They've been doing this for years, the arab spring didn't suddenly bring this strategy to the front.

...might wonder why Israeli (and US) governments continued to support these dictators. It really is an irony that when all hope was gone for the tyrant Hosni Mubarak, he still pinned his hopes to the White House to come and save him. It's even more ironic that these calls were echoed by a desperate Netanyahu. If one lesson can be learnt from the Arab Spring, it is that Status quo can only endure for so long. Will anyone have learnt that lesson?

And it is quite heartening to sit back and watch as the Arab world descends into internecine conflict and economic despair while Israel strengthens and thrives.

this should go viral.

Well seen by you. The Arab/Islamic spring does not exist (anymore). I hope that that world collapses/implodes as soon as possible and that mankind then will be redeemed of that threat/danger, which is the greatest at this moment. Your interesting posts are also one of the reasons why i read ynetnews.

As the first talkback indicated: this is something new? Your article may have just as well have stated that the sun rises in the east. To whom are you directing this piece of non-news?

The real question should be why the hatred of Jews? We have been the center of racial and religious hatred for thousands of years. All because of others xenophobia, not anything we have ever done. This needs to addressed by the haters - not us

Astonishing that old and experienced nations can stay sick for eternities. Egypt must recover from its diseases. A legally sound concept is needed to cure its social, cultural and economical structures. Exactly the opposite of the current office holders.

We have to sit tight and wait until petrodollars will dwindle to a small business that will give enough income to keep a few tribes aloof.

Anti-Semitism has not gone away; it has merely morphed into hatred of that most obvious of Jewish targets -- the State of Israel. The shame is that the State of Israel puts up with it all. We should annex Judea and Samaria, and repatriate all the Arabs therein to Jordan. If the international community doesn't like it -- tough. We should warn Egypt that it had better nail down terrorist activity stemming from the Sinai -- anyone who does not believe that Egypt is complicit in funneling arms to Hamas and the other terrorist elements in Gaza is a fool -- or else Israel will take back Sinai. If the international community doesn't like it -- tough. As you pointed out, Jews have been the world's favorite whipping boy for thousands of years. Now that there aren't very many Jews anywhere outside of Israel and the United States, the State of Israel -- that very tangible symbol of the Jewish people -- has become the scapegoat of convenience. No more. No more. The world can find another suitable target for its ire, and there is no better place to start than the Arab and Islamic world.

Dictators and kings need scapegoats so if they screw up they have somebody to blame it on but if they do something right they take all the praise so the dictator can never do any wrong. The arab kings and dictators NEED Israel Its been easy to blame everything on Israel for the past 64 years but now things are reaching a tipping point where not even the smartest dictators can blame their own failings on Israel. How does Assad say high unemployment is because of occupation? In both Egypt and Syria it was unemployment that sparked the revolutions not people suddenly waking up to the fact that there is an alternative to dictatorship. When you need a job your not really all that interested in Israel. So if the arabs want to blame Israel for something its 64 years of dictatorship

The revolution in Egypt might not have been good for Israel with Obama trading a tame American puppet for a man who thinks zionists are like pigs and apes and it has come at just the right time for Israel Before the fighting started Assad was negotiating with Russia to buy new MIG jets, T 90 tanks and submarines totally revolutionise his antique army dreaming one day Syria would once again be a military power. Then he had his revolution, he is wasting all the military hardware he does have on his own people and when the civil war does end there won't be any money for the army and one way or another the chemical weapons will be destroyed. The Syrian economy is crippled so for a long time to come the Syrians will have bigger things to worry about than Israel. I was reading an article on the CNN website and they interview a rebel bomb maker who is sympathetic to palestinians and has been detained by Israel twice and he believes the Israelis are more compassionate. So Israel is even the good guy It really is good to see the arabs killing each other for a change and not even try blame it on Israel.

Don't forget that Israel controls two of the largest natural gas fields that have ever been discovered. I don't see the Europeans -- or anyone else -- passing up below-market prices and easy logistics just to pay lip service (and a great deal of money) to a handful of dying sheikhdoms and Islamic tyrranies, do you?

I am sorry to say this, but you are naive. The Europeans will be happy to buy gas from Israel - and verbally bash them at the same time. Why? Part because it's in their anti-semitic blood, and part because no one is afraid that Israel will start sending suicide bombers or missiles to their cities.

That works, too. No shortage of eager customers in Africa and the Far East. Let bankrupt Europe continue to pay outrageous OPEC rates, while the oil and petroleum exporting countries continue to worry as the world turns more and more to natural gas, clean coal, wind power and other alternative sources of energy. But the Europeans are basically slugs -- and they can continue to say whatever they like, as long they continue to pay for natural gas. Europe's economy is on the verge of collapse -- indeed, some European countries' economies have already collapsed; the EU is in a sorry state (let's face it; France and Germany are getting tired of supporting all those bankrupt and on-the-verge-of-bankruptcy EU members) -- and Israel's economy is the fastest growing economy in the West. Europe is going the way of the woolly mammoth. No great loss.

This is a truly great article. I've never been able to understand how the Arabs in even far-away Arab nations can waste so much time thinking about Israel and so little thinking about how to improve their own countries. Ok, so Israel has an impact of Palestinian lives. I would argue it is partly a positive impact for the Palestinians, but there is certainly an impact. And that is it. No problem of today in even Jordan, Lebanon, Syria or Egypt can be blamed on Israel in any way. Not to mention Saudi-Arabia, Morocco, Libya, Yemen or other Arab states who have never had a single problem caused by Israel. As the article says, the leaders of the Arab nation of course want scapegoats, but I cannot understand why ordinary Arabs are still buying the silly lie.