Arab leaders at the World Economic Forum are obsessively seething again about US support for Israel, as they do at every opportunity, and accusing the Bush administration of “hypocrisy” because of its policy of “democratizing” the Arab-Muslim world: Arabs slam U.S. over democracy. (Hat tip: scaramouche.)

At a public debate at the World Economic Forum in Davos, senior figures from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran accused the Bush administration of ignoring Israeli weapons of mass destruction and human rights abuses towards Palestinians while pressuring Arab and Muslim states to disarm and democratise.

In truth, there is less hypocrisy in the Bush administration’s policies toward the Arab world than in those of any previous US government. I know statements from Arab leaders are not expected to contain logic, but how is it “hypocritical” to support the only democratic state in the Middle East, while promoting democracy in the dozens of surrounding totalitarian countries? The people accusing the US of double standards are the cronies and bagmen of dictators and hereditary monarchies, and their credibility is nil.