Peres warns that democracy in Egypt will bring Islamists to power

Israel’s Nobel Prize-winning President, Shimon Peres, has issued a warning about the consequences of the current events in Egypt and their implications for stability in the Middle East. Peres expressed his deep concern that “democracy in Egypt [will] end with the victory of the Islamists”, adding that “the whole world should consider what happened in 2006 because that matter began in the spirit of democracy but ended in Hamas gaining control; when elections result in an unsound outcome, the democracy game is up.”

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During a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Peres pointed out that it was democratic elections that brought the Hamas movement to power. The Israeli opposition leader, Tzipi Livni, expressed her fear that US support for the democratic process in Islamic countries would result in the emergence of “authorities that do not respect democracy”. Such pronouncements have been interpreted by commentators that Israel – which prides itself on being “the only democracy in the Middle East” – does not wish to see its Arab neighbours benefiting from democratic reforms. “There is more than a hint of hypocrisy in what Israelis are saying,” said one London-based analyst. “The whole essence of democracy is that there will be occasions when results do not go the way that you would like,” he added. “No democratically-elected government is representative of everyone who voted, including the government of Israel, but the electorate has to accept that and so should the international community.”

Source: Ramallah – Palestinian Information Centre