>Six Day War Conclusion

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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.

 

>Six Day War Introduction

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“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and Jerusalem. And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces.”

Zechariah 12: 2-3

“For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle and the city shall be taken then shall the Lord go forth to fight against those nations.”

Zechariah 14:2-3

Israel has been hated for millennia. Nation after nation has sought in its own way some method of Jewish destruction. In the modern era, Islam has, in many forms, continued this hatred. Islam claims to descend from the same source as Israel, Abraham. This is true to an extent, as Israel (Jacob), and Ishmael were both fathered by Abraham; however, only Israel was given all of the promises stated by God in Genesis 12:1-3, and restated in Genesis 15, carried out in Genesis 22, added to in II Samuel 7, Jeremiah 30, and many other places. Ishmael was also given a blessing in Genesis 21, thought it does not contain the same provisions as those given to Israel. God did promise to make of Ishmael a great nation. Certainly the Arab nation as a whole was made great. That does not supersede what God has done, is doing, and will do through and for Israel. All of this aside, and focusing on a sliver of Modern Israel’s existence, one may clearly discern the Bible’s truth as seen in Zechariah regarding Israel.

A brief survey history and then more in depth. The Zionist cause was reborn in the late 1800’s, though it never truly died. Modern European Jews created a voice as a result of instances, most notably the Dreyfus Affair. Theodore Herzl founded the movement in Austria, and it quickly spread through the world’s Jewish communities. By World War 1, the Jews were promised a homeland when Britain issued the Balfour Declaration in 1917. Nefariously, the Sykes-Picot agreement was also in the works as T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), was leading his Arab Revolt. The Arabs were promised the same land in return for cooperation against the Turkish Army. Britain and France carved the Middle East into “Spheres of Influence” and governed the region. As Britain soon found out, this region is sticky. When war again broke out in 1939, no one knew, rather admitted, that Hitler’s hatred could really spawn the holocaust. After Allied forces liberated death camps, gaunt Jewish bodies, barely alive, were discovered. Many more were found incinerated or in mass graves, thus illustrating Antisemitism. Those liberated Jews desired to return home, but were humiliated by more racist taunts and attacks. They, also, found their homes occupied by others, who moved in, believing the owners to be dead. Though liberated, many Jews were destitute, and many began to emigrate to “Palestine” in search of a new life.

The modern Jewish emigration began soon after World War 2 ended. This emigration recalls Isaiah 11:12 “And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” Britain soon reneged on the Balfour Declaration, claiming no “will to empire.” Not only did Britain end its promise to the Jews, Britain began to blockade Palestine, as many Jews embarked on boats bound for the region. British vessels fired upon, sank, or turned many ships back to certain death. Thousands of Jews died from disease and/or starvation on these over-populated ships. British policy forgot one other Bible promise “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 12:3. Britain, the world’s largest land empire, vanished within the next few decades.

Jews, undaunted, pressed onward. Though many endured hardships, thousands still did make it to Palestine, and began reorganizing a nation into a country. It is true that Israel used terrorism, yet it was in response to terrorism. The Irgun made a name for itself as it operated during British occupation, and continued to operate during Israel’s declation of statehood in 1948. Eventually, the Irgun, from whom came many leaders such as Menachim Begin, was called upon to defend the new country in a new capacity, as the Modern Israeli Army was formed. Israel, now a viable state had to fight for her existence from the outset, as Arab nations wanted to “drive Israel into the sea.” However, against all odds, Israel defeated all who came against her in 1948.

With this shame firmly in mind, Arab nations had to regroup. The most powerful Arab nation during the mid-Twentieth Century was the rather strategic Egypt, which had much foreign influence, especially from Britain due to the Suez Canal. The canal was one of the world’s vital corridors, but was under Britain’s control, not Egypt’s. Gamel Abdul Nasser gained control of Egypt and used the United Nations as a powerful tool against the European elite during the Suez Crisis of 1955-6. Nasser won the standoff (More on this in a future post), and nationalized the Suez Canal. This was a massive victory and stepping stone for not just Egypt, but all Arab nations.

Nasser began to block Israel’s access to the Canal and the surrounding water sources that Israel used to collect fresh water. This led to rising tensions in the region, and the world was put on alert as Nasser organized nations into a United Arab Republic front to squeeze Israel into oblivion. Israel responded with a few preemptive strikes late 1966 against a feint delivered by Jordan. This diversion was to take Israel’s attention away from Sinai. It also turned World opinion against Israel. Israel knew it was in trouble, and began to appeal to the United States for help. The United States turned Israel down stating that it did not expect war to arise, and that American involvement in Vietnam took precedence. Also, such an involvement would put American interests in the region at risk. Israel was now alone.

Though Israel received no help, this did not dissuade her continuing cry for help. Intelligence clearly showed that Egypt was amassing an army along the Suez and other Arab nations as well as the Soviet Union were vociferously raising the war cry dreams against Israel. Arab dreams became reality on June 5,1967, and quickly turned into nightmare.