Israel's transformation from the promised land to the guarded land

[Jefferson23]

We should thank the Egyptian people for having exposed in its nakedness another corner of the colossal waste of public money on illusions.

By Benny Ziffer


Our situation - woe betide us - has never been worse. Nor has it ever been better. It all depends on the perspective from which you look at it.

In Egypt, an angry mob attacked the Israeli Embassy and tried to occupy it. Ostensibly, very bad. But to the same extent, very good. Because all of a sudden that particular superfluous institution, about whose security costs to the Israeli taxpayer it's best not to ask - that is, the expense of the security of the premises and the security of the functionless functionaries who served there, they and their wives and their offspring - all of a sudden, this institution has become the apple of every Israeli's eye.

I have visited Egypt many times, and most of the times I had any contact with Israel's diplomatic representatives in Cairo, I had to admit it was a bad joke. I remember one ambassador who made it his daily aim to cut every denunciation of Israel and Jews out of the newspapers and send them to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. Often these were translations of items from the Israeli press.

Others didn't even bother to do that, and confined themselves to worrying about the fact that their life was in danger all the time and therefore they had to avoid as much as possible any contact with the surroundings. I met Israeli diplomats who were so afraid that, during their years in Cairo, they did not attend any cultural event - neither a film nor an opera nor a concert. They lived ensconced in their luxurious official residences in a suburb, and flew to Israel every two or three weeks in order to "recharge the batteries."

The only service in the area of culture that the Israelis offered Egyptians was the library at the Israeli Academic Center in Cairo. But over the years that too became a joke because of all the security restrictions. Due to all the suspicion, eventually it was not even possible to borrow books; thereafter the number of pages one was allowed to photocopy from a book was also limited.

remainder: http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/israel-s-transformation-from-the-promised-land-to-the-guarded-land-1.384828