Six Day War Talking Points

by Andrea Levin and Lee Green

CAMERA has developed a special Web site devoted to the historic 1967 Middle East war: www.SixDayWar.org. The facts and figures, history, time-line and photos found there can be used to help counter all-too-frequent media distortions about that important event. we urge you to explore the new CAMERA site and use it to remind the public, the media, elected officials and clergy of the causes, consequences and lessons of the war. We're already seeing feature articles on the topic.

Economist Distortions

A recent case of biased commentary on the war is the May 26--June 1, 2007 edition of Britain's influential Economist magazine whose cover includes the iconic image of Israeli soldiers at the Western Wall under the headline: "Israel's wasted victory; The six-day war, 40 years on." A skewed rendition of the causes and aftermath of that conflict follows in an opinion piece and a datelined story. See here and here. (The Economist has a worldwide circulation of more than 1 million with more than half that number sold in the U.S.)

1) There is no discussion of the core issue of Arab rejection of Israel's legitimacy in 1967. The only use of the word "irredentist" is in regard to Israeli settlements -- called "colonization." There is no reference at all in either piece to the notorious three "no's" issued by Arab nations at Khartoum in September 1967: no recognition, no negotiation and no peace. Nor is there mention of the frenzied calls throughout the Arab world to destroy Israel -- exhortations heard today too in many Arab media and mosques and often in political discourse.

2) Although portions of the articles focus on the 1967 war, much attention is devoted to railing against settlements built afterwards in the West Bank and Gaza. They are cast as the central, overriding problem -- as opposed to Arab aggression, intolerance and imperial aims. The author claims: "Hamas is to the Palestinians what the settlers are to Israel: it believes that the land was consecrated to Muslims by God, and is not negotiable." Hamas, needless to say, is a terrorist group -- officially  designated so by the U.S. and the E.U. for its mass killings of innocent people. The comparison to Israeli settlers who have been the target of Hamas's lethal assaults and who have never, of course, blown up busses, cafes and religious events, is outrageous. (The magazine doesn't always equate settlers to Hamas; while certain settlers are labeled "more fanatical than ever" -- no Hamas member of any stripe is called fanatical.)

3) Israel is denounced for the "hubristic folly of annexing the Arab half of Jerusalem" in 1967 -- though the "Arab half," as The Economist terms it, is actually very Jewish too. It is the location of ancient and modern Jewish sites and institutions. These include the Temple Mount and Western Wall, Judaism's holiest sites and the center of pilgrimage and millennial prayer, as well as Hebrew University and Hadassah Hospital among modern enterprises. There is no mention by The Economist of the repressive policies of Jordan during that nation's 19 year occupation of the eastern side of the city, its expulsion of the Jewish residents and denial of worship to Jews and Israeli Christians at their holy sites.

Six-Day War talking points

Following are brief talking points for general use drawn from CAMERA's time-line and other entries on the new site: Use them to "pro-actively" set the record straight in letters to the editor. Tuesday, June 5, is the anniversary of the first day of the war. 

* Egypt started the Six-Day War by closing the Straits of Tiran (under international law a casus belli or act of war), and the Jordanian and Syrian airforces and armies attacked Israel before Israel moved against them. While Israel's attack on the Egyptian airforce is typically called "preemptive," Egypt's naval blockade was the initial act of war.  

* Israel greatly feared that with Soviet aid, the Arabs -- 200,000 of whom were massed on the borders -- could overrun Israel with a loss of untold thousands of lives and the state itself. So agonizing was the stress in the lead-up to the war that Chief of Staff Itzhak Rabin had a paralyzing breakdown for several days.

*Israel gained control of the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan Heights and eastern Jerusalem as a result of Arab aggression and refusal to accept Israel's sovereign rights in the historic Jewish homeland.  

* After the war, Israel offered to give back virtually all the land gained (not including eastern Jerusalem) for recognition and peace from the Arabs but, as noted, Arab leaders responded with no peace, no negotiations and no recognition of Israel.   

* This rejection of Israel was similar to the Arabs' refusal to accept coexistence and compromise under the 1947 partition proposal. That rejection led to continued conflict and deprivation -- not least for the Palestinians themselves.

* Statements by many of today's Middle Eastern leaders, whether Iranian, Palestinian (Hamas is the elected government) or by Hezbollah, sound no less  genocidal than the statements of Nasser and other Arab leaders in 1967. 

(see www.memri.org and www.pmw.org.il ) Regrettably, other than offering a few condemnations, world leaders did nothing meaningful 40 years ago to stop Arab aggression. 

What lessons does this hold for today when weapons are more lethal --particularly regarding Iran and its nuclear capabilities?

* Even the relatively "moderate" King Hussein of Jordan, an ally of America, attacked Israel (despite Israel pledging not to attack Jordan if the kingdom stayed out of the war). 

Originally Published on 5/30/2007 for CAMERA