Passover during the Arab Spring

Journalist Allan Richter lives in Smithtown.

Passover straddles the ancient and modern worlds. Jews reconstruct the ancestral flight from slavery under Egyptian rule and apply its lessons to current affairs. This Passover, which begins tonight at sundown, the holiday's geographical link to Egypt and the Jewish compulsion for social justice kindle our empathy for the freedom-seeking protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square and, indeed, across the Arab world.

During the Passover seder we ask, "Why is this night different from all others?" This year, it's different because, as we reassert our bond with Israel, the living symbol of our freedom, we'll wrestle with the meaning of democracy through the prism of the Arab Spring. "Seder" means "order," and we wonder what political order will emerge from the Arab rebellions.

Unfortunately, true democracy, marked by individual and press freedoms, is not a foregone conclusion. Bernard Lewis, professor emeritus of Near Eastern studies at Princeton University, observes that "freedom" has neither an exact Arabic definition nor a political context, only a social and legal one. This is worrisome for the West, and for supporters of Israel, as the Arab revolts threaten to give way to Islamic fundamentalist rule.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is correct to question whether the Arab Spring is akin to the revolution of 1979 or that of 1989. The latter brought democracy to Eastern Europe, while the former brought the terror-sponsoring mullahs to power in Iran. Iran is licking its chops over the Arab Spring, which it sees as a step in extending its reach.

Syria and Iran, both with close ties to terrorist groups, stand to gain by provoking an Israeli military response to terrorism and diverting attention from the popular unrest in their countries. Since the Arab uprisings began, terrorists butchered an Israeli family of five in their beds and bombed a Jerusalem bus stop.

Iran-backed Hamas has taken responsibility for firing an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus as it and Iran's other radical proxies stepped up a barrage of rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel's civilian population centers. During this period, Israel seized a 50-ton cache of Iranian weapons off the Gaza coast.

Against this backdrop, mixed signals from Egypt demand a cautious approach by the West. Though Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Elaraby has said his country is committed to its 30-year-old peace treaty with Israel, he has, alarmingly, raised the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Iran. And the Muslim Brotherhood, outlawed under Mubarak's regime, is poised to make dangerous inroads in September parliamentary elections that put less-organized secular parties at a disadvantage. A deputy leader of the group has said that the peace treaty with Israel should end up in history's dustbin.

Not arming Libyan rebels -- some of whom could have ties to al-Qaida -- is an example of the kind of nuanced approach the West should take in the emerging Arab world. Recognizing that the radical ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood remains intact is another.

The Passover Haggadah refers to four sons -- one wise, one wicked, one simple and one immature -- to whom the message of freedom should be taught in different ways. If the West is to be the wise son, it should help strengthen the neighborhood's one true democracy by ending Iran's nuclear aspirations, demanding an end to incitement against Israel and blocking unilateral Palestinian statehood.

Egypt's ouster of Hosni Mubarak and the near-zero credibility of Syria's Bashar Assad show it is folly to make peace with dictators. Peace with democracies that are not merely steppingstones for radical Islamist regimes will be far more durable, making the Arab Spring a welcome development if the West takes a cautious approach in its support.

Passover reflects our gratitude to God for delivering us from Egypt and puts focus on what we do with our freedoms. This Passover, as we watch what the Arab world does with its emerging freedoms, we pray that it's not 1979 all over again.