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As soon as the Egyptian uprising of January 2011 grew into an
avalanche threatening to tear down the major ramparts of Husni Mubarak’s regime, analysts rushed to witness these events and render judgment on their causes and consequences. Western analysts in particular declared unhesitatingly that domestic factors alone were to blame and that the dismantling of the corrupt liberal regime was unrelated to popular disapproval of Egypt’s role in the Palestinian – Israeli conflict. Among these was New York Times’ columnist Thomas L. Friedman who offered his astonishment at the intense popular passion and determination displayed at Cairo’s Tahrir Square and at the visible absence of the Muslim Brotherhood from the epicenter of the avalanche. He also noted the non-presence of the word ‘Israel’ or representations of Egyptian ‘martyrs’ who died fighting the enemy to the north and east of the country. (1) A few months later, Friedman was proven wrong on both counts.