The Arab-Israeli Six-Day War, 1967

THE ARAB-ISRAELI SIX-DAY WAR, 1967

Invasion

On 5 June 1967 the developing military crisis in the Middle East exploded when the Israeli air force launched lighting raids against the Egyptian troops which had recently reoccupied the Sinai Peninsula. A United Nations emergency force had served as a buffer force in the Sinai since the clash between Israel and Egypt in the Suez Crisis of 1956 but withdrew at Egypt's request. Cairo also announced it would close Israel's access to the Red Sea through the Gulf of 'Aqaba.

Jerusalem Reunited

Anticipating an Arab war against the Jewish state, Israeli forces struck. In less than a week they first destroyed the Egyptian forces in the Sinai, then drove the military of Jordan from the west bank of the Jordan River, and finally crushed the forces of Syria and occupied the Golan Heights in southern Syria. In the process the Old City of Jerusalem was seized and annexed by Israel.

The Balance of Power

The extraordinary success of the small but highly equipped and trained Israeli forces against the combined armies of three Arab states changed the balance of power in the Middle East for the coming decades and created diplomatic problems that still echo.

Israel and American Jews

The threat of the destruction of Israel had too-obvious parallels with the Holocaust for the American Jewish community, which rallied to the Israeli cause with intense commitment. Unprecedented millions of dollars were quickly raised for Israel, and a heightened sense of religious and ethnic identity appeared. After the Six-Day War, American Jews tended to identify themselves by their commitment to the Jewish state, and many equated non-Jewish reservations about Israel with anti-Semitism.

Tensions with Christians

This led to a shift in Jewish attitude toward Christian groups. Many liberal Protestants, politically and culturally most favorable to Jews, raised questions about annexing eastern Jerusalem, noting that it was a holy city for both Muslims and Christians and that annexation would only complicate the chances for a lasting peace. Conservative Protestants, some of whom previously had been a source of antiSemitism, now became enthusiastic supporters of Israel because the return of Jews to Jerusalem seemed to confirm biblical prophecy of the end of time. And radicals, both black and white, easily found parallels between what they considered America's unconscionable imperialism in Vietnam and Israel's relations with the Arab states and the Palestinians. This criticism of Israel, coupled with local tensions, embittered relations between Jews and African-Americans by the end of the decade. At that time a public opinion poll indicated that 33 percent of the Jews surveyed attributed a rise in anti-Semitism to militant blacks and 10 percent blamed New Left radicals.

Sources:

Arthur Hertzberg, "Israel and American Jewry," Commentary, 44 (August 1967): 69-73;

Martin Peretz, "The American Left and Israel," Commentary, 44 (November 1967): 27-34.