Six-Day War

The Six-Day War (Hebrew: ????? ??? ????? transliteration: Milhemet Sheshet Hayamim), also known as the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Six Days' War, or June War, was fought between Israel and its Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. It began when Israel launched what it considered a pre-emptive attack against Egypt, following the latter's closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and the deployment of troops in the Sinai near the Israeli border, and after months of increasingly tense border incidents and diplomatic crises. By its end Israel controlled the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. The results of the war affect the geopolitics of the region to this day.

Controversial claims and theories

The dramatic events of the Six Day War have given risen to a number of controversial claims and theories.

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IDF massacres of Egyptian POWs

In September 1995 Aryeh Yitzhaki of Bar Ilan University accused a reconnaissance unit, known as Shaked (Almond), of which then housing minister in the Labour government Binyamin Ben-Eliezer had been acting commander, of killing hundreds of Egyptians who had abandoned their weapons and fled into the desert during the 1967 war. It emerged subsequently that Yitzhaki was a member of Rafael Eitan's Tsomet Party and that he had acknowledged that he was seeking to divert public attention away from revelations by retired general Arye Biro concerning Eitan?s involvement in the killing of PoWs in the 1956 war. {{ref|post19aug}} {{ref|nytimes21aug}} Yitzhaki?s allegations received widespread attention in Israel and throughout the world and later resurfaced in a book called Body of Secrets (pp. 201-202) by James Bamford. {{ref|nytimesreview}} {{ref|bamfordreview}}

Related Topics:
Aryeh Yitzhaki - Bar Ilan University - Binyamin Ben-Eliezer - Rafael Eitan - Tsomet - Arye Biro - James Bamford

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Although Yitzkhaki?s claim that up to 1,000 prisoners had been killed was not substantiated, in the ensuing national debate in Israel more soldiers came forward to say that they had witnessed the execution of unarmed prisoners and a long-suppressed public reckoning began. Gabi Brun, a journalist on the tabloid, Yedioth Aharonoth, said he had witnessed the execution of five Egyptian prisoners. Michael Ben-Zohar confessed that he had personally witnessed the murder of three Egyptian POWs by a cook and Meir Pa'il said that he knew of many instances in which soldiers had killed PoWs or Arab civilians. {{ref|pows}} In the Associated Press article in which Yitzhaki?s claims spread around the world it was noted that "Rabin, who was chief of staff when some of the 1967 killings allegedly were committed, walked away today when a reporter shouted a related question. His office later issued a statement denouncing the killings and calling them isolated incidents". However, leading Israeli military historian Uri Milstein was reported in the same article as saying that there were many incidents in the 1967 war in which Egyptian soldiers were killed by Israeli troops after they had raised their hands in surrender. "It was not an official policy, but there was an atmosphere that it was okay to do it," Milstein said. "Some commanders decided to do it; others refused. But everyone knew about it." {{ref|post}}

Related Topics:
Gabi Brun - Yedioth Aharonoth - Michael Ben-Zohar - Meir Pa'il - Associated Press - Uri Milstein

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According to a New York Times report of 21 September, 1995 the Egyptian government announced that it had discovered two shallow mass graves in the Sinai at El Arish containing the remains of 30-60 Egyptian prisoners shot by Israeli soldiers during the 1967 war. Israel responded by sending Elli Dayan a Deputy Foreign Minister, to Egypt discuss the matter. During his visit Dayan offered compensation to the families of victims, but explained that Israel was unable to pursue those responsible owing to its 20-year statute of limitations. The Israeli Ambassador to Cairo, David Sultan, asked to be relieved of his post after the Egyptian daily Al Shaab said he was personally responsible for the killing of 100 Egyptian prisoners, although both the Israeli Embassy and Foreign Ministry denied the charge and said that it was not even clear that Sultan had served in the military. {{ref|nytimes21sep}}

Related Topics:
21 September - 1995 - Elli Dayan - Statute of limitations - David Sultan - Al Shaab

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Although there is no longer any dispute over the fact that prisoners were executed by the Israelis in 1956 and 1967 the archival documents that would allow their scale to be assessed more accurately have not been released.

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U.S. and British combat support

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Some Arabs believe the US and Britain provided more support for the Israelis than the American and British governments admit. Claims of American and British combat support for Israel began on the second day of the war. Radio Cairo and the government newspaper Al-Ahram made a number of claims, among them: that US and British carrier-based aircraft flew sorties against the Egyptians; that US aircraft based in Libya attacked Egypt; that US spy satellites provided imagery to Israel. Both Syria and Jordan broadcast similar reports on Radio Damascus and Radio Amman. Michael Oren believes that the purpose of these claims was to secure Soviet support. If this were true, it would in many ways mirror claims Israel made during this time in attempts to get US support. In reaction to these claims, Arab oil-producing countries announced either an oil embargo on the United States and Britain or suspended oil exports altogether. {{ref|oren216}}

Related Topics:
Libya - Michael Oren

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One thing that contributed to this belief, other than general US support for Israel, was US intelligence-gathering during this period. Although this intelligence gathering was not disputed, the question arose as to whether the intelligence was handed over to the Israelis, perhaps to help them coordinate attacks. The US government denies doing this.

