Being Good Neighbors to Syria’s Opposition By: David HaIrvri
Published: January 4th, 2012
“Most Syrians see Assad as a greater enemy than Israel. Israel treats Arabs much better than Assad, especially in jail – they do not torture and mutilate like Assad does."
Some months ago, I suggested that Israel offer humanitarian aid to the opposition in Syria. As would be expected, this idea received mixed responses from both sides. Many Israelis share the feelings expressed by our government’s inaction: “This is none of our business; we should not get involved at all.” And it’s no secret that Syrian has never been friendly to Israel. Even when not engaged in open warfare against Israel itself, Syria has consistently backed and supplied terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Among the Syrian opposition leadership, the thought of Israel’s coming to their aid has been received with a mixed response at best. The editor of a Syrian underground opposition newspaper told me that his paper would write about my proposal, but that they (the Syrians) could take care of themselves without Israel’s help. One Arab friend put it to me this way: “If there is one thing all people in Syria have in common, it is their hatred for Israel.” Currently, both sides in the conflict think accusing their enemies of accepting help from Israel will strengthen their respective positions in the eyes of the Syrian public.
Apparently, the most defamatory thing that can be said about you in Syria is that you are backed by Israel. That being that case, offers by Israel to help the rebels might actually be counter-productive, since they would be viewed as “making a pact with the devil,” which could be hurtful to the revolution.
http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/being-good-neighbors-to-syrias-opposition/2012/01/04/
