America to the rescue

The Foreign Ministry had not seen this kind of drama since the rescue of Israeli diplomats from Tehran in 1979: official Israeli representatives holed up in the heart of a foreign, hostile capital, surrounded by a bloodthirsty mob.

In the situation room in Jerusalem, they watched the drama unfold in real time. Some of the screens carried pictures broadcast by the Arabic networks of the goings-on outside the building, while others featured live images by the embassy's security cameras. The sum total of the images was a frighteningly real picture of six Israeli security guards with only one reinforced door separating them from certain death by brutal lynching at the hands of Egyptian protesters.

Some will say the writing was on the wall. Weekly protests every Friday in front of the Israeli Embassy (and the lionizing of the man who pulled down the Israeli flag flying above it) were clear indications of things to come. The matter came up at any number of discussions in the political and defense establishments, which led to tactical changes and necessary strategic decisions. On the tactical level, diplomats' family members were evacuated and security was beefed up. On the strategic level, however, a decision was made to continue operating in Cairo, as peace with Egypt is a primary asset to Israel. The concern now is that it will be difficult to reopen the embassy with so much anti-Israel fervor in Arab capitals.

The Egyptians would also like to see the embassy reopened, more out of fear of Washington than love for Jerusalem. Signing a peace treaty with Israel nets Egypt annual defense aid to the tune of $1.2 billion. Cancelling signs of normalization could lead Congress to withhold or freeze this aid. Egypt's military government knows that with tourism almost non-existent and natural gas exports interrupted, a loss of U.S. aid would deal a death blow to the Egyptian economy. Thus, they can live with a few Israelis in Cairo, if the alternative is zero dollars in the bank.

On Friday night, the Americans' involvement once against spelled the difference between life and death. With all due respect to the professional work done by the security guards at the embassy, and to the feverish attempts of senior Israeli officials, the real superheroes in this story are in Washington. Despite all of its anger toward the Netanyahu government, the U.S. once again proved that it is a true friend. In a moment of crisis, when we needed them, the president and the secretaries of defense and state found the time to force the stuttering Egyptian government to save the lives of six Israelis in Cairo. Jerusalem should remember this the next time Washington begs Jerusalem for a favor (related to the Turks or the Palestinians, for example).

The affair's bottom line, though, is bleak. While six Israeli lives were saved, along with the peace treaty with Egypt (just imagine what would have happened if Egyptian demonstrators had been killed by Israeli fire), the Middle East is becoming an increasingly dark place, where the loathing toward us is growing and our legitimacy dwindling. If the heads of the army, Mossad and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) were convened this morning, they likely will say that, at this point in time, it would not hurt to focus less on our national honor but rather more on diplomatic wisdom: not to threaten to arm the Kurds against the Turks (the foreign minister); not to threaten to withhold taxes from the Palestinians (the finance minister); not to attack the Egyptians for their incompetence (basically everyone else).

If Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi cannot be woken up on a Friday night, one could be excused for wondering just who is in charge in Cairo. If Erdogan threatens to send battleships our way, one might wonder about the chances for Israel-Turkey reconciliation. And yes, one day the whole region could unite against us, but that day has not yet arrived. Israel would be wise to do everything in its power to delay that day for as long as it possibly can.