The Left and the Six Day War
By Aaron Goldstein (06/07/07)
It is difficult to imagine but there was a time when Israel was an important cause for the Left. If one examines the Zionist movement of the late 19th and early 20th Century one will observe that Israel was as much a socialist cause as it was Jewish. This could be observed in the utopian idealism of the father of Zionism, Theodor Herzl as well as in the communal practicality of Jews who lived and worked on kibbutzim that served as the foundation of the State of Israel.
Lest we forget, of course, the ashes of the Holocaust. When the world came to realize the depravity and depth of Hitler’s final solution, left wing support for Jewish statehood was considered as progressive as the New Deal in the United States or the National Health Service in Britain.
It is also hard to imagine that at one time Britain and France, not the United States, were Israel’s most steadfast allies. But there they were in 1956 standing side by side with Israel after Egypt’s General Nasser had nationalized the Suez Canal and ordered one too many raids into Israel. An irate Dwight Eisenhower compelled Israel, Britain and France to retreat from the Sinai as he was excluded from their efforts. At the conclusion of the Suez Crisis, the first UN peacekeepers were installed at the behest of future Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.
Yet a little more than a decade later it would be that same General Nasser who would set into motion the events that would not only change Israel but change who its friends were. In May 1967, after receiving erroneous information from the Soviet Union that Israel intended to attack Egypt, General Nasser demanded the UN Emergency Force leave the Sinai. To which UN Secretary General U Thant meekly complied. Nasser proceeded to advance Egyptian troops on the Sinai blockading the Straits of Tiran effectively rendering Israel unable to ship goods from the Port of Eilat. Nasser then convinced several other Arab states to join his effort to wipe out Israel once and for all. Jordan, Syria as well as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Algeria all joined Nasser’s cause.
Left without any help from the UN, the United States (which had its own problems in Southeast Asia) and the rest of the world, the IDF launched a pre-emptive attack on the Egyptian air force on June 5, 1967. Six days later Israel had not only destroyed the Egyptian air force but it gained control of the Sinai and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria. In the space of less than a week, Israel having defeated the military forces of seven other nations was quickly no longer viewed as an underdog but rather as a colonizer. It was also successful and there is nothing the Left resents more than success. It is worth noting that Israel, which at one point, was as close to the Soviet Union as to the United States had fallen out of the Kremlin’s favor and hitched its bets with the Arab world. The Left and their fellow travelers followed suit.
By the early 1970s, the Left began to embrace a new cause – the Palestinians. Through the PLO they sought their own homeland. The only problem is that the Palestinians claimed all of Israel as their homeland from the river to the sea and would do anything to eliminate the State of Israel including attacking unarmed civilians. It’s curious that the Palestinians never advocated for statehood while the Gaza Strip was ruled by Egypt and the West Bank by Jordan. These facts never stopped the Left from throwing its weight behind the Palestinians and has had little trouble likening Israel to Apartheid South Africa and Nazi Germany in the same breath. It is also curious that while Left is quick to condemn Israel for the deaths of Palestinian civilians it is silent when Palestinian kill other Palestinians. The Left was also silent when the Jordanian army killed between 7,000 to 8,000 Palestinians in September 1970 in response to several hijackings and attempts on the life of King Hussein. More Palestinians were killed during this single month than were killed by the IDF during the two Intifadas put together.
The Left also doesn’t bother to mention that Israel was willing to give up most of what it gained in the immediate aftermath of the Six Day War. But the Arab world raised its middle finger to Israel with the Khartoum Resolution which are better known as the three nos. No negotiation, no recognition and no peace. Of course, Israel would later return the Sinai to Egypt after the 1978 Camp David Accords. Israel would also return just under 200 miles of land to Jordan in the Israeli-Jordanian Peace Treaty of 1994 as well as the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority under the auspices of the Oslo Accords. As for a final resolution, the late Yasser Arafat could have had his Palestinian state in 2000 courtesy Ehud Barak and Bill Clinton but Arafat opted for another intifada instead. Does the Left care? It just simply ignores what is right in front of them and just jump up and down and scream, “Occupation!!! Occupation!!! Occupation!!!”
Well, occupy this. Israel is here to stay whether the Left likes it or not. Israel has nothing for which it needs to apologize. Forty years ago, Israel had a choice. Fight or die. Israel chose the former and the world is a better place for it. Israel might very well dismantle all settlements, tear down the separation fence and give East Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority. Would it be enough for the Left? Are you kidding? The only thing that would satisfy the Left would be the complete elimination of the Jewish state. Then the Jews would be underdogs again and the Left would rally for Jewish refugees. Well, talk about friendship that stretches miles wide but is only inches deep.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that the Left includes many inside Israel who want to cut off their nose to spite their face. Of course, there are honorable exceptions amongst the Left who will defend Israel. But exceptions, however noble, cannot be treated as the rule. As long as the Left defines itself with a kafieh it cannot be Israel’s friend. Israel cannot trust the Left so long as it insists on turning the triumph of the Six Day War into a disaster.
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