Immediately after the election of Mohammed Morsi as president of Egypt in June 2012, Israel’s political and security leadership eagerly adopted the saying, “This is not an Arab Spring, but an Islamic Winter.” The millions of demonstrators who are now returning to Tahrir Square and taking to the streets of Egypt testify to the fact that the Israeli approach ignores the complex reality in the other states of this region, and how deep the processes of change run in them.
Official sources in Israel tried to dampen the West’s enthusiasm over the revolution in Egypt, even before Muslim Brotherhood representative Morsi came to power. They adopted a pessimistic approach to the struggle underway in Egypt, linking it to the rise of Islam throughout the world. At the same time, they slighted the populist, social dimensions of the protests, which called for freedom and progress.