Ashadian said: What makes it more interesting is that it's not a Muslim or pro Muslim saying this. This is from the horses mouth with the facts. What I found to be amazing was that I thought the 6 day War was started by the Arabs but in fact it wasn't! A lot of myths get debunked by this guy! |
Well... that's a bit iffy.
To make a long story short, Egypt (led by Nasser) and Syria had both VERY publicly made very threatening statements against Israel. To gain credibility among their people, each kept making increasingly bold statements against Israel which included ammassing troops along Israeli borders.
The speaker does correctly state that Egypt/Syria/Jordan did not pose an existential threat to Israel, but he does NOT and cannot correctly state that Egypt did not pose a threat. The politicking between the powers in the Middle East (i.e. each claiming to hate Israel more than the other to gain credibility), inevitably would have lead to conflict. Further, Egypt closed the strait of Tiran, an important aspect of Israeli trade, and began to expel UN peacekeeping forces.
Israel definitely struck first in the war wanting to eliminate the Egyptian airforce swiftly so they can focus on a woefully outmatched Syria and Jordan. Israel also sent a message to Jordan saying the following "We are engaged in defensive fighting on the Egyptian sector, and we shall not engage ourselves in any action against Jordan, unless Jordan attacks us. Should Jordan attack Israel, we shall go against her with all our might." Jordan attacked and Israel responded capturing the West bank.
So while Israel certainly attacked first, it is debatable who is really to blame for the hostilities.