The Six-Day War in 1967 began after a series of escalating tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Egypt, led by President Nasser, closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, effectively blocking Israel’s access to essential maritime routes. At the same time, Arab nations, including Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq, began massing troops along Israel’s borders, raising fears of a coordinated attack. In response, Israel decided to act first, launching a preemptive strike on June 5, 1967, targeting Egypt’s air force and quickly gaining air superiority.
Over the course of just six days, Israel captured significant territories, including the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. The war fundamentally changed the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East, with Israel’s territorial gains becoming a major point of contention in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Despite United Nations efforts, including Resolution 242, which called for Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories in exchange for peace, the war’s outcomes continue to influence the region’s politics today.
from left to right: abdel rahman arif, King Hussein, Hafez al-Assad and Gamal Abdul Nasser
An edit, credit to u/WhispersFromTheVoid_ (mostly in their words): Sinai was returned to Egypt for peace. Israel left Gaza unilaterally in 2005. Jordan does not want back the West Bank and East Jerusalem (instead Jordan is advocating for peace in the region). The Golan Heights were annexed in the war.
panzer_fury on
It’s kinda ironic that the Israelis used similar or the same military tactics the Nazis used in WWII
DoomedWarrior on
Quite a smart thing to do.
Waiting for the enemy to strike first is stupid in terms of strategy. Stalin did that and look how many people USSR have lost.
RonaldTheClownn on
**sorts by controversial**
Heheaw
Shekel_Hadash on
Do I have a bug or is the post have hundreds of comments and 6 upvotes?
Turtle_Gamez on
*I am going to colonise this land which I will lie about pretending it’s my ancestral homeland and throw the people out of their honest, putting them in an open air prison and genocide them for seven decades
FerdinandTheGiant on
To be fair, Israel did not initially claim that the strike was preemptive in nature, they claimed Egypt had struck first and moved armoured columns against Israel. This of course was not true at all and only after that became clear did they take the position it was a preemptive strike while also citing factors such as the blockade of Tiran.
ernestschlumple on
why so much hasbara stuff on here atm?
Billych on
>
The countdown to June ‘67 begins with a dogfight over Syria in April. The Israeli air force downed several Syrian planes, one over Damascus. Who provoked it? We know the answer because Dayan himself later admitted it. Israel would dispatch bulldozers into the demilitarized zones (DMZs) along the Israeli-Syrian border to seize Arab-owned land. These repeated Israeli land grabs provoked Syrian retaliation. What happened in April was just one more in a long series of such Israeli provocations.
Every official history then goes on to say, the Kremlin falsely conveyed to the Arabs that Israel was readying an attack on Syria. But was the Soviet warning false?
>*North: No, it was accurate.*
>Yes. The Israelis were going to attack. It’s uncertain how big an attack, but there almost certainly was going to be an assault on Syria. The Israeli cabinet had taken a decision.
>The best scholarly study on ‘67—it’s rarely cited—is by the mainstream Israeli historian Ami Gluska, The Israeli Military and the Origins of the 1967 War. He confirms the Israeli cabinet decision. He says, “The Soviet assessment from mid-May 1967 that Israel was about to strike at Syria was correct and well founded.”
>Nasser had a defense pact with Syria, so he was obliged to support it militarily.
>He repositioned Egyptian troops in the Sinai and told UN Secretary-General U Thant to remove the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) separating Egypt from Israel, which U Thant proceeded to do. U Thant was widely condemned for acquiescing in Nasser’s request, but the fact is, U Thant legally had no choice, he acted properly. It was within Nasser’s sovereign right to order UNEF’s removal. The UN peacekeeping force was stationed on Egypt’s side of the border by agreement, and Nasser had the right to rescind the agreement.
>Israeli diplomat Abba Eban famously quipped—he was very clever, very witty—“What’s the point of a fire engine if it’s removed immediately as there’s a fire?” That’s all very funny except for one thing: the original agreement in 1957 was that UNEF was supposed to be stationed—
>*North: Fire engines on both sides of the Egyptian-Israeli border.*
>Yes, on both sides. But Israel at the time refused. If it feared an Egyptian attack in ‘67, and believed UNEF was a deterrent, Israel could’ve redeployed this peacekeeping force on its side of the border….
