Is Israel's Fate Tied To Mubarak's?

by Zoe Pollock

Yoav Fromer runs through the reasons why Israelis have stayed glued to the TV this week. One startling statistic:

Based on a startling 2008 Gallup poll that found a whopping 64 percent of Egyptians in favor of making Sharia law into the exclusive source of their legal code, one can certainly understand concerns about the potential radicalization of the most populous Arab country.

But he ends on an optimistic note:

A truly democratic Egypt might offer Israelis the chance to achieve what the “cold peace” with Mubarak never didby actually establishing real and warm relations with a real and stable democracy. ... If Israelis can overcome their own myopic anxieties, they could yet come to realize that instead of facing a moment of grave peril, they might be looking at one of unprecedented opportunity.