A little reminder from 1967

The events which led up to the 1967 Six-Day War and the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.

On May 16, 1967, Egyptian President Gamel Abdul Nasser ordered the UN Emergency Force stationed between Israel and Egypt to evacuate the Sinai. Two days later the Voice of the Arabs proclaimed,

"As of today, there no longer exists an international emergency force to protect Israel… The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence." Extermination of Jewish existence.

Now, you could argue maybe they mean the state.

On May 20, 1967, Syrian Defense Minister, Hafez Al-Assad proclaimed, "Our forces are now entirely ready not only to repulse the aggression, but to initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland. The Syrian army, with its finger on the trigger, is united....I, as a military man, believe that the time has come to enter into a battle of annihilation."

He exhorted Syrian soldiers to,

"strike the enemy's [civilian] settlements, turn them into dust, pave Arab roads with the skulls of Jews."

On May 27, 1967, Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser proclaimed,

"Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight."

No, they mean the destruction of Israel as in a battle of annihilation against the Jews where they plan to pave the roads with Jewish skulls and explode the Jewish presence. Their words.

On June 4, 1967, Iraq joined the military alliance with Jordan, Egypt, and Syria. To mark the occasion, Iraqi President Abdur Rahman Aref announced,

"Our goal is clear - to wipe Israel off the map."

The Prime Minister of Iraq predicted,

"There would be practically no Jewish survivors."

Very few survivors. Which would include women and children. In other words, not a Nakba. A Holocaust. In the event, things turned out very differently. If you lose a war that you started, you should not complain but accept the best terms you can get. The best terms were offered but the losers would not even sit in the same room and negotiate. Do such people deserve any sympathy?