Sizing Up Arab Bloggers

"Arab Bloggers Size Up Obama"
Published Friday, November 7, 2008
By Op-Ed Contributors, with an introduction by Josie Delap

There is consensus in the West that Israel should be supported whereas in the Arab world, this is the minority view. With or without conditions, support of Israel is criticized and Israel itself is viewed as a forward arm of Western animosity towards them. Delap projects a more nuanced view of the Arab world's position on Israel than exists. His introduction is the beginning of a zany and discomforting array of analyses by Arab bloggers.

An Egyptian sees Obama's support for Israel – which has been qualified and nuanced – as bias, rather than a reasoned position. Obama himself would resent this. This is a reflection of a society that has never portrayed the Israeli narrative in anything but demonic terms.

The blogger from Lebanon argues that one cannot believe Jerusalem is the historic capital of Israel and be a supporter of Palestinian rights. These are not, however, mutually exclusive positions. For example, a majority of East Jerusalem Arabs favor an undivided Jerusalem, under Israeli sovereignty.

In Iraq, conspiratorial views of Zionists abound. "An Arab Woman Blues" in Iraq writes that Zionists want to partition Iraq. As if it couldn't get wackier, the Israelis and Ahmadinejad will team up to accomplish this, using Obama.

From Jordan, we take a step towards sanity, yet remain in conspiracy. The Jordanian blogger writes, "As for the Middle East peace process, I will not only hope that Obama doesn’t side with the Israelis only and the Israeli lobby in America, but to put real effort on achieving a fair and just peace for the Palestinians and the Israelis."

Although the Times critically reviewed the Walt and Mersheimer book, "The Israel Lobby," the paper doesn't mind printing seemingly rational quotes impugning the pro-Israel Jewish community and suggesting that the US-Israel relationship is not strategically-based, but rooted in undue influence from said community.