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High school and lower grade textbooks in Egypt claim that American and British troops fought on behalf of Israel during the Six-Day War. The following example comes from ‘Abdallah Ahmad Hamid al-Qusi, Al-Wisam fi at-Ta'rikh (Cairo: Al-Mu'asasa al-‘Arabiya al-Haditha, 1999), p. 284.

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:The United States' role: Israel was not (fighting) on its own in the (1967) war. Hundreds of volunteers, pilots, and military officers with American scientific spying equipment of the most advanced type photographed the Egyptian posts for it (Israel), jammed the Egyptian defense equipment, and transmitted to it the orders of the Egyptian command.

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On 9 June 1967, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser stated in his resignation speech (his resignation was not accepted):

Related Topics:
9 June - 1967 - Gamal Abdel Nasser

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:What is now established is that American and British aircraft carriers were off the shores of the enemy helping his war effort. Also, British aircraft raided, in broad daylight, positions of the Syrian and Egyptian fronts, in addition to operations by a number of American aircraft reconnoitering some of our positions … Indeed, it can be said without exaggeration that the enemy was operating with an air force three times stronger than his normal force.

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After the war ended, the Egyptian government and its newspapers continued to make claims of collusion between Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States. These included a series of weekly articles in Al-Ahram, simultaneously broadcast on Radio Cairo by Muhammad Heikal. Heikal attempted to uncover the "secrets" of the war. He presented a blend of facts, documents, and interpretations. Heikal's conclusion was clear-cut: there was a secret U.S.-Israeli collusion against Syria and Egypt.

Related Topics:
Radio Cairo - Muhammad Heikal

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Both London and Washington issued strenuous denials of these claims.

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:Her Majesty's Government are shocked by reports emanating from the Middle East … that planes from a British aircraft carrier have been involved in the fighting. This is a malicious fabrication. There is not a grain of truth in it. It is the policy of Her Majesty's Government to avoid taking sides in this conflict and to do everything they can to bring about a cease-fire as soon as possible.

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Nonetheless, these claims, that the Arabs were fighting the Americans and British rather than Israel alone, took hold in the Arab world. As reported by the British Representative in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a country at odds with Egypt as a result of the Yemen war:

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:President Abdel Nasser's allegation … is firmly believed by almost the whole Arab population here who listen to the radio or read the press … Our broadcast denials are little heard and just not believed. The denials we have issued to the broadcasting service and press have not been published. Even highly educated persons basically friendly to us seem convinced that the allegations are true. Senior foreign ministry officials who received my formal written and oral denials profess to believe them but nevertheless appear skeptical. I consider that this allegation has seriously damaged our reputation in the Arab world more than anything else and has caused a wave of suspicion or feeling against us which will persist in some underlying form for the foreseeable future … Further denials or attempts at local publicity by us will not dispel this belief and may now only exacerbate local feeling since the Arabs are understandably sensitive to their defeat with a sense of humiliation and resent self-justification by us who in their eyes helped their enemy to bring this about.

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A British guidance telegram to Middle East posts concluded: "The Arabs' reluctance to disbelieve all versions of the Big Lie springs in part from a need to believe that the Israelis could not have defeated them so thoroughly without outside assistance."

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U.S. and British non-combat support

In a 1993 interview for the Johnson Presidential Library oral history archives U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara revealed that a Carrier battle group, the U.S. 6th Fleet, already on a training exercise near Gibraltar was re-positioned towards the eastern Mediterranean to defend Israel. The administration "thought the situation was so tense in Israel that perhaps the Syrians, fearing Israel would attack them, or the Russians supporting the Syrians might wish to redress the balance of power and might attack Israel". The Soviets learned of this deployment, which they regarded as offensive in nature, and in a hotline message from Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin threatened the United States with war. {{ref|oralhistory}}

Related Topics:
Johnson Presidential Library - U.S. Secretary of Defence - Robert McNamara - Carrier battle group - U.S. 6th Fleet - Gibraltar - Mediterranean - Alexei Kosygin

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In 1983 interview with the Boston Globe McNamara claimed that "We damn near had war." He said Kosygin was angry that "we had turned around a carrier in the Mediterranean." McNamara did not explain how the crisis was resolved. {{ref|bg1983}}

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In his book Six Days veteran BBC journalist Jeremy Bowen claims that on 4 June, 1967 the Israeli ship Miryam left Felixstowe with cases of machine guns, 105 mm tank shells, and armored vehicles in "the latest of many consignments of arms that had been sent secretly to Israel from British and American reserves since the crisis started" and that "Israeli transport planes had been running a 'shuttle service' in and out of RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire". Bowen claims that Harold Wilson had written to Eshkol saying that he was glad to help as long as the utmost secrecy was maintained. {{ref|bowen89}} {{ref|phythian193}}

Related Topics:
BBC - Jeremy Bowen - Felixstowe - RAF Waddington - Harold Wilson

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Soviet Instigation

There are theories that the entire 1967 War was a botched attempt by the Soviet Union to create tensions between West Germany and Arab countries by highlighting West Germany's support for Israel.

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In her September 2003 article in the Middle East Review of International Affairs, Isabella Ginor detailed Soviet GRU documents proposing such a plan and further detailing faulty intelligence fed to Egypt claiming troop buildups near the Golan Heights in Syria. {{ref|ginor}}

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