Political repercussions of #normalization.
Dr. Nir Boms | Dayan Center Research Fellow, Tel Aviv University Dr. Yechiel Shabi | Mid-East Research Fellow, Begin Sadat Center, Bar-Ilan University
Political repercussions of #normalization.
Dr. Nir Boms | Dayan Center Research Fellow, Tel Aviv University Dr. Yechiel Shabi | Mid-East Research Fellow, Begin Sadat Center, Bar-Ilan University
Sudan and Syria are waiting for an American Response
The tide of anti-American demonstrations continues to swell as fervent protests spread throughout countries in the Middle East, Africa and South East Asia. Last week, protesters in Egypt breached the walls of the U.S. embassy in Cairo, and in Libya protesters attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, killing U.S. Ambassador John Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
Two days later, hundreds of radical Islamists attacked the British embassy and set fire to the German embassy in Khartoum, Sudan. Then in Bangladesh, thousands of protesters burned U.S. and Israeli flags, after police prevented them from approaching the U.S embassy. Outside Jalalabad, Afghanistan, hundreds of Afghans, some shouting “Death to America”, burned the U.S. flag and an effigy of President Obama. Even in the West on the streets of London, 150 protesters marched to the US embassy chanting, “burn burn USA” as an American flag went up in flames.
An American “response” came quickly. On September 15th, the U.S. State Department ordered the withdrawal of non-essential U.S. government personnel and family members from its embassies in Sudan and Tunisia and warned U.S. citizens against travel to those countries. U.S. President Barack Obama also contacted U.S. diplomats at a number of American missions in the Arab world in an effort to reassure, and has promised to send marines in to help secure embassies in the region. Continue reading