Shlach, 40^th Anniversary of the 6 Day War 23 Sivan 5767 / June 9, 2007

When I awoke on the morning of June 5, 1967, my parents were watching television. Although our television set was located in their bedroom, they rarely watched. And for them to have been watching in the morning, it had to be something of significance. They were watching the reports that Haifa had been bombed, its oil refineries on fire; that Jerusalem was under attack; that Arab planes had attacked Tel Aviv; and Arab forces had crossed the border. The war we had feared would occur had at last broken out. The nightmare had begun three weeks earlier with the withdrawal of UN troops, followed by the massing of the Egyptian army on the border and then in turn of the Jordanians with reinforcements from Iraq and Syria. Israel’s ports were blockaded. And we witnessed despite Abba Eban’s scintillating rhetoric the dilatory pace of inaction on the part of the West to come to Israel’s aid. All of these developments had created an apocalyptic sense amongst Jews world-wide. Visions of the Holocaust redux haunted us.

Never mind that with hindsight, scholars are now telling us that US intelligence was sure that if push came to shove the Israelis could handily defeat the Arab armies. That was far from clear that June morning. Israel’s economy had grown to a halt, as troops were mobilized and waiting. Fortunately, as we know, those early morning reports were false. In fact, by then the Israeli air force had effectively neutralized the Egyptian air corps, and Israeli forces had crossed into Egyptian territory. And despite pleas to Jordan to stand aside, the Arab Legion attacked and the Israelis responded. And so by Thursday when 100’s of thousands us massed in Washington to support Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank were in Israeli hands, the Sinai was almost in its hands, and within two days the Syrians would be pushed back from the Golan Heights.

Recently there have appeared articles that offer a revisionist view of history, suggesting if only Israel hade been forthcoming with offers of peace then the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would be non-existent. There is selective amnesia here. Days before the outbreak of the war President Abdul Rahman Aref of Iraq had publicly proclaimed this as “our opportunity…to wipe Israel off the map…” that this moment of Arab mobilization was a chance “to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948.” The fear of destruction was real. And yet, nonetheless, Israel was magnanimous in victory. A little more than a week after the wear ended, on June 19^th the Israeli cabinet offered to negotiate peace with Syria and Egypt. The Arabs responded in September with a meeting in Khartoum with their three Nos: no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it. As for the settlements as an obstacle to peace, one must remember that other than demolishing some of the buildings near the western wall in Jerusalem and encouraging re-settlement of the Jewish quarter in the Old City, Israel initially did little to alter the demography of the West Bank. By the time of the Yom Kippur War, perhaps a 1,000 Jews had moved into portions of Judea and Samaria. As for the assertion that the Palestinian resistance was an outgrowth of the occupation, a check of the facts, will determine that the PLO had been in existence for a couple of years before the Six Day War: it was not a response to its Israel’s occupation.

Years ago, the late Ephraim Kishon penned a piece which he entitled “If Israel had Lost the War.” In it he pointed out what sympathy would have been Israel’s lot had it been vanquished. But no, it had the chutzpah to take history by force. And it paid a price for that victory. Among other costs: the Soviet Union and its allies suspended relations with Israel as a result of the Israeli victory and in November, Charles De Gaulle announced that France would no longer supply Israel militarily, asserting “the Jewish people, sure of themselves and domineering:” were undeserving of continued French support.

The war has been called a Pyrrhic victory for Israel. True, it swapped old territorial insecurities for demographic insecurities. But who can forget how close the border was before the war? I remember that if one took the train to Jerusalem one cold practically put one’s hands out the window and cross the border. Who can forget the winding road up to Jerusalem, which made a sharp turn at Latrun, a road still littered with the shells of the vehicles that attempted to break the city’s blockade in 1948. 40 years later, the journey to Jerusalem is not the adventure it was back then, but the new and very real demographic problems have caused many Israelis to abandon the Messianic fervor with which they embraced Judea and Samaria as part of historic Israel. The majority of Israelis now support a two-state solution, as do many of us. One wishes that it could be waved into existence with a magic wand and peace would dramatically descend upon the region. But there are serious issues that have to be resolved, including the issue of Israel’s security. But who is ready to have Hamas in charge of the West Bank so it can lob Kassam missiles at Ben Gurion Airport? One rocket hitting the air port and no one but El Al will fly in or out. Wishful thinking doesn’t translate into reality. Hamas is stuck back at Khartoum and until it moves beyond it, sadly, Israel would be committing suicide to withdraw further from the territories.

1967 transformed relationships and attitudes. The French and the Soviet Union may’ve dumped Israel; but the United States, despite the attack on the Liberty, stepped into the breach. Jews around the world developed a deeper attachment to Israel. In the Soviet Union, the Israeli victory stimulated, almost ironically, Jewish self-identification. The Jews of Silence, of whom Elie Wiesel had written about only a few years earlier, soon were no longer so silent and docile. It may have taken a few years, but the refuseniks and the movement of Soviet Jewry to Israel emerged out of this new found sense of identification. And here in the United States our religious allies changed. The Protestant left, sadly, quickly abandoned Israel in its hour of triumph. In time, however, the Evangelicals would step up to the plate as prime supporters of Israel. (Not that there aren’t problems with that embrace: their theology and their politics leave many of us uncomfortable.) And as for Jews, more of us were ready to visit and to send our children on programs in Israel after the Six Day War. And undoubtedly, as a byproduct of the migration of technically trained Soviet Jews, high tech became a cornerstone of Israel’s economy, bolstered by massive investments by companies such as Intel.

4 decades after the Six Day War, it is hard to imagine the Israel that existed beforehand. Sadly, the walls that portioned Jerusalem in those days have had to be replaced with equally hideous walls of protection to prevent tragedies such as the Sbarro bombing in downtown Jerusalem. And yet despite itself, despite its crumbling government, despite the existential threats to its existence from Iran and Hamas, despite discord within its polity, it is a thriving country. Frankly, given the choice between a return to June 4, 1967 or even May 14, 1967 and today, I would choose the Israel of today.

Shabbat shalom.