It's now a 40-year war
Reader comment on item: The Soviets' Six-Day War

Submitted by Pat (United States), May 29, 2007 at 22:16

"Finally, forty years later, where might things be had the Soviets' Six-Day War not occurred? "

Where, indeed. Would anyone ever have heard of Sirhan Bishara Sirhan? Where would the US be if Robert Kennedy had not been killed by a Palestinian who claimed to be offended by RFK's support for Israel? Hadn't the US maintained a distance from Middle Eastern politics prior to the war? Weren't France and Britain Israel's most important allies?

Can we really call it the Soviets' war? Weren't the Egyptians and Syrians opportunists at heart? Maybe they didn't want to fight a war but they didn't shy away from it, either. They might never have initiated the war on their own but they seized the opportunity that was handed to them. They have also made the most of their defeat. They, and all Arabs, have successfully written the history that portrays them as victims. The war has gone on for four decades, with the Israelis called occupiers and the war being conducted on a lower level to erase Israel's strategic advantage. The IDF could wipe out the Egyptian Air Force but it can't go after people who throw stones and blow up pizza parlors and shopping malls. Israeli overtures to peace are considered surrender. Rocket attacks from Gaza cannot be answered without Israel being blamed for attacking "innocent civilians".

After the Islamic Revolution, Lebanon joined in. Israel's occupation of a strip of southern Lebanon in order to stop attacks on its northern cities was universally condemned. Withdrawal from Lebanon brought no benefit to Israel. We all saw the world's response to Israel's attempt to defend itself from Hezbollah in the face of an impotent Beirut goverment. Here too, Israel was considered the aggressor.

Did the Six Day War ever really end?

"However bad circumstances are at present, they would presumably be yet worse without that stunning Israeli victory."

Can't it also be said that Israel was a victim of its own success? Its seemingly easy victory almost gave it an aura of invincibility, further allowing the Arabs to paint it as the militant aggressor putting down peaceful Muslims. Its position of strength meant that Israel was expected to temper its response to attackers, where a smaller power might have been allowed to go in and crush them.

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