When I wanted to make the following statement of support for the Egyptian people, a colleague asked the following question: why should I make such an announcement as an Israeli? Why should the support for Egyptian protesters have a national identity?

At first I thought, he’s right – why make this into an Israeli statement, when the question of Israel is so toxic in the current environment? I can make the statement as a human being.

Then I thought again and decided that davka as an Israeli I want to make this statement. Rabbi Michael Lerner made the case beautifully for why many Jews support the people of Egypt, writing in the Huffington Post:

Yet it is impossible for Jews to forget our heritage as victims of another Egyptian tyrant — the Pharoah whose reliance on brute force was overthrown when the Israelite slaves managed to escape from Egypt some 3,000 years ago. That story of freedom retold each year at our Passover “Seder” celebration, and read in synagogues in the past month, has often predisposed the majority of Jews to side with those struggling for freedom around the world. To watch hundreds of thousands of Egyptians able to throw off the chains of oppression and the legacy of a totalitarian regime that consistently jailed, tortured or murdered its opponents so overtly that most people were cowed into silence, is to remember that the spark of God continues to flourish

As an Israeli, I want to chart a new course for Israel’s dialogue with the people of our region, because Bradley Burston shows that we in Israel may have a few things to learn from Egypt, too. I want to reach out to the people who I believe want peaceful relations to continue, and tell them: our peace need not depend on your tyranny. I no longer want to give Egyptians the excuse to hate Israel, because Israel supports dictatorial regimes. I, as an Israeli, support freedom and dignified representation for the Egyptian people – indeed, for all people.

I do not believe our countries will ever have truly strong or warm relations until the Israeli Palestinian conflict is justly resolved and I accept the political anger of those who support the Palestinian cause. I devote much of my professional and personal life to advancing that resolution. But until that day, I will not stop supporting the cause of democracy for all other people in the world. I do not take Israel’s own democracy for granted; but I intend to use my freedom of expression here to say the following, to shout it out loud:

As an Israeli, a Jew, and a human being, I would like to extend my support and admiration to the people of Egypt for rising up to demand democracy and the end of the police state of Hosni Mubarak.  I stand with Egyptians who seek to use democratic means to improve life, expose corruption and advance social equality.  I believe that a democratic Egypt will reject those who would abuse democracy by calling for violence and intolerance, or violations of human rights.  I hope that any freely elected government will keep the peace between our countries, while all the region’s leaders must actively support and pursue an end to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. I look forward to friendship between Israelis and Egyptians of all faiths.