Regarding these Arab uprisings: Don't get your hopes up

The unrest in the Arab Middle East underscores the superiority of Israel and why that small nation deserves the full support of the United States.

While angry citizens in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran, Jordan and Morocco rise up against a panoply or dictators and “kings,” Israel has been peacefully changing governments through the democratic process for some six decades.

Israel is an island of civilized modernity surrounded by a sea of stone age tribal territories.

Certainly there are a lot of hard working Arabs who live in these unstable countries who want better lives for themselves and greater freedoms. Many have immigrated to the United States and have become valued and productive members of our society. However, as we saw in Iran, hardline Islamists rush in to fill the power vacuum when the local Arab strongman gets pushed aside, and they play the game for keeps.

Through many Democratic and Republican administrations the United States has pledged to stand on the side of democracy. Our loyalty to Israel will test this commitment.

Today there is no reason to suspect that a so-called Palestinian state will be anything other than a repressive regime controlled by Islamists. When the United States pushes Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians we weaken the only true democracy in the area and pave the way for the establishment of another Iran or Syria. Such a state will do everything it can to destroy Israel and repress its own people if they dare to question the ruling class.

By fomenting hatred toward Jews and Israel, these repressive regimes remove the focus from themselves. Blaming all the ills of the world on the “Jews” takes the pressure off their backward and corrupt political and economic systems. It’s an ancient tactic.

Further, I believe any hope we might allow ourselves that today’s “revolutions” in these countries will result in less repressive and more democratic counties is just a pipe dream. As Westerners we have an almost built in notion that a popular uprising will lead to progressive changes. We need to set that aside when we look at what is happening in the Arab Middle East.

In many ways Arabic nations were more progressive and ready to engage the world in a positive way a thousand years ago than they are today. Earlier this year Jack Donaghy on “30 Rock” quipped that since the invention of democracy, Greece has been “coasting.”

Since they exported Hindu-Arabic numerals to Europe in the 10th century, you could say the same thing for the Arab world.