June 5, Remembering Two Israeli Aggressions
From June 5, 1967, to June 5, 1982... fifteen years separate Israeli aggressions against Arab countries.
The first aggression
On June 5, 1967, “Israel” launched its war against its Arab neighbors, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. The Israeli narrative of the 1967 war portrays the Hebrew state as an innocent nation defending itself in the face of the existential threat posed by the war-loving Arabs! It ignores the historical fact that "Israel" was preparing and planning for this war for years and was just waiting for an excuse to launch it, an error from the Arab side, friction, an incident ... anything to justify an Israeli attack. When the time came as per the Israeli agenda, there came the “excuse” for its war! Fully aware that Egypt, led by the Pan-Arab nationalist charismatic leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, would never abandon Syria and leave it alone in a case of war, "Israel" publically warned Syria and threatened to “march toward Damascus” if it does not stop the operations of the Palestinian guerilla fighters from its southern border.
This intentional Israeli provocation prompted Egypt to declare its solidarity with its Arab brethren in Syria and its readiness to defend it no matter how far things could go. That was the background of Nasser’s statements which were followed by his decision to ban the Israeli navigation in the Gulf of Aqaba. Nasser’s actions were actually a response to the Israeli provocation. A few years prior to all that, the two Arab nations Egypt and Syria were united as the “United Arab Republic”, and hence, it was inconceivable that Nasser would stay calm and watch while “Israel” attacks Syria. He wanted to make it clear to “Israel” that it has to face Egypt too. He convinced Jordan, the third Arab country, to join the Arab front to deter “Israel”. But Nasser never said that the Arabs are going “to throw the Jews into the sea” as the Israeli propaganda claimed.
What proves that it was no “defense measure” and the Israeli designs were set long before Nasser’s actions is that the main Arab area occupied by "Israel" in the war, the Palestinian West Bank, is still under Israeli occupation to this very day, that is, 55 years after the war! Moreover, “Israel” planted hundreds of Jewish settlements all over the West Bank and brought in hundreds of thousands of fanatic Jewish settlers to reside there (the word “settlers” is misleading; the right word to describe them should be “colonists” or simply “colons” like the word used in Algeria for the French who were implanted there). So in 1967, "Israel’s" war was not a “response” or “defense” or “circumstantial” at all. In fact, David Ben-Gurion, "Israel’s" founding father and its first prime minister said in 1948 that the Zionists have created a “dynamic state" capable of expansion when circumstances allow. And the mountainous area in southern Syria, the Golan Heights, is still under occupation, even officially annexed by “Israel” (Donald Trump officially recognized this illegal annexation in 2019). Today, "Israel’s" occupation of Palestine remains the last and only occupation system in the world.
The second aggression
On June 5, 1982, “Israel” launched its war against the Arab country that wasn't involved in the 1967 war, Lebanon.
Only five weeks after “Israel” withdrew its forces from the Sinai peninsula, as part of the peace deal with Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat, the Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, a staunch Zionist and old terrorist, unleashed his fury on Lebanon. Being reassured by the calmness of his southern front, he sent the Israeli army, with its full force, to invade Lebanon under the pretext of stopping terrorism and eliminating the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) there. Indeed, the Zionist monster did not stop until Arab blood was shed all over Lebanon, with its capital occupied and destroyed completely. Only then did Menachem Begin's soul rest. He received the appropriate compensation for his "concession" in Sinai. In the end, Lebanon, of course, is better than the Sinai desert and so it was a worthwhile compensation in the eyes of Begin.
But things did not go as Begin wished. After a short period of shock resulting from the exit of the PLO from Lebanon, a new Lebanese resistance began to emerge on the ground, this time more determined and more attached to the people, especially in south Lebanon.
Gradually, the Lebanese resistance's operations escalated, and the Israeli army's losses increased. The news of the fallen soldiers and their numbers became top stories in the Israeli media. With every dead soldier, Begin's worries and sorrows increased, until the “catastrophe” in November 1982 occurred when the Lebanese resistance blew up the headquarters of the Israeli military governor in the city of Tyre, which was the main center of the Israeli army in Lebanon.
The building was completely destroyed, leaving 80 officers and soldiers dead in one shot! The impact of that operation on Menachem Begin, psychologically, was very deep. The shock was harsh, and he neither wanted nor expected this fate for his soldier "sons". The impact of the Tyre operation was evident on Begin in all his public appearances. Things continued in the same way during 1983 and even got worse for Begin, who found himself unable to stop the escalating guerrilla operations in southern Lebanon despite the brutality of his army. The leaders of the Israeli army began to pressure Begin to pull out of Lebanon in order to preserve the lives of the soldiers. Begin was forced to accept small and gradual withdrawals from Lebanese territory. Begin's strong religious faith and his belief that God chose him to liberate the "Land of Israel" from Arabs to preserve the Jews in it and his failure to do so worsened his psychological condition uncharacteristically among professional politicians.
By September 1983, and with the death toll of his army in Lebanon exceeding the 1,000 mark, Begin lost his balance and entered a state of severe depression that made him retreat to his home for a whole week, during which he stopped attending meetings with officials from the government or the army. The only person Begin saw during that time was his personal secretary. Begin's psychological condition deteriorated while he was in that isolation, and he stopped shaving his beard and even refrained from eating! The period of self-isolation ended when Begin sent his secretary to the Israeli President (Haim Herzog), carrying a message of a few words, "I offer you my resignation as prime minister!" Begin did not mention the reasons for his resignation, nor did he explain anything. Herzog understood everything and did not ask for explanations.