Israel has witnessed with trepidation the foundering of hostile, yet stable regimes throughout the Middle East. Egypt and Israel had a formal, but peaceful relationship following Anwar Sadat's treat with the Jewish state. There was little evidence of resistance or resentment against Israel form Tunisia and Libya, for that matter.
The ouster of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and the potential power vacuum to emerge following either the deposition or reinstatement of Moammar Gadhafi may invite Al-Qaeda operatives.
Egypt is holding presidential elections to decide the democratic future of its government, where the Muslim Brotherhood, an institution in opposition to Israel, is gaining prominence.
Despite the icy relationship with Syria, another state ravaged by growing populist unrest, Israeli diplomats consider the peaceful borders better than political unrest which may spill over in Northern Israel and throughout the Middle East.
Unsaid in this debate is the false premise that stable dictators can be easily defined as "The Devil We Know." PLO leader Yasser Arafat appeared like a negotiable strongman to the West, yet preached terror and calumny against the West and Israel to the West Bank. Rather than positioning themselves with the interests of the "allied" Western states in mind, they preach peace and cooperation in order to take on international aid, then demonize them in order to succor favor with their oppressed people, who focus on hating the Occupying Jewish State and its puppet-supporter, the United States of America.
Israel and the United States can never assume that any alliance with a desperate nation will yield any long-term stablility, especially when dictators who harm their own people and exploit their poverty to enrich themselves have hardly any incentive to cooperate with liberal societies antithetical to their selfish interests.
"The Devil we know" simply does not exist, for the Devil himself is a liar, an angel of light deceiving many. No better description better fits the vile dictators of the Middle East who are falling from power.