Sunday, May 2, 2010

Kai Bird: Israel the Aggressor in the Six Day War

In a Jerusalem Post column, "Rosner's Domain", Kai Bird is quoted as saying:

"I understand that most Israelis and Americans still believe that Egypt provoked the June War and perhaps they even believe that Egypt was the aggressor. But historians are constantly churning the archives for new evidence. Our job is to revise the historical narrative with new evidence. To this end, I am firmly persuaded that the war happened as a result of a series of miscalculations on the part of Nasser, the Syrians, and the Soviets. Moreover, it is also clear that the Israeli leadership understood that Nasser had no intention of launching an attack -- but that he had provided them the public provocations that allowed them to seize the opportunity to deal his regime a blow and seize the Sinai."

http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/rosner/entry/kai_bird_on_israel_s

Bird obviously chooses to disbelieve, or has never read Michael Oren's epic history of June 1967, "Six Days of War", which observes:

"[E]ncouraged by the lack of response, Israeli or American, to the closure of Tiran, [Egyptian] Field Marshall 'Amer continued to plan his offensive. 'This time we will be the ones to start the war,' he confided to Gen. Murtagi during a tour of forward fortifications. Beyond air strikes at strategic targets and the detachment of Eilat, 'Amer now broadened his objectives to include the entire Negev."

Sure, Oren is now Israel's ambassador to the U.S. (and a friend from the army); however, he is also an Israeli "moderate", and even The Guardian recognized the bona fides of this account:

"Michael Oren . . . deserves credit for producing the most detailed, the most comprehensive, and by far the best-documented history that we have on this short but fateful war."

Bird chooses to ignore Nasser's closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and all ships bound for Eilat (a non-aggressive "miscalculation"?), but how does Bird also ignore Field Marshall 'Amer's orders to the Egyptian Armed Forces on Radio Cairo on May 17, 1967:

1. The state of preparedness of the Egyptian Armed Forces will increase to the full level of preparedness for war, beginning 14.30 hours last Sunday.

2. Formations and units allocated in accordance with the operational plans will advance from their present locations to the designated positions.

3. The armed forces are to be in full preparedness to carry out any combat tasks on the Israel front in accordance with developments.

So to which revisionist history is Kai Bird referring?

1 comment:

  1. There are lots of other hateful stuff from this Kai. I was shocked to read that "Israel's culture of victimhood also helps to explain why it remains in conflict with its neighbors more than 60 years after its independence." Like Arabs are very nice innocent people, and there is no reason for Israel not to trust them! This guy blames Israel for everything. There is nothing original about it. The guy is not a professional historian, and his opinion is just an opinion of a lefty journalist from India.

    I do not understand why Rosner and JP publish this stuff.

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