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"The Six-Day War was, in actual fact, the prelude to a war which has not yet ended."
"The Six-Day War was, in actual fact, the prelude to a war which has not yet ended."
(Speech to Pan-Arab Trade Unions, Cairo, 29 January 1969)</blockquote>
(Speech to Pan-Arab Trade Unions, Cairo, 29 January 1969)</blockquote>
Author [[Matthias Küntzel]]’s article<ref name=kuntzel-2017>Matthias Küntzel, [https://fathomjournal.org/1967-nassers-antisemitic-war-against-israel/ “1967 | Nasser’s Antisemitic War Against Israel”]. ''Fathom Journal'', Spring 3l2017</ref>, shows that the 1967 Six-Day War was driven not primarily by territorial disputes or immediate military necessity, but by deep-rooted antisemitism and anti-Zionist ideology in the Arab world, especially as embodied by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Main Line.
Author contends that Nasser deliberately escalated tensions with Israel in 1967 despite opportunities for compromise. He contrasts Nasser with Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba, who in 1965 urged Arab leaders to accept a peaceful settlement with Israel based on the UN partition plan. Bourguiba advocated coexistence and negotiation, but Nasser rejected this approach and instead pursued confrontation.
He points out that:
* Nasser sought not coexistence but Israel’s destruction.
* Soviet misinformation and support contributed to the crisis, but Nasser made the decisive choices.
* Antisemitic ideology, influenced partly by European fascism and Nazi propaganda, shaped Nasser’s worldview and Arab political culture.
* Mass anti-Israel sentiment in the Arab world (“the Arab street”) reinforced and encouraged Nasser’s course toward war.
The Road to the Six-Day War.
The article outlines the escalation in May–June 1967:
* The Soviet Union falsely warned Egypt that Israel was massing troops near Syria.
* Nasser moved Egyptian troops into Sinai, expelled UN peacekeepers, and closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping.
* Arab leaders and media increasingly used militant rhetoric calling for Israel’s destruction.
* Israel, fearing an existential threat, launched a preemptive strike on June 5, beginning the Six-Day War.
Author emphasizes that international observers found no evidence of the Israeli troop buildup claimed by the Soviets.
Soviet Role.
The Soviet Union played a significant but indirect role by:
* Arming Arab states.
* Spreading false intelligence about Israeli troop concentrations.
* Encouraging anti-Israel propaganda.
However, author says Moscow did not actually want Israel destroyed and later tried to reduce tensions once the crisis escalated too far.
Nasser’s Ideological Background.
A central section examines Nasser’s early political influences:
* As a young man, he was associated with the ultranationalist Young Egypt movement, which admired Nazi Germany.
* He had ties to members of the Muslim Brotherhood before coming to power.
* Postwar Egypt under Nasser became a refuge for some former Nazis and German military experts.
Nasser embraced antisemitic conspiracy theories, including belief in the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Holocaust denial, and that these beliefs shaped his hostility toward Israel.
Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism.
Anti-Zionism in the Arab world often merged with antisemitism:
* Israel became a political scapegoat in Arab politics after 1948.
* Nazi propaganda in Arabic during World War II had long-term influence on Arab political discourse.
* Arab governments used anti-Israel rhetoric to channel domestic frustrations.
Scholars such as Ruth Wisse and Bernard Lewis state hostility toward Israel reproduced classic antisemitic themes.
Conclusion.
The Six-Day War resulted less from immediate strategic necessity than from ideological hostility toward Israel rooted in antisemitism and radical anti-Zionism. Nasser both reflected and amplified these sentiments among Arab populations.
Egypt's horrible defeat at the hands of Israel in the Six Day War devastated Nasser. He never truly recovered and died of a heart attack in 1970.
Egypt's horrible defeat at the hands of Israel in the Six Day War devastated Nasser. He never truly recovered and died of a heart attack in 1970.