The distorted diaspora view

The diaspora communities exhibit too much pessimism says Professor Ephraim Inbar of the BESA centre for strategic studies.

Israel has gone from relative weakness to relative strength in relation to its arab neighbors. This is true both militarily and economically. The leadership of the countries surrounding Israel is weak and weakening. If you compare Egypt's figures with South Korea's since the end of WWII when S. Korea was effectively decimated, this weakness is apparent.

Israel's economic growth ensures that it will be an important player looking forward 20 years. This is especially true with countries like India where there is no traditionof anti-semitism.

Even in Turkey there are groups who admire Israel. Not only that, but even within the Islamist movement in Turkey there are groups of people who are totally opposed to Hamas. These are people who want to create a proper and viable Islamist state. Turkey itself is neither Arab, nor is it a failed state, and it has had visionary leaders. Not everyone even in the Islamist world think that copying Hamas is the way to go.

Here is audio of professor Inbar's comments yesterday

or alternatively you can download an MP3 file prof_inbar1 (22 Mb)