Don’t Dismiss The Six Day War’s Lasting Legacy
Image by Getty Images
For this American Jew, the 50th anniversary of the Six Day War is a time for celebration.
As Jane Eisner described in her recent Forward editorial, the small Israeli defense forces in June 1967 were able to defeat the much larger Egyptian air force, then their ground troops, and then defeat the Jordanian, Iraqi and Syrian military forces that came to Egypt’s aid. These spectacular results gave the Israelis confidence in their defense forces’ ability to overcome Egypt’s initial devastation of the Israeli army six years later during the start of the Yom Kippur War. It also provides the Palestinians a reminder that a military option to achieve their goals will be futile.
What Ms. Eisner neglected to highlight is that the Palestinian government has shown no willingness to eliminate their Charter clauses calling for the destruction and elimination of the State of Israel and to drop teaching hatred of the Israelis in their public schools. Until these happen, no long term peace in the area is achievable and new Israeli settlement actions troublesome to achieving peace may occur.
However, just this week there have been intentions of seeking peace expressed by the Palestinian and Israeli leadership, bolstered by President Trump’s remarks about aiding the peace process. The key to achieving lasting peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis is to have the Palestinians develop a strong economy that will give them self-respect and societal stability, and less cause for antagonism towards Israel. Fortunately both Netanyahu and Trump have expressed their intention of supporting this goal.
Ralph Shapiro is author of “Jewish History 4.000 Years of Accomplishment, Agony and Survival.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Opinion Trump’s hasty approach to an Iran deal could be a big problem for Israel
-
Opinion Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to a Jewish society at Yale exposed deep rifts between US Jews
-
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.