A few months ago, Israel was being subjected to stifling international and regional isolation. Its traditional friends, such as Britain and France, were beginning to criticize its policies. Even someone like Nicolas Sarkozy, known for having strong relations with Israel, was willing to recognize the state of Palestine by voting at the United Nations next September. As for the White House, it came back to its senses after Netanyahu's visit to Washington, his meeting with President Barack Obama, and the carnival of support he obtained in Congress (some compared American legislators to a “yoyo”, moving along with every motion of Netanyahu's hand). Regionally, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was standing alongside Hamas, flirting with Iran and Hezbollah, strengthening his relations with Syria, and considering his country's interest to lie in taking sides against the Hebrew state. He was not forgetting the attack against the Mavi Marmara and the insult directed by the Israeli Foreign Ministry to his Ambassador in Tel Aviv, considering them both to represent an assault on his country's sovereignty. Within such a framework, one is reminded that his pictures were lifted up in Arab capitals as if he were the new Sultan or the savior seeking to restore the dignity of Arabs and Muslims. Also at the regional level, the Egyptian Revolution overthrew a regime which Israel had always relied on to thwart any Arab consensus opposed to it and to spread the culture of peace as defined in Camp David, as well as to turn all enmity towards Iran and its allies. The Israelis at this stage were speaking a great deal about the existential threat that accompanied the establishment of their state, with much theorizing about the loss of their role in the Middle East – this role they played to serve the interests of old and new colonialism, when the West was relying on them to fight off any unifying nationalist trend among the Arabs, or any Left-wing trend that might represent a threat to those interests. In addition to this, their withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 and the failure of their war against it in 2006 represented a critical juncture in the history of a state of no more than a few decades of age. It thus multiplied their feelings of existential threat, especially after the emergence of the Arab Spring, which heralded democracy, freedom and dignity. Yet the Arab Spring was in itself an opportunity for Israel to readjust and to participate in the counterrevolution, directly at times, and through allies at others. And here it is today regaining some self-confidence, as the United States continues to support it and attracts some of the actors of the Arab Spring. As for Turkey, it has returned to its position within NATO, and to its historical enmity towards Iran, encouraging movements hostile to Syria, preventing the Mavi Marmara from participating in the Gaza-bound flotilla, and escalating its discourse against the regime in Damascus. In Egypt, it appears that the former regime remains in control, and Cairo will need years to restore its balance and regional role, in addition to the fact that the new power structure has reassured everyone that it will not seek to reconsider any agreement held with the Hebrew state. Even beyond this, the fears from the Muslim Brotherhood turned out to be misplaced, as here they are seeking dialogue with Washington. As for Syria, with its alliance with Iran and Hezbollah, it is drowning in its own bloody “spring” and in dealing with its internal affairs. It will need a long time to get back on its feet, after the attrition the regime is being subjected to in internal wars, and could be forced to delve into Lebanese wars, the signs of which have begun to appear on the horizon, after members of Hezbollah have been accused of being involved in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. Netanyahu is right to flex his muscles and to boast of achievements others are paying the price for, from their wealth and the blood of their people. The counterrevolution of the Arab Spring has achieved for him what he had not even dreamed of, so much that he considers it to be his own spring, as one Israeli writer has stated.
