Ambassador Yehuda Ravner with the Lubavitcher Rebbe and Prime Minister Menachem Begin, 1977. Photo: www.yehudaravner.com

Yehuda Avner, a former Israeli ambassador and adviser to five prime ministers, told Facebook followers on Thursday that the destiny of the Middle East would be determined by Egypt’s stability.

“What is now happening in Egypt is proof that elections in and of themselves do not a democracy make,” Ambassador Avner wrote.

“Democracy is a culture in which limits are placed on the powers of rulers and the military, judges are beholden to the rule of law, not to men of power, and human rights cannot be crushed by tribal loyalties or mob rule,” he continued.

“Pray for the peace of Egypt, which is the largest, most populous, and strongest militarily of all the Arab states. Much of the destiny of the Middle East is determined by its stability or instability,” he concluded.

Ambassador Avner served as personal secretary and speechwriter to Israeli Prime Ministers Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Golda Meir and Levi Eshkol, and as Israeli Ambassador to Australia and the United Kingdom.

He recently published a memoir entitled, The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership.