But most of the countries in the area are dictatorships, where they don't need to abide by public sentiment. Public sentiment in almost all these countries is that they want to stop what Israel is doing to the Palestinians. Egypt's one and only election was to elect a leader who promised to change that, and he was of course deposed by the military (with Israeli help). If the rebels do set up a government where the voices of the people are heard, it will be bad for Israel (and vis a vis, good for Iran, presumably).