9 Comments
The Six-Day War in 1967 began after a series of escalating tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Egypt, led by President Nasser, closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, effectively blocking Israel’s access to essential maritime routes. At the same time, Arab nations, including Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq, began massing troops along Israel’s borders, raising fears of a coordinated attack. In response, Israel decided to act first, launching a preemptive strike on June 5, 1967, targeting Egypt’s air force and quickly gaining air superiority.
Over the course of just six days, Israel captured significant territories, including the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. The war fundamentally changed the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East, with Israel’s territorial gains becoming a major point of contention in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Despite United Nations efforts, including Resolution 242, which called for Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories in exchange for peace, the war’s outcomes continue to influence the region’s politics today.
from left to right: abdel rahman arif, King Hussein, Hafez al-Assad and Gamal Abdul Nasser
An edit, credit to u/WhispersFromTheVoid_ (mostly in their words): Sinai was returned to Egypt for peace. Israel left Gaza unilaterally in 2005. Jordan does not want back the West Bank and East Jerusalem (instead Jordan is advocating for peace in the region). The Golan Heights were annexed in the war.
It’s kinda ironic that the Israelis used similar or the same military tactics the Nazis used in WWII
Quite a smart thing to do.
Waiting for the enemy to strike first is stupid in terms of strategy. Stalin did that and look how many people USSR have lost.
**sorts by controversial**
Heheaw
Do I have a bug or is the post have hundreds of comments and 6 upvotes?
*I am going to colonise this land which I will lie about pretending it’s my ancestral homeland and throw the people out of their honest, putting them in an open air prison and genocide them for seven decades
To be fair, Israel did not initially claim that the strike was preemptive in nature, they claimed Egypt had struck first and moved armoured columns against Israel. This of course was not true at all and only after that became clear did they take the position it was a preemptive strike while also citing factors such as the blockade of Tiran.
why so much hasbara stuff on here atm?
>
The countdown to June ‘67 begins with a dogfight over Syria in April. The Israeli air force downed several Syrian planes, one over Damascus. Who provoked it? We know the answer because Dayan himself later admitted it. Israel would dispatch bulldozers into the demilitarized zones (DMZs) along the Israeli-Syrian border to seize Arab-owned land. These repeated Israeli land grabs provoked Syrian retaliation. What happened in April was just one more in a long series of such Israeli provocations.
Every official history then goes on to say, the Kremlin falsely conveyed to the Arabs that Israel was readying an attack on Syria. But was the Soviet warning false?
>*North: No, it was accurate.*
>Yes. The Israelis were going to attack. It’s uncertain how big an attack, but there almost certainly was going to be an assault on Syria. The Israeli cabinet had taken a decision.
>The best scholarly study on ‘67—it’s rarely cited—is by the mainstream Israeli historian Ami Gluska, The Israeli Military and the Origins of the 1967 War. He confirms the Israeli cabinet decision. He says, “The Soviet assessment from mid-May 1967 that Israel was about to strike at Syria was correct and well founded.”
>Nasser had a defense pact with Syria, so he was obliged to support it militarily.
>He repositioned Egyptian troops in the Sinai and told UN Secretary-General U Thant to remove the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) separating Egypt from Israel, which U Thant proceeded to do. U Thant was widely condemned for acquiescing in Nasser’s request, but the fact is, U Thant legally had no choice, he acted properly. It was within Nasser’s sovereign right to order UNEF’s removal. The UN peacekeeping force was stationed on Egypt’s side of the border by agreement, and Nasser had the right to rescind the agreement.
>Israeli diplomat Abba Eban famously quipped—he was very clever, very witty—“What’s the point of a fire engine if it’s removed immediately as there’s a fire?” That’s all very funny except for one thing: the original agreement in 1957 was that UNEF was supposed to be stationed—
>*North: Fire engines on both sides of the Egyptian-Israeli border.*
>Yes, on both sides. But Israel at the time refused. If it feared an Egyptian attack in ‘67, and believed UNEF was a deterrent, Israel could’ve redeployed this peacekeeping force on its side of the border….
[‘To live or to perish’ — Norman Finkelstein on the Six-Day-War and its mythology – Mondoweiss](https://mondoweiss.net/2017/06/six-day-war-finkelstein/)