Six Days of Victory.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the 6 Day War. Those interested in this Israeli war and others may enjoy my own Israel at War.

Basically, the Arabs talked themselves into the conflict. After Syria got a bloody nose in an air battle over Damascus, Assad ratcheted up his anti-Israel rhetoric. In Egypt, Nasser resented the good press Assad was getting in the Arab world so he one upped Assad and threatened to reoccupy the demilitarized Sinai and so on and so forth....

Surrounded by enemies Israel Pearl Harbored the Arab world and launched a daring night time sneak attack which destroyed most of the Egyptian and Syrian air forces on the ground.  Nasser hit the panic button and ordered the Egyptian Army to withdrawal. The Egyptians retreated in disarray  and were set upon by the advancing Israelis.

Assad and Nasser tricked Jordan's Hussein into joining the war, resulting in Jordan's defeat as well and the current on-going, never to end Palestinian situation. Hussein discussed the whole sorry episode in a book.

As noted before, we find the '73 War far more interesting. That said the Six Day War established Israel as a fact on the ground. The nation now had strategic space and the Arabs once and for all had to give up their dream of destroying the Jewish State. Egypt only got the Sinai back after signing a peace treaty. To this day the two governments cooperate closely on security matters.

Before all that, however, the Arab world responded to Israel's crushing victory with its infamous Khartoum statement and three no's, 'No Peace, no recognition, no negotiation.' There followed the War of Attrition, precursor to the Yon Kippur War.

50 Years of '67 Victory

So this week Israel is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 6 Day War. Those curious can read about it in my own brief military history of Israel, Israel at War.

Basically, with Egypt and Syria threatening to annihilate Israel, and assembling forces in the Sinai and Golan respectively, Israel launched a sneak attack which destroyed the air forces of both nations. From there Israel forces advanced onto the Sinai and destroyed the Egyptian Army. After a few days Israel soldiers were swimming in Suez Canal. They followed up this victory by taking the Golan from Syria and the West Bank from Jordan, all in 6 Days.

The 6 Day War removed the existential threat to Israel and in its own way set the stage for peace with Egypt.

Of course the Yom Kippur War was far more interesting and hotly contested. Readers may also learn about the Yom Kippur war in Israel at War.

Today Israel faces no conventional military threat. Egypt has no interest in war. Saudi Arabia has a decent sized and well armed military but their anti-Israeli machinations are strictly pro-forma. Everything the Saudis do military is directed against the Iranian threat. Iran is Israel's real worry, Iran and her Hezbollah proxy in Lebanon.

50 years later the existential threat has returned.

From Israel at War:

This study is a collection of essays about the Arab sand Israelis at war since 1947 to the present day. The first half of the study details the conventional Arab-Israeli Wars, the reasons for Israeli victory and more importantly, the underlying causes of Arab defeat. The second half of this study describes Israel's struggles with non-state actors; that is, the well- armed and trained terrorist groups bent on Israel's destruction. The Arab-Israeli Wars were essentially a nationalistic conflict, while the terror wars of the 2000s and beyond have taken on the character of a religious crusade for Israel's enemies. As of this writing, (winter 2015) there is no reason to believe that the conflict will not continue.