Passover highlights paradox of Egypt

As this struggle unfolds, there is a temptation to shrink from Egypt's contradictions and just defend America's "core interests," such as the Camp David accords and the freedom of the Suez Canal.

But important as these interests are, any policy based on them alone does not measure up to the richness of our history with Egypt or the magnitude of this moment.

Ultimately, the battle for freedom in Egypt can only be led, as it has been, by Egyptians. But we should not be satisfied until — in the words of America's own Moses, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., himself quoting the Jewish prophet Amos — "justice flows down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

This Passover and this Easter, let us all remember that there is no mightier stream than the Nile.

Ari Ratner is a former appointee at the Obama administration State Department, where he worked on the U.S. response to the revolution in Egypt and the broader Arab Spring. He wrote this for the Los Angeles Times.