Book summary “Six Days of War”: summary

Introduction

You want to understand how a tense regional standoff erupted into a brief and catastrophic military conflict that completely reconfigured the Middle East. You face the challenge of untangling the web of secret diplomacy, intelligence failures, and domestic political pressures that drove nations to war against their own intentions.

The 1967 Six-Day War was not an inevitable collision but the tragic culmination of regional miscalculations, false intelligence, and escalatory spirals that permanently reshaped the Middle East.

Michael B. Oren traces these historical mechanics across six chronological sections. You will examine the foundational border disputes, the May diplomatic crisis, the frantic cabinet decisions, and the rapid military campaigns. The book addresses several core questions:

• How did false Soviet intelligence reports trigger a cascading international crisis?
• Why did diplomatic efforts by world powers fail to prevent hostilities?
• What internal pressures forced Israel to launch a preemptive strike?
• How did the six-day campaign unfold across multiple fronts to alter global geopolitics?

1. The Context of Conflict

Decades of unresolved border disputes, Palestinian guerrilla raids, and superpower rivalry established the volatile structural framework for the 1967 war.

From Partition to Armistice

The 1947 UN Partition Resolution 181 led to the end of the British Mandate, the declaration of the State of Israel, and the first Arab-Israeli war. Following the British Mandate's end on May 14, 1948, regular armies from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Transjordan, and Egypt invaded Israel in a coordinated assault.

The resulting 1948 war left Israel with thirty percent more territory than allotted. At the same time, 650,000 to 750,000 Palestinians fled or were driven into neighboring countries, an event Arabs termed al-Nakbah. The conflict also left 100,000 Jews in Jerusalem subject to a siege and killed 6,000 Jews during the War of Independence, representing 1 percent of the population.

The 1949 General Armistice Agreements failed to bring permanent peace, instead institutionalizing Arab non-recognition, boycotts, and a perpetual state of belligerency. Egypt ignored a 1951 UN Security Council challenge regarding its Suez blockade, while Syrian forces advanced to occupy strategic hilltops over the Armistice line.

The Rise of Nasser and Arab Nationalism

The 1955 Czech arms deal marked a major geopolitical shift, flooding Egypt with Soviet weaponry and catapulting Gamal Abdel Nasser to preeminent status in the Arab world. In September 1955, Nasser orchestrated the massive weapons purchase through Czechoslovakia, dramatically increasing Egypt's military capacity and regional dominance.

The 1956 Sinai Campaign, coordinated between Israel, France, and Britain following the nationalization of the Suez Canal, left Israel in control of Sinai and the Straits of Tiran. On October 29, 1956, Israeli paratroopers landed in the Mitla Pass, initiating the Sinai Campaign that destroyed Egyptian forces in the peninsula.

Egypt's military intervention in Yemen from 1962 onward turned into a severe quagmire, draining its economy and straining its military capabilities. Egyptian forces fighting in Yemen deployed poison gas against royalist depots, creating a protracted entanglement comparable to America's involvement in Vietnam.

The IDF Ethos and Strategy

The Israel Defense Forces developed an ethos emphasizing speed, flexibility, reserve mobilization, and preemptive striking power to compensate for overwhelming numerical inferiority. You can see how the IDF maintained a reserve system where civilians trained annually and could mobilize rapidly into 25 brigades supported by 175 jets and nearly 1,000 battle tanks.

• Serve eighteen months of regular duty for women and at least two years for men.
• Participate in weeks of annual reserve training through age fifty-two.
• Emphasize speed, improvisation, and a flexibility of command where junior officers make on-the-spot decisions.

The Arab summits of 1964 and 1965, convened by Nasser to counter Israel's Galilee water diversion plans, established joint military commands and the PLO but ultimately accelerated the momentum toward war. At the January 1964 Cairo summit, Arab leaders approved a $17.5 million plan to divert the headwaters of the Jordan River at the Banias and Hatzbani rivers to starve Israel of water.

2. The Catalysts to War

A series of localized border escalations and false Soviet intelligence warnings pushed Egypt and Israel onto an unintended collision course.

The Samu Raid and Its Aftermath

Israel launched Operation Shredder to punish Hebron-area villages for sheltering al-Fatah guerrillas, assuming Jordanian forces would be absent. Instead, an Israeli column encountered a Jordanian convoy, resulting in a pitched battle.

On November 13, 1966, ten tanks, forty half-tracks, and 400 Israeli troops crossed the border and destroyed the police station at Rujm al-Madfa and numerous houses in Samu'. During the subsequent battle, fifteen Jordanian soldiers and a battalion commander, Col. Yoav Shaham, were killed.

