It is instructive to see how even Israel’s enemies view Israel.  I’m currently reading Dennis Ross’ important book, “Doomed to Succeed,” on the U.S.-Israel relationship from President Truman to Obama.  The article, below,  highlights some of the main themes.   Here is a quote from the article:

       “What emerges from these examples, and others I outline in going through each administration, is that we have consistently misread the priorities of Arab leaders. It is not Israel; it is instead their security and survival. Regional rivals constitute the threats that they are preoccupied with, and they count on us [i.e., the U.S.] to be the guarantor of security. Given that, they will never make their relationship with us dependent on our relationship with Israel.”

      One point implicit throughout all this, but that Ross (at least thus far in my reading) never states, is that Arab leaders do not regard Israel as a threat. Their animosity towards Israel has symbolic value: it plays well with the street, it helps these dictators muster popular support, and is used as an excuse for perpetual martial law in some cases and as an excuse for all the leadership’s failures in all cases. But the Arab leaders apparently believe that if they don’t attack Israel, Israel will not attack them–something that they cannot be certain of when it comes to other Arab or Muslim countries, such as Iran. Even Israel’s longstanding possession of nuclear weapons does not worry them, in sharp contrast to their alarm about Iran (and previously Iraq and Syria) seeking to obtain such weapons.

       Thus, even Israel’s enemies view it as a peaceful country.