the one hand, between recognizing the desire of the Egyptian protesters for more freedom and democracy, and, on the other hand, being fearful that the end result could be a more authoritarian government than the one being replaced.

“An uprising like this is usually a three-act play,” he said. “The first act is when the citizens take to the streets, and – if successful – they overthrow the government. Act two is when wellintentioned, well-meaning reformers try to form a government and lead. The chances are that they are unprepared and lack an organization and institutional capacity to lead a government. And that leads to act three.”

The concluding act, he said, is “when a well-organized extremist movement – in this case the Muslim Brotherhood – steps in and becomes far worse than what was before. We saw that in Iran, and essentially during the Russian Revolution.”

"It is the third act, Huckabee said, that everyone needs to fear in Egypt."


Cross posted at: I Like Mike Huckabee 2012

8 comments:

Pablo said...

This is bull crap. Egyptians have the opportunity for the first time in their history to decide their own government, and Huckabee would rather they remain under the authoritarian reign of their dictator.

TexasConservative said...

Pablo, I think you missed what both he and Netanyahu are saying.

There is great concern that the new government will be taken over by members of the Muslim Brotherhood who have great hatred for Israel.

Huckabee would not have expressed this if he had not heard it directly from both the Knesset members and Netanyahu.

TexasConservative said...

Pablo, here is a quote from LA Times:

The Muslim Brotherhood is the largest and best-organized Egyptian opposition group, with an estimated 600,000 members, many of them educated, middle-class men. It has formally disavowed terrorism and violence, but its inclusion in any government would probably be deeply controversial among U.S. allies and especially in Israel, because the group advocates tearing up Egypt's peace treaty with the Jewish state.

Right Wingnut said...

I agree with TC on this one re: Muslim Brotherhood. This is a disaster in the making.

QuoVadisAnima said...

Yep, this situation is not a parallel of the American revolution but of the Iranian one...

Pablo said...

"The Muslim Brotherhood is the largest and best-organized Egyptian opposition group, with an estimated 600,000 members, many of them educated, middle-class men. It has formally disavowed terrorism and violence, but its inclusion in any government would probably be deeply controversial among U.S. allies and especially in Israel, because the group advocates tearing up Egypt's peace treaty with the Jewish state."

First, the current population of Egypt is 82,999,393. As cited by your article, the membership of the Muslim Brotherhood is 600,000. The Muslim Brotherhood has had little to do with the protests in the streets, which has been conducted mainly by young people who just want jobs and a future. And woman, who are tired of going to the grocery store and not being able to afford food. I would think that Huck would show a little concern for the Egyptian people instead of playing the fear game of a group that represents less than 1% of the population.

Second, it is not insignificant that the Muslim Brotherhood has renounced violence. That have to, because they would never have a voice in a new government if they didn't. They are such a small minority that they have to concentrate their efforts on being a social organization dedicated to helping the poor, if they want to have a say in the political arena.

I am not downplaying the possibility that the MB would have a voice in a new government. I am just saying that they are not that popular and they are not that dangerous.

Pablo said...

"Huckabee would not have expressed this if he had not heard it directly from both the Knesset members and Netanyahu."

Netanyahu doesn't care about Egypt. He only cares if there is a remote possibility that a government would emerge from Egypt that might challenge Israeli policy on occasion. If there is a brutal dictator that uses his national police to suppress the people and has been in power for thirty year, then so be it.

Anonymous said...

Huckabee just has a boner for Netanyahu and will do whatever to please him, like releasing a spy.