The operation caused heavy property damage and casualties, leading to riots against King Hussein, a unanimous UN Security Council censure, and severe backlash from the United States. King Hussein of Jordan faced extreme domestic peril after the Samu' raid, caught between hostile radical Arab regimes and a restive Palestinian majority. Following the Samu' raid, PLO leader Shuqayri and propaganda broadcasts from Cairo called on the Jordanian army to overthrow the monarchy, while anti-Jordanian sentiment culminated in Nasser publicly labeling Hussein the whore of Jordan.

The April Seventh Air Battle

An escalation along the Israeli-Syrian border on April 7, 1967, culminated in a massive aerial dogfight where Israel established total air supremacy. Following continuous Syrian shelling of Israeli agricultural settlements and border patrols, Israel advanced armored tractors into the Demilitarized Zone to draw fire.

On April 7, 1967, after Syrian 81-mm and 120-mm mortars battered Kibbutz Gadot, Israeli Vatour bombers and Mirage fighters engaged Syrian jets, shooting down six MiG's in a battle lasting mere seconds and performing victory loops over Damascus. In a rapid dogfight over Damascus, Israeli jets shot down multiple Syrian MiG's, demonstrating complete air dominance and exposing the hollowness of the Syrian-Egyptian defense pact.

The Soviet False Warning

A false Soviet intelligence warning regarding massive Israeli troop concentrations on the Syrian border served as the primary catalyst for the 1967 war crisis. Soviet leaders informed Egyptian emissary Anwar al-Sadat that Israel had massed between ten and twelve brigades on the Syrian border to launch an invasion between May 16 and 22.

Soviet President Nikolai Podgortny told Anwar al-Sadat during his Moscow visit that the absence of tanks in Israel's Jerusalem Independence Day parade was concrete proof they had been moved north for an imminent attack on Syria. Although completely untrue and driven by communist ideological myopia and internal Soviet policy contradictions, this specific warning panicked Cairo.

3. The May Crisis and Diplomacy

The removal of UN peacekeepers, the closure of the Straits of Tiran, and frantic international diplomacy failed to halt the march toward war.

Evacuation of UNEF

The United Nations Emergency Force was legally vulnerable and could be swiftly dismissed by Egypt. This removed the primary buffer that had kept the southern border quiet since 1957.

GEN Rikhye was handed an ultimatum at midnight on May 16 by Egyptian officers demanding UNEF evacuate key posts. This led to the rapid lowering of the UN flag at the Erez checkpoint as Palestinian Liberation Army troops took over.

There were 4,500 UNEF personnel stationed across 41 observation posts in 1967. Another 30,000 Egyptian troops were already stationed in Sinai plus a 10,000-man Palestine Liberation Army division prior to the May buildup.

The Blockade of Tiran

President Nasser's decision to reinstate the blockade of the Straits of Tiran crossed Israel's declared red line. You find that military conflict became virtually inevitable once this narrow channel was closed.

Paratrooper commander Muhammad 'Abd al-Hafiz at Sharm al-Sheikh received orders to fire warning shots at any Israeli-flagged ship or oil tanker attempting to sail through the straits.

The channel measured 7 miles in width between Sinai and the Arabian Peninsula. Trade statistics showed 54,000 tons of cargo imported and 207,000 exported through Eilat over the preceding two years.

American and Soviet Maneuvers

Israel faced a paralyzing strategic dilemma between launching a preemptive strike and waiting for international guarantees.

Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin and Air Force Commander Ezer Weizman argued that failing to respond would destroy deterrence. Prime Minister Levi Eshkol repeatedly delayed authorizing a preemptive attack to align Israel's actions with Washington.

After a grueling series of cabinet debates and severe personal exhaustion, Rabin suffered an acute anxiety attack. He briefly contemplated resigning, leaving Weizman and other generals frustrated by government indecisiveness.

President Johnson told Abba Eban during a tense Oval Office meeting on May 26 that Israel would not be alone unless it decided to go it alone. He demanded that Israel exhaust all diplomatic avenues through the United Nations first.

Soviet Ambassador Chuvakhin woke Prime Minister Eshkol in the middle of the night on May 27 to deliver an urgent message from Kosygin. The message demanded to know if Israel intended to launch an unprovoked attack.

4. The Countdown and Cabinet Decisions

Internal political pressure, military revolts, and Jordan's defensive alignment with Egypt ultimately compelled Israel to form a unity government and vote for war.

Prime Minister Levi Eshkol delivered a stuttering and rambling reading of a last-minute script due to severe sleep deprivation, a nagging chest cold, and a shifting artificial lens from recent cataract surgery. Citizens and soldiers interpreted the exhausted and unpolished radio broadcast as a sign of panic and over-reliance on foreign powers.

Journalist Ze'ev Schiff wrote that it was amazing how a people who suffered a Holocaust were willing to endanger themselves once again, and soldiers in the Negev reportedly burst into tears.

