Six Days of War

by Michael B. Oren

  9. LBJ National Security file, Middle East Crisis, box 19: NSC Special Committee Meeting (handwritten notes). June 8, 1967; box 104, 107: Rusk to Embassies, June, 1967; Tripoli to the Department of State, June 8, 1967; box 20: United States Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East Crisis, May 15-June 10, 1967, pp. 132-33, 140-41. USNA, Middle East Crisis files, 1967, Situation Reports, box 13: The Secretary of State to King Faisal, June 8, 1967. UN, DAG 1/5.2.2.1.2-2, Middle East: Goldberg to U Thant, June 9, 1967.

  10. LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East crisis, box 19: JCS to USCINCEUR, June 8, 1967; box 104, 107, The National Military Command Center: Attack on the USS Liberty, June 9, 1967; Department of Defense: USS Liberty Incident, June 15, 1967. USNA, Chairman Wheeler files, box 27: The Court of Inquiry Findings, June 22, 1967.

  11. IDF, 2104/92/47: Attack on the Liberty, IDF Historical Department, Research and Instruction Branch, June 1982 (hereafter IDF, Attack on the Liberty). The Israeli fighter pilot originally thought that the ship had fired at him, and Israeli destroyers were ordered to find it. The orders were rescinded, however, following further debriefing of the pilot. See also ISA, 4079/26 Foreign Ministry files, the Liberty Incident; IDF Preliminary Inquiry file 1/67 Col. Y. Yerushalmi, July 24, 1967. Report by Carl F. Salans, Department of State Legal Advisor, September 21, 1967, to the Undersecretary of State. (Document available on the USS Liberty site—www.halcyon.com/jim/ussLiberty/Liberty.htm)

  12. USNA, Middle East Crisis files, 1967, USUN, box 6: CINSTRIKE to AIG, June 2, 1967; Cir/Military files, box 6: CINSTRIKE to AIG 930, May 24, 1967; INR Reseach Reports: ALUSNA to COMSIXTHFLEET: June 8, 1967. LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Crisis, box 20: United States Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East Crisis, May 15-June 10, 1967, pp. 87-88. On the naval liaison, see LBJ, National Security file, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 17: Tel Aviv to the Secretary of State, May 27, 1967. Ben-Gurion Archive, Diary, Entry for May 26, 1967. See also A. Jay Cristol, The Liberty Incident, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Miami, 1997, pp. 25-26. British Public Record Office, FCO17/498, Israel—Political Affairs: Tel Aviv to Foreign Office, June 5, 1967. Shlomo Erell, Lefanekha ha-Yam: Sipuro Shel Yamai, Mefaked u-Lohem (Tel Aviv: Misrad ha-Bitahon, 1998), pp. 268-75. Rabin, Memoirs, pp. 100, 110; Hirsh Goodman and Ze’ev Schiff, “The Attack on the Liberty,”The Atlantic Monthly, September 1984, p. 81.

  13. ISA, 4079/26 Foreign Ministry files, the Liberty Incident; IDF Preliminary Inquiry file 1/67 Col. Y. Yerushalmi, July 24, 1967. IDF, 717/77, file 32: Summary of the Battle for the Southern Front, p. 34. The Liberty was also sailing near ‘Point Boaz,’ the location at which Israeli aircraft entered and exited Sinai—another reason for the heavy air traffic that morning. See IDF, Attack on the Liberty, p. 39, n. 14.

  14. ISA, 4079/26 Foreign Ministry files, the Liberty Incident; IDF Preliminary Inquiry file 1/67 Col. Y. Yerushalmi, July 24, 1967. see also Rabin, The Rabin Memoirs, pp. 108-9. Oral history interview with Mordechai Hod, March 9, 1999. Yanay, No Margin for Error, p. 257. On issue of whether the Israelis consulted Commander Castle, see the protocol of the official U.S. Naval Board of Inquiry posted on the USS Liberty website.

