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On June 4, 1967, Israel was facing oblivion, but by June 10, Israel showed itself to be the dominant Middle Eastern power.
Casualties were immensely lopsided. Total United Arab Republic losses:
Aircraft – 452
Israel lost 46.
Tanks – 617
Israel lost 28.
Military Personnel – Between 13,200 and 23,500 (numbers vary because of differing reports).
Israel lost between 776 and 983.
The military numbers illustrate one picture, but the other aftermath speaks an equally loud story. Israel was a tiny nation surrounded by aggressors on all sides. There was no buffer zone protecting Israel from any assault. The Arabs wanted to overrun Israel and “push it into the sea.” Not only did Israel protect her borders, but it expanded into the West Bank, Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula. This certainly was not the Central Command’s goal in the war, but after a week, such prizes elevated Israel into a different world and diplomatic situation.
Israel’s decisiveness made the Palestinian population tremulous. 300,000 Palestinians fled Gaza and the West Bank into Jordan. Another approximately 100,000 Syrians fled the Golan Heights, as Israel was determined to maintain control over such a strategic geographic region. Jews living in Arab countries throughout the world faced immediate persecution, and were also forced to flee their adopted countries.
The most important aspect of the Six Day War was how the world now viewed this tiny giant. Israel could no longer be regarded as weak, and overwhelmingly became the most dominant force in the Middle East. Today, Israel is regarded by many military specialists as being “pound for pound” the strongest military in the world. Such a reputation is something Israel holds with pride. Israel’s victory helped to shed the long-held persona that Jews were slimy, crafty tradesmen. Pictures such as the Jerusalem Brigade’s entering the Old City, Jerusalem painted a romanticized picture of able bodied men and women unified for a national cause.
Zionism, subsequently, was on the rise again throughout the world. Many Jews, other than those persecuted, decided to emigrate “home.” The concerted Arab effort to destroy “evil” Israel was shattered beyond repair. Though another war was attempted on Yom Kippur in 1973, it only continued to prove Arab ineptness, and Israeli superiority. Such harrowing defeat changed how Arab nations would continue to approach Israel. Egypt for instance under Nasser’s successor, Anwar el Sadat, began to enter a peace process in the 1970’s – it cost him his life as he was assassinated. Palestinians organized into the Palestinian Liberation Organization, PLO, under Soviet support, and undertook terrorist campaigns. Druze, Hizbollah, Hamas, et. al. followed suit organizing terrorist incursions into Israel. Arab failures made armies too afraid of full-frontal assaults into a nation which defeated them so completely. This has and continues to be a double-edged sword as terrorist attacks come unexpectedly from anywhere at anytime, much unlike open warfare.
Israel has endured much for her entire history. The future looks bleak; however, God’s promise to Israel has never been broken, nor will it. Men and nations have tried for millenia without success to bring Israel to her knees. God proclaimed Jacob “Israel”, Prince with God, because he wrestled with God and prevailed. Surely, man can never prevail against Israel, while under God’s protection.
armchaircapitalist 