Jordan Enters the Pact

King Hussein of Jordan found himself trapped between the Egyptian threat of being labeled a traitor and the Israeli threat of retaliation, ultimately forcing him into a strategic alliance with Nasser. Staying neutral would leave Jordan isolated and vulnerable to an Egyptian first strike or internal Palestinian revolt, whereas joining Nasser brought Jordanian forces under Egyptian command and wrecked Western arms shipments like the College Run plan.

Hussein flew secretly to Cairo in uniform on May 30 to sign a mutual-defense treaty and place his army under the command of Gen. Abd al-Mun'im Riyad, while crowds in Amman enthusiastically hoisted his car into the air.

Appointment of Moshe Dayan

Senior Israeli military commanders fiercely opposed the government's hesitation and demanded an immediate preemptive strike against the Egyptian buildup. Public and political pressure forced the formation of a National Unity Government and the appointment of Moshe Dayan as defense minister to restore national confidence.

Division commander Arik Sharon confronted the prime minister by arguing that inaction was removing the enemy's fear of Israel and opening the door to the nation's destruction.

The Israeli Cabinet Vote

Mossad Director Meir Amit undertook a secret mission to Washington to test American resolve and concluded that Israel had nothing to gain by further waiting. Following briefings on the multi-front Arab encirclement, the Israeli government voted overwhelmingly to authorize a military strike.

Prime Minister Eshkol, having exhausted diplomatic options and received ambiguous signals from Washington, finally joined the consensus that the nation had to act before Arab forces grew stronger, resulting in a twelve-to-two cabinet vote for war.

5. The First Three Days of War

Israel secured total air supremacy through Operation Focus, shattered Egyptian defenses in Sinai, and captured East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Operation Focus Air Strike

By launching nearly 200 aircraft flying at extremely low altitudes over the Mediterranean and Red Sea to evade radar detection, the Israeli Air Force caught the Egyptian air force completely unprepared while their pilots were eating breakfast. The primary targets were runways, long-range bombers, and jet fighters, utilizing secret Durendals bombs to crater runways and prevent repairs.

Captain Avihu Bin-Nun leading a formation of Mystere-Gres over Fa'id airfield destroyed sixteen MiG-21s and paralyzed a SAM-2 battery.

• 7:10 AM - time the first sixteen Magister Fouga jets took off from Hatzor airfield
• 204 planes - Egyptian aircraft destroyed in the first wave alone
• 286 - total number of Egyptian combat aircraft destroyed out of 420 by the end of the second wave

The Battle for Jerusalem

Prompted by false reports of Egyptian victories and air superiority from President Nasser, King Hussein ordered his army to shell Israeli population centers and military targets, forcing Israel to rapidly shift forces to the eastern front and fight for the defense of Jerusalem and Mount Scopus. Jordanian forces seized the demilitarized Government House compound and directed artillery fire at Ramat Rachel and Abu Tor, prompting Israeli forces under Colonel Asher Dreizin to launch a counterattack that broke through the compound and secured the high ground.

American Consul-General Evan Wilson and UN observer General Odd Bull witnessed the rapid escalation as Jordanian batteries opened fire with Long Tom guns and mortars on the New City.

• 6000 - shells launched by Jordanian howitzers on Jewish Jerusalem
• 1000 - civilians wounded by Jordanian bombardment
• 2:24 - time Dreizin's force set out from Allenby base
• 6:30 PM - time the ridge was secured after four hours of hand-to-hand combat

Sinai Breakthrough

Utilizing concentrated armor and following the principle that everyone must attack and penetrate without looking sideways, Tal's division outflanked Egyptian defenses and overcame extensive minefields, pillboxes, and trenchworks to open the road to al-Arish. Arik Sharon planned a multi-pronged approach involving an armored thrust from the north across sandy wastes, infantry clearing of trenches, and heliborne paratroopers silencing artillery behind enemy lines, followed by a massive artillery barrage.

Brigadier General Tahsin Zaki stood on the runway at Malis base at 9:00 AM ready for a training flight when Israeli jets struck completely by surprise.

• 250 - tanks in General Tal's Ugdah division
• 7 miles - length of the heavily defended Rafah Gap
• 6000 - shells fired in less than twenty minutes in the massive artillery barrage on Umm Qatef
• 16000 - men defending the Umm Qatef stronghold

6. The Final Days and the Golan Campaign

Following the collapse of Egyptian and Jordanian forces, Israel launched a decisive offensive against the Golan Heights and completed the conquest of Sinai.

Sinai Passes Slaughter

Egyptian forces suffered catastrophic losses while retreating through the Sinai passes toward the Suez Canal under relentless Israeli air and armor attacks. Thousands of Egyptian soldiers rushed toward the Mