Mubarak Is Sick, Israelis Mourns

Hosni Mubarak of Egypt is ailing. His health has greatly deteriorated that his sole public appearances in recent months have been staged photo-ops designed by the regime to demonstrate his supposed health for the Egyptian public (Memo to the Egyptian regime: The people of Masr have no confidence in Mubarak healthy or not).

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But Mubarak is not well. It has been reported that he has cancer and this past March he had been admitted for surgery in a German hospital that even his staff had to admit was a "complicated" operation without providing further detail. His age of 82 in itself would undermine his capability and his longevity would not be assured, of course, but his recent health troubles casts a large cloud on his ability to continue as president much longer.

And this has Israel worried. Israelis know that their cold peace with Egypt is an American bought peace which most Egyptians are opposed to. Part of the Camp David accord was that the U.S. would finance to the tone of billions of dollars the Egyptian authoritarian regime in order to uphold a peace in Israel's favor which may not stand in a democratic Egypt. While a post-Mubarak free Egypt may not cut off all relations with Israel, it would certainly not be the back-room ally which the current regime is.

Egypt's regime, lets remember, is collectively punishing Palestinians on its side of the Gaza border in a country where nearly everyone is a staunch supporter of the Palestinians. In a free Egypt, there would be no joint effort with Israel to limit food and supplies into Gaza and with Egypt's Sinai border open the Israeli scheme would crumble. Egypt is also hostility to Israel's enemy Hezbollah and opposed to Iranian nuclear capability. A free Egypt, as exhibited by the fact that Hasan Nasrallah of Hezbollah become the first Shitte in the history of Cairo's al-Azhar (the oldest Islamic jurisprudence university) to have his photo raised in great honor, would not be hostile to Hezbollah and would be accommodating toward Iran if not supportive of its nuclear program. A free Egypt would not become, once more, an enemy of Israel but it would not be allied with Israel either. And the state of Israel will grow more isolated with less friends in the region.

This is why Israelis are beside themselves that Mubarak may soon fall over:

Israeli officials are increasingly worried about the state of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's health, in light of the repeated postponements of Mubarak's planned meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which was supposed to take place this week.

An Israeli rabbi sends his love: "For your highness, President of Egypt Muhammad Hosni Mubarak, may his glory be exalted," wrote Shas' spiritual leader.

But they can console themselves with one thing: The reason Hosni Mubarak has been so accommodating to Israel is that he believes Washington's heart runs through Tel Aviv and that the United States will support his son's, Gamal Mubarak, bid to be his presidential successor. And Gamal Mubarak may be counted on by Israel and the United States to be another aid-receiving, subservient client.

This cancerHaaretz reported that Mubarak has cancer. In March, the Egyptian president went to Germany for an operation that both his office and the hospital described as "complicated," though neither offered further details.