June 5 was the anniversary of the outbreak of the Six Day War. This year, it coincided with the 28th day of the Jewish month of Iyyar, which is the date on the Jewish calendar on which the Old City of Jerusalem was liberated.
At the time, the Arabs were lying, telling their people that they were winning the war.
But here's a cable from the British Ambassador to Jordan to Britain's Foreign Office that tells a very different story. It was sent 49 years ago today, June 6, 1967.
It's widely known that Israel had a deal with Jordan's King Hussein in 1967. Jordan would stay out of the upcoming war with Egypt and Syria, and Israel would not touch Jerusalem and the 'west bank.' The government ministers - principally from the Labor party and (to their eternal shame) the National Religious Party - opposed taking Jerusalem's Old City, saying that they didn't want to rule over the Middle East equivalent of the Vatican.
It's also widely known that Jordan violated the deal and attacked Israel. What's not widely known (and I don't even recall reading an account like this in Michael Oren's seminal book on the war - which I read a few years ago) is why.
Moshe Feiglin tells the story of why Jordan broke the agreement. If you didn't believe until now that God was behind the entire war, this story ought to convince you.
The story is in Hebrew and there is an English translation. But it loses a lot in translation so if you can, read the Hebrew.
Yom Kippur will mark the 40th anniversary of the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War. While I knew that Israel had been warned via an Egyptian double agent that his country was going to go to war, I did not know that Jordan's King Hussein also met with Golda Meir and warned her that a war was in the works.
But a
particularly interesting meeting took place on Sept. 25, 1973 -- about
two weeks before the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War. The venue: an
intelligence facility in central Israel.
Because the meeting was
hastily arranged and held well inside Israel, it was considered an
extraordinary encounter. Hussein was the one who asked for the meeting.
He wanted to sound the alarm about the looming danger on Israel's
borders. The Syrians and Egyptians were planning an attack on Israel, he
warned. Their decision stemmed from the unraveling of the Rogers Plan, a
desire to undo Israel's hubris and a need to compensate for their
humiliating defeat in the Six-Day War. Hussein said Egypt and Syria
wanted to reclaim the territory they had lost six years earlier.
Hussein confided with
Meir that two weeks prior to the meeting he had met with Syrian
President Hafez Assad and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. They told him
that they were running out of patience and that they would like to
initiate a flare-up with Israel on two fronts. Assad and Sadat asked
Hussein if he would be willing to open a third, eastern front, but he
refused.
Hussein told Meir about
Syria's preparations and the military maneuvers it was planning. He
also shared information on the deployment of its armored units and the
locations of its aircraft. He expressed concern how things might unfold
and inquired whether Israel was duly prepared.
Meir said she would look
into the matter. Hussein also said that he had promised Syria that he
would send two armored brigades to the frontline to show Arab
solidarity.
The details that
emerged from those meetings were shared among American, Israeli and
Jordanian policymakers, with both Israel and Jordan updating the
Americans about the events leading up to the meetings and their
aftermath, as well as on what transpired behind closed doors. The
conversation that was held just prior to the war did not frighten Meir,
but she couldn't stop thinking about what she had been told.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Here are 1956 interviews with Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, Jordanian King Hussein and Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
