Gary Rosenblatt, as noted in his “Confessions of a Once-Distant Zionist” (May 5), gained identity and a closer relationship to Israel from the 1967 war, but he may have also missed an important point.
We should all remember that when Israel was faced with probable destruction, the European reaction was a resigned acceptance of the inevitable. The UN reacted by withdrawing the “peacekeeping” force in the Sinai, the very force that was supposed to prevent the war. As for the U.S., President Johnson promised to send a ship to break the blockade of Eilat in the future, provided there would be an Israel in the future.
Few people remember that until the 1967 war, the U.S. maintained an embargo of military equipment to Israel. The important point was that no amount of paper agreements and guarantees by other nations can equal the capability and conditions necessary for Israel to defend itself.
Manhattan
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