  15. The Israeli pilot mistook the “G” on the Liberty’s hull for a “C”. IDF, Attack on the Liberty; Israeli Air Force Historical Branch, Transcript of the Ground-To-Air Communications, the Liberty Incident. ISA, 4079/26 Foreign Ministry files, the Liberty Incident; IDF Preliminary Inquiry file 1/67 Col. Y. Yerushalmi, 24 July, 1967. USNA, Chairman Wheeler files, box 27: The Court of Inquiry Findings, June 22, 1967. Rabin quote from Memoirs, pp. 109, 127. LBJ, Country files box 104, 107, The National Military Command Center: Attack on the USS Liberty, June 9, 1967; NSC Histories, box 18: CINCEURUR to RUDLKD/CINSUSNAVEUR, June 8, 1967; COMSIXTHFLT to RUFPBK/USCINCEUR, June 8, 1967; USDOA Tel Aviv to RUDLKD/CINCUSNAVEUR, June 15, 1967. See also Cristol, Liberty Indicent, p. 55. James M. Ennes, Jr., Assault on the Liberty: The True Story of the Israeli Attack on an American Intelligence Ship (New York: Random House, 1979), pp. 72-117. Prostinak quote provided by Marvin Nowicki in a personal letter to Jay Cristol, dated March 3, 2000; conveyed to the author on May 31, 2001.

  16. LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Crisis, box 19: Memorandum for the Record, Washington-Moscow “Hot-line” Exchange, Oct. 22, 1968; box 20: United States Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East Crisis, May 15-June 10, 1967, pp. 143-44. Johnson, Vantage Point, p. 301.

  17. LBJ, National Security files, History of the Middle East Crisis, box 20: United States Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East Crisis, May 15-June 10, 1967, pp. 143-44; boxes 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10: Memorandum for the Record (E. Rostow), June 9, 1967 (Operation Frontlet); Department of Defense Press Release, June 8, 1967; box 19: JCS to USCINCEUR, June 8, 1967. USNA, Middle East Crisis files, 1967, Chronology, box 7: Tel Aviv to the Secretary of State, June 8, 1967 (Barbour quote). Compensation package described in U.S. Department of State Bulletin 58, no. 1512, June 17, 1968, and 60, no. 1562, June 2, 1969, and U.S. Department of State Daily News Briefing, DPC 2451, December 18, 1980. See also Phil G. Goulding, Confirm or Deny—Informing the People on National Security (New York: Harper and Row, 1970), pp. 123-30.

  18. USNA, box 16: Diplomatic Activity in Connection with the USS Liberty Incident, June 14, 1967. LBJ, Country files, box 104, 107, Middle East Crisis: Eshkol to Johnson; Memos to the President (W. Rostow), June 8, 1967; box 17: Barbour to Department of State, June 8, 1967; box 19: NSC Special Committee Meeting (handwritten notes), June 9, 1967. ISA, 4079/26 Foreign Ministry files, the Liberty Incident: Harman to Foreign Ministry, June 10, 1967; Eban to Johnson, June 9, 1967; Evron to Johnson, June 8, 1967. Barbour and Nolte quotes in LBJ, National Security file, box 20: United States Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East Crisis, May 15-June 10, 1967, pp. 143-44; box 104, 107, Middle East Crisis: Cairo to the Department of State, June 9, 1967. Clark Clifford with Richard Holbrooke, Counsel to the President (New York: Random House, 1991), pp. 446-47.

  19. ISA, 4079/26 the Liberty Incident: Bitan to Harman, June 18, 1967; IDF Preliminary Inquiry file 1/67 Col. Y. Yerushalmi, July 24, 1967. LBJ, National Security file, Country files, box 104, 107: Middle East Crisis: Diplomatic Activity in Connection with the USS Liberty Incident, June 14, 1967. Erell, Lefanekha ha-Yam, pp. 275-77.

  20. USNA, Chairman Wheeler files, box 27: The Court of Inquiry Findings, June 22, 1967. LBJ, National Security file, Special Committee, box 1-10: Why the USS Liberty Was Where It Was, June 10, 1967; W. Rostow to the President, June 13, 1967 (Evron quote); NSA Declassified Report: Attack on the U.S.S. Liberty, July 11, 1983. Cristol, Liberty Incident, pp. 86-105. Rusk, As I Saw It, p. 388. The complete protocol of the U.S. Naval Inquiry can be found on the USS Liberty website.

  21. Conspiracy theories on the Liberty affair can be found in Ennes, Assault on the Liberty, pp. 254-59. Anthony Pearson, Conspiracy of Silence: The Attack on the U.S.S. Liberty (London: Quartet Books, 1978). Donald Neff, Warriors for Jerusalem: The Six Days That Changed the Middle East (Brattleboro, Vt.: Amana Books, 1988), p. 253. John Loftus and Mark Aarons, The Secret War Against the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997), p. 267. Richard Deacon, The Israeli Secret Service (London: Sphere Books, 1979), pp. 192-97. For the Arab interpretation of the affair, see Riad, Mudhakkirat 1, p. 312. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 731-32. Mazhar, I’tirafat Qadat Harab Yunyu, pp. 86-88. El-Farra, Years of No Decision, pp. 58-68. Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, pp. 135-36. Salah al-Din Al-Ashram, “Al-Tawatu’ al-Anklo-Amriki ma’a Isra’li,”Al-Majalla al-‘Askariyya 6, no. 18 (1967). I. P. Beliaev and E.M. Primakov, Egipet: vremia prezidenta Nasera (Moscow: Mysl’, 1974), p. 50. L. Sheidin, “Imperialisticheskii zagovor na Blizhnem Vostoke,”Kommunist, no. 11 (July 1967), pp. 107-17.

  22. LBJ, National Security file, Country file, box 104, 107: Davis to Rostow, June 8, 1967; NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 21: Report by Bureau of International Organizations Affairs
(Arthur Day), n.d. (Goldberg quote); USUN to the Secretary of State, June 8, 1967; CIA to the White House Situation Room, June 8, 1967 (“We have no other choice”); NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 20: Memorandum of Conversation: The Hotline Exchanges, Nov. 4, 1968. USNA, Central Foreign Policy files, 1967-1969, POL 77-14 ARAB-ISR, box 1832: Goldberg to Rusk, June 8, 1967. PRO, FCO 17/494, Israel - Political Affairs: Hayman Minute, June 8, 1967. ISA, 7920/1, Levi Eshkol Papers, Diplomatic Telegrams: Eban to Eshkol, June 8, 1967; 7919/1, Diplomatic Telegrams: U.S.A.: Eban to Eshkol, June 8, 1967 (Goldberg advice to Eban). Lall, The UN and the Middle East Crisis, pp. 66-67. Rafael, Destination Peace, pp. 160-61. Federenko and Rafael quotes from Dagan, Moscow and Jerusalem, p. 232.

  23. Mahmud al-Jiyyar, “Rajulan Qatala al-Mushir ‘Amer,” in Ruz al-Yusuf 2482 (January 5, 1976), pp. 8-9. El-Sadat, In Search of Identity, pp. 176-77. Riad, The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East, pp. 28-30. Cairo Radio broadcasts in IDF, Historical Branch, 192/74/1349: Cease-Fire Orders in the Egyptian, Jordanian, and Syrian Sectors, p. 26. Nasser quote from Ramadan, Tahtim al-Aliha, p. 171. Salah Nasser quote in LBJ, National Security file, Middle East Crisis, box 104, 107: Cairo to the Department of State, June 8, 1967.

  24. USNA, Central Foreign Policy files, 1967-1969, POL 27-7 ARAB-ISR, box 1830: Department of the Army to the Department of State, June 16, 1967. Muhammad Ahmad Khamis’s testimony appears in Darraz, Dubbat Yunyu Yatakallamun, pp. 69-75; Yahya Sa‘ad Basha’s testimony appears on pp. 49-54. Oral history interview with Fu’ad Hijazi, July 5, 1967. Al-Sabbagh, Mudhakkirat Qadat al-‘Askaraiyya al-Misriyya 10, p. 11 (Khalil quote). Ramadan, Tahtim al-Aliha, pp. 110-11. Interview with Sidqi al-Ghul in al-Ra’i al-‘Am, June 2, 1987. David Pryce-Jones, The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs (London: Paladin, 1990), p. 8. Nolte quote in LBJ, National Security file, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 23: Cairo to the Secretary of State, June 8, 1967.

  25. LBJ, National Security file, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 23: UNUS to the Secretary of State, June 8, 1967. Mahmud Al-Jiyyar, “Rajulan Qatala al-Mushir ‘Amer,” p. 9. Riad, The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East, p. 30. Lall, The UN and the Middle East Crisis, pp. 67-72. El Kony quote from oral history interview with Muhammad al-Farra, Nov. 17, 1999; El Kony statement to the Security Council in IDF, Historical Branch, 192/74/1349: Cease-Fire Orders in the Egyptian, Jordanian, and Syrian Sectors, p. 26. Supreme Headquarters communiqué in BBC, Daily Report, Middle East, Africa, and Western Europe, B1.

  26. LBJ, National Security file, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 23: Tel Aviv to the Secretary of State, June 8, 1967 (Chuvakhin quote). Baron, Hotam Ishi, pp. 83-85. Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, pp. 25-26. Gilboa, Shesh Shanim, Shisha Yamim, p. 235. Bartov, Dado, p. 101. Dayan, My Life, pp. 364-67. Rabin, Memoirs, p. 113. Hammel, Six Days in June, p. 278. Dupuy, Elusive Victory, p. 277. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, pp. 258 (Eshkol “bulldog” quote), 264-65. Dayan quotes from Baron, Hotam Ishi, pp. 85-86, and Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, pp. 30-31. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, pp. 244 (Chuvakhin quote), 248-50. Protocol of the Ministerial Defense Committee appears in Warhaftig, Hamishim Shana ve-Shana, pp. 189-91.

  27. Baron, Hotam Ishi, pp. 86-87. Bartov, Dado, p. 101. Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, pp. 27, 54, 98.

  Day Five, June 9

  1. Dayan, My Life, p. 382. Rabin, Memoirs, p. 116. Warhaftig, Hamishim Shana ve-Shana, p. 200. Bartov, Dado, pp. 101-2. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan-Yuni, pp. 230-32. YAD, interview with Ephraim Reiner, June 20, 1996. Baron, Hotam Ishi, pp. 76-77, 80 (Dayan quote).

  2. Bartov, Dado, p. 103. Nasser cable and Dayan’s notes on it, in Baron, Hotam Ishi, pp. 87-88 and in Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, pp. 252-53. Halahmi and Yariv quotes from Amos Gilboa, “Milhemet Sheshet Ha-Yamim 30 Shana,”Ma‘ariv, June 6, 1997. Oral history interview with Miriam Eshkol, Aug. 30, 1999. Radio Damascus quote in Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, p. 33. Rabin quote from Memoirs, pp. 115-16.

  3. Dayan-Elazar dialogue in Bartov, Dado, p. 103 and in Baron, Hotam Ishi, pp. 90-91. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, pp. 232-33, 255-57, 272-74. Oral history interview with Miriam Eshkol, Aug. 30, 1999. Lior and Eskhol quotes in Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, pp. 250-51. ISA, 4086/6, Foreign Ministry files, Security Council Meetings: Rafael to Tekoah, June 9, 1967. Rabin quote from Memoirs, pp. 115-16.

  4. IDF Intelligence Library, Internal Syrian Army Papers: The Southwestern Front, June 29, 1967. Mustafa, Harb Haziran, pp. 248-50. Khalil, Suqut al-Julan, pp. 189-90. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, pp. 145-46. O’Balance, The Third Arab-Israeli War, pp. 232-33. Or Kashti, “Mesima Bilti Efsharit,”Bamachane 37 (May 1992). Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, pp. 20-25; Suweidani quote on p. 100.

  5. IDF 522/69, file 212: Special Operations Survey, p. 9. PRO, FCO17/576: Israel - Defense: Report of Defense Attaché, July 13, 1967. Aharon Meged, “Sh‘ot ha-Tofet shel Tel Fakhr,”Bamahane 31-32 (April 1967). Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, pp. 295-306; Horowitz quotes on pp. 391-94. Hammel, Six Days in June, pp. 413-14. Dupuy, Elusive Victory, pp. 322-23. O’Balance, The Third Arab-Israeli War, pp. 438-41. Dayan, Me-Hermon ad Suez, pp. 21-29. Yosef Eshkol, ed., Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim (Tel Aviv: Misrad ha-Bitahon, 1967), p. 104. Hareuveni and Arye, eds., Ha-Hativa Shelanu be-Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim, pp. 60-65. Harel, El Mul Golan, pp. 117-20. Ya‘akov Horesh, 47 Madregot (Tel Aviv: Yaron Golan, 1993), p. 16. Mendler quotes in Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, pp. 18, 21. Golan, Albert, pp. 121-29. Oral history interview with Elad Peled, Jan. 28, 2001.

  6. IDF Intelligence Library, Internal Syrian Army Papers: The Southwestern Front, June 29, 1967 (including Khalili quote). Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, pp. 283-86, 307-19. Eshkol, Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim, p. 106. Harel, El Mul Golan, pp. 121-26. Mustafa, Harb Haziran, pp. 208-20. Hani al-Shum‘a, Ma‘arik Khalida fi Ta’rikh al-Jaysh al-‘Arabi al-Suri (Damascus: Al-Tiba‘a al-Suriyya, 1988), pp. 63-74. Hammel, Six Days in June, pp. 399, 406-13. O’Balance, The Third Arab-Israeli War, pp. 240-42. Shmuel Katz and Aharon Megged, Me-Har Grizim ad Har Hermon: Rishumei Pikud ha-Tzafon be-Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim (Tel Aviv: Misrad ha-Bitahon, 1967), pp. 56-58. Khalil, Suqut al-Julan, pp. 197-204. M. Naor and Z. Aner, eds., Yemei Yuni-Teurim min ha-Milhama 1967 (Tel Aviv: Ma‘arakhot, 1967), pp. 240-41. Dangor quote from Hareuveni and Arye, Ha-Hativa Shelanu be-Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim, pp. 67-68. Dayan, Me-Hermon ad Suez, pp. 228-29 (Ben Basat quote), 240 (Ben Harush quote). Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, pp. 116-19, 125-28, 133 (Mendler quote), 138-40 (Takum and Haliq quotes), 143 (Hamawi quote).

  7. Mansoor, Arab World, entry for June 9, 1967. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, p. 147. Rabin, Memoirs, p. 117. Assad quote from Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, p. 181.

  8. USNA, Central Foreign Policy files, 1967-1969, POL 27-7 ARAB-ISR, box 1830: Cairo to the Department of State, Aug. 12, 1967. PRO, FCO 39/241, UAR - Political Affairs: Cairo to Foreign Office, July 25, 1967. LBJ, National Security file, Memos to the President (W. Rostow), box 17: W. Rostow to the President, June 17, 1967; Cairo to the Secretary of State, June 8, 1967. Dayan, My Life, p. 365. Schiff, A History of the Israeli Army, p. 113. Lufti Al-Khuli, Harb Yunyu 1967 ba‘da 30 Sana (Cairo: Markaz Al-Ahram, 1997), pp. 109-11. Ramadan, Tahtim al-Aliha, pp. 144-45. Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, p. 193. Riad, Mudhakkirat Mahmud Riad, p. 83. Al-‘Ilmi, Harb ‘Am 1967, p. 161. El-Sadat, In Search of Identity, p. 184. Mahjoub, Democracy on Trial, pp. 115-16 (Nasser quote), pp. 120-21. Oral history interview with Eric Rouleau, Dec. 18, 2000. On the Soviet resupply of Egypt, see Valerii Yeryomenko, “Imenno Sovyetski Soyuz spas arabskuyu koalitziyu vo vremya Shestidnevnoi voiny,”Nezavisimoe Veonnoe Obozrenie, no. 20 (1998).

  9. LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Crisis, box 21: CIA Intelligence Memorandum, Arab-Israeli Situation Report, June 9, 1967. PRO FCO/39/263 UAR - Relations with the USSR: Effects of the Arab-Israeli War on the UAR Economy, Dec. 1, 1967. Shamir, “Nasser and Sadat, 1967-1973,” in Rabinovich and Shaked, eds., From June
to October, p. 203. Riad, The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East, p. 40. Farid, Nasser, p. 76. Al-Sabbagh, ed., Mudhakkirat Qadat al-‘Askaraiyya al-Misriyya 12, pp. 56-57 (Nasser conversation with Madkur Abu al-‘Izz). Vatikiotis, Nasser and His Generation, p. 315. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 822, 840-46; Nasser remarks to ‘Amer on pp. 835 and 840-41.

  10. LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Crisis, box 21: CIA Intelligence Memorandum, Arab-Israeli Situation Report, June 9, 1967; box 23: Amman to the Secretary of State, June 10, 1967. USNA, USUN, box 6: Circular: Middle East Sitrep as of June 9; USNA, Central Policy files, 1967-1969, POL 7 UAR, box 2554: Athens to the Department of State, June 16, 1967. Riad, The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East, p. 31. El-Sadat, In Search of Identity, p. 179. Stephens, Nasser, p. 506. Hussein quote from Kamm, Hussein Poteah be-Milhama, pp. 299-300. Nasser’s communiqué in Mansoor, Arab World, entry for June 9, 1967. FCO 39/233 UAR Internal Political Situation: Cairo to the Foreign Office, June 19, 1967 (Tesh). BGA, Diary, Entry for June 9, 1967. Thompson quote from Life: Special Edition - Israel’s Swift Victory (1967), p. 71. Oral history interview with Eric Rouleau, Dec. 18, 2000. Cairo Radio announcement in Daily Report, Middle East, Africa, and Western Europe, B1. Nasser speech from Watha’iq ‘Abd al-Nasir 1 (Cairo: Markaz al-Ahram, 1973), p. 226, and Dan Hofstadter, ed., Egypt and Nasser 3, 1967-72 (New York: Facts on File, 1973), pp. 40-42.