Fifty years since Israel won the 1967 Six Day War

[Markhor]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-39960461

This is a good read fifty years on from a war that still defines the Middle East today. Israelis did their homework before the aerial campaign, resulting in an extraordinary achievement in routing three different Arab armies in a matter of days.

It seemed King Hussein of Jordan was reluctant to enter a war he knew was unwinnable but did so anyway in the belief he'd save his throne and avoid a rebellion by Palestinians in the country.

Israel's Foreign Minister at the time, Abba Eban, made an accurate prediction after seeing maps that showed Israel stretching from the Golan to Suez and along the entire length of the River Jordan not as a "guarantee of peace but an invitation to early war".

 

[Slog]

It was a phainty of a lifetime

 

[Mamoon]

Gamal Nasser's final and greatest mistake.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

It cost the Palestinians dearly.

 

[Madplayer]

The biggest example of mismanagement of armies. Egypt in particular should have done better. The rest were sidekicks and always scared of coups in army..they promoted officials to high positions in army on basis of loyalty rathe than merit because they always feared that a coup would overthrow them. They had to pay a price someday and they did. Israel's pre-emptive strikes on Egypt air bases were decisive as well. Presence of Israeli spies in syrian army didnt help either.

 

[Napa]

I was in Egypt about a month ago. You can see the Army everywhere, especially in tourist spots. The impression I got was that they were "slack". That is not surprising as in Egypt government positions are heavily influenced by "sifarish".

The one Muslim force that has shown itself being capable of resisting the Israelis is the Hezbollah.

 

[shaz619]

The ME is in ruins, it needs a leader akin to Saladin

 

[shaz619]

I was in Egypt about a month ago. You can see the Army everywhere, especially in tourist spots. The impression I got was that they were "slack". That is not surprising as in Egypt government positions are heavily influenced by "sifarish".

The one Muslim force that has shown itself being capable of resisting the Israelis is the Hezbollah.

I was just reading about the 2006 Lebanon War, Hezbollah are very intelligent battle strategists; they did well to resist the IDF despite their lack of military strength but were overwhelmed by their numbers. On a level playing field maybe a stalemate wouldn't have been the end result. It's the civilians who suffer the most unfortunately, over 1000 dead on the Lebanese side :/

 

[Napa]

I was just reading about the 2006 Lebanon War, Hezbollah are very intelligent battle strategists; they did well to resist the IDF despite their lack of military strength but were overwhelmed by their numbers. <b>On a level playing field maybe a stalemate wouldn't have been the end result.</b> It's the civilians who suffer the most unfortunately, over 1000 dead on the Lebanese side :/

Hezbollah made very good use of the hilly terrain. The anti-tank weapons supplied by Iran were also crucial.

 

[Asif khan]

Nasser was never going to attack, this so called war was brewing up from a decade earlier when Israel failed to knock out Nasser due to it's forced withdrawal.

Besides, the six day was was more like 6 minutes, once Israel knocked out the Egyptian air force still parked on the ground, the war was over. After that it was all about Israel's expansionist aims, as per usual.

It's always sad to see Israel praised for vicariously beating up on mostly defenceless Arabs.

 

[Adil_94]

the six day war was the greatest military pre emptive attack in history totally broke the back of the egyptian forces. A devastating loss for the Arabs and mentally damaged their psyche it was also the death knell for Arab Nationalism and the emergence of Islamism in the region.

The War also created an air of incivincibility within Israel of its army that wasnt broken until the Yom Kippur War in October 1973 when Egypt managed to make some advances against them and make Israel have to resort to diplomacy and its eventual withdrawal from the Sinai it occupied in 1967 and eventually the Egypt-Israel peace treaty in 1978.

 

[JaDed]

The way its going Arab countries are never going to even try attacking Israel,might attack Iran/Qatar though who knows.

 

[TQ89]

Boy i can never say this in public without getting my behind handed out to me but you gotta salute the israelis for their shrewdness.

Man I mean they were in worst position. Small country surrounded by 3 major countries with serious arme forces. They first took out the most formidable opponent eqypt's air forces, totally neutralizing their land forces in the sinai and then picked out jordan and syria one by one. I mean that was some genius

 

[Specialisttailender]

Boy i can never say this in public without getting my behind handed out to me but you gotta salute the israelis for their shrewdness.

Man I mean they were in worst position. Small country surrounded by 3 major countries with serious arme forces. They first took out the most formidable opponent eqypt's air forces, totally neutralizing their land forces in the sinai and then picked out jordan and syria one by one. I mean that was some genius

When you are a small force you forced to come up with varies tactics. Your soldiers become warriors over night.

 

[Madplayer]

Boy i can never say this in public without getting my behind handed out to me but you gotta salute the israelis for their shrewdness.

Man I mean they were in worst position. Small country surrounded by 3 major countries with serious arme forces. They first took out the most formidable opponent eqypt's air forces, totally neutralizing their land forces in the sinai and then picked out jordan and syria one by one. I mean that was some genius

Attack on egyptian air fields was the only thing that saved them. They could have planned other things but wouldnt have mattered if egypt had its air force intact. Israel basically started the war by that pre-emptive strike because it wasnt 100% certain that the arabs would attack them. I guess when you fear for your very survival, you are forced to take such measures without taking chances. The corruption within Arab armies was exposed after their primary line of attack was taken out. They had no able leadership , most generals were appointed on basis of favouritism and nepotism. They just couldnt lead the armies efficiently on ground.

 

[Robert]

That was the one where the decoyed the Syrian and Egyptian air forces on the ground IIRC.

Made the into a ME superpower.

 

[Saeed]

Interesting point of view on this war.

Fifty years after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, my colleagues who specialize in the Middle East are examining its many legacies for the region today. Here, I highlight the exceptional nature of the war itself in the history of modern warfare, as well as the danger that the wrongheaded expectation of quick wins can tempt parties into wars they might have otherwise avoided.
In short, I see the 1967 war as a classic example—perhaps the classic example—of how ingenious, well-executed plans can produce a sudden and low-cost victory. In a mere six days, Israel destroyed two-thirds of the Egyptian air force and seized the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt, East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. In so doing, fewer than 1,000 Israelis were killed—a fraction of the casualties suffered by its Arab opponents.

Israel’s performance was a modern validation of Sun Tzu, who taught political leaders and military strategists in the sixth century BC to look for ways to win quickly and with minimal bloodshed—and in fact, ideally, to win by outmaneuvering the enemy such that he would not fight at all. The six-day war did not quite achieve that standard, but it came as close as anything in modern times.

The truth is that “lightning victories” are extremely rare. In spite of that, many leaders regularly seem to expect them. See: both sides in the American Civil War (to say nothing of the American Revolution), all sides in World War I, the Soviets in the 1939-1940 Winter War against Finland, Israeli involvement in Lebanon in the 1980s, and America in much of the warfare of this century. As the historian Geoffrey Blainey, among others, teaches us, in most wars at least one side has initial hopes for a quick win, based on some new theory of the case, an entrepreneurial military concept, a novel weapon, or a conviction about its inherent superiority as a government or nation.

But the world risks becoming a bit more dangerous every time the “lightning victory” concept is validated: Observers think they can replicate it, but the “victory” often turns out to be short-lived. Take the following examples, in which quick wins proved transitory at best:

Germany did well with blitzkrieg against Poland and France, but ran out of steam, and left itself badly overexposed, when it attempted the same kind of maneuver against the enormous Soviet landmass.
Japan executed one of the great surprise attacks of all time in December 1941, on Pearl Harbor. But it only took out part of the U.S. fleet—and hardened American resolve enormously. Perhaps the Japanese were thinking too much about Sun Tzu and not enough about Clausewitz, the great Prussian scholar of two centuries ago, who warned that war (beyond being an extension of politics, has a “fog” all its own) aroused deep human passions that are not quickly quelled once stimulated. Thucydides would have made the same point in writing about the Peloponesian wars several centuries before Christ.
The Battle of Inchon in South Korea was a great operational success until it led to American overconfidence and carelessness about the ability to keep China out of the Korean War no matter how far north U.S. forces moved on the peninsula.

Israel’s hostage-rescue mission in Uganda, Operation Entebbe, was a success. But of course it was a limited raid with limited purposes. And perhaps indirectly it even fostered a certain Israeli self-confidence that contributed to flawed assumptions about a Lebanon intervention a few years later.
Little need be said about how quick American-led wins in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 proved to be highly misleading, if viewed as decisive victories rather than tactical or temporary battlefield successes. Or maybe the better way to put it is the Clausewitzian phrase that even victory is a wasting asset. Even when impressive, and seemingly conclusive, it is rarely the end of the story—politics tends to have its revenge in some broader, longer-term way.

Sun Tzu was a great military thinker, and the 1967 war was an impressive achievement. But in the end, Thucydides and Clausewitz understood more about the human condition, and thus the nature of war, than did the great Chinese theorist. And military victories like that in the Six-Day War are highly unrepresentative of the nature of combat.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2017/05/30/sun-tzu-clausewitz-and-the-1967-war/

 

[ManFan]

It was karma for General Nasser's imprisonment and hanging of Sayyid Qutb.

 

[TQ89]

Attack on egyptian air fields was the only thing that saved them. They could have planned other things but wouldnt have mattered if egypt had its air force intact. Israel basically started the war by that pre-emptive strike because it wasnt 100% certain that the arabs would attack them. I guess when you fear for your very survival, you are forced to take such measures without taking chances. The corruption within Arab armies was exposed after their primary line of attack was taken out. They had no able leadership , most generals were appointed on basis of favouritism and nepotism. They just couldnt lead the armies efficiently on ground.

Yes the corruption was badly exposed. General Naseer boasted of arms deals (mainly anti-aircraft weapons) which was a huge lie and Israel found out the truth by accident in 1967 and used it to their advantage.

This is what so many my friends and family members never understand that the six day war was lost because of egypt's corruption instead Gamal nasser tried to turn it around & perpetuated the still present myth that israel was being helped by the US.

I live in an arab country. To this day everyone here thinks that israel could never beat its neighbors because of its small size & won only because was supported by the US.

I myself saw the six day war documentary three weeks ago & i was shocked as i thought Israel was helped by US & UK all along. But the buggers fought alone and won in the face of huge odds.

 

[Varun]

Boy i can never say this in public without getting my behind handed out to me but you gotta salute the israelis for their shrewdness.

There are a lot of things one can salute the Israelis for, not just the 1967 war. Their prowess in the fields of technology and defense is especially admirable.

I'm glad that India saw the light in the 1990s and warmed up to them. There is little to gain from Palestine and the Arabs and Iranians don't seem to mind our ties with Israel anyway. Personally, I doubt they care about Palestine themselves beyond the rhetoric.

 

[Adil_94]

[MENTION=143937]ManFan[/MENTION] yes the same Sayyid Qutbs whos writings have influenced the likes of Bin Laden n Zawahiri n many jihadist ideologues and groups from Al Qaeda Boko Haram Al shabab and ISIS.

His takfirism is one of the biggest reasons for the upheaval in the middle east today.