“… The Israelis didn’t mean (Yes, it did!) to weaken the generals when they killed the jihadis — they were just protecting themselves. But something more complex was going on, as we saw when Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak publicly stated that he considered the attacks “a wakeup call” for Egyptian authorities.
Presumably, Barak wanted only to send the message that Sinai security must be improved and that militants in Gaza should be reined in by Egypt, which has significant and increasing influence there. Yet the effect was to weaken the very generals whom the Israelis had previously seemed to support. The message was that the generals were not taking their job seriously. This, too, was a major gift for Mursi –something Barak should have foreseen……………….
This is a harbinger of good things for the Arab Spring, which has been badly stalled in large part because of the Egyptian Supreme Council……... If Egypt can succeed, then anything is possible — even a democratic (Read, another ‘Brotherhood) outcome from Syria’s civil war.…”