I and friends of mine had the idea that the Arabs started it but Israel did, with American approval.
The Israeli General Staff had been thinking since 1948 that Israel needed more land. Had Kennedy been US President my guess is he'd probably have vetoed it. He was the last Israel-sceptical American leader.
I saw a cartoon published in an Israeli newspaper in the aftermath of the war. An Israeli tank with two soldiers visible in the turret crosses a desert that is empty except for an old woman in Arab dress on the horizon shaking her fist in anger. One Israeli soldier says to the other: "See even here, antisemitism"
Israel has done some very unpleasant things lately but you should give Israel some credit for admirable victories years ago. Israel destroyed the entire Arab world in six days in a way that the Arab world has never really recovered from. In most Arab countries standards of living have dropped in the last 30 years, mostly because of Arabs’ own decisions.
ReplyDeleteYou might say that from that victory the Israelis never recovered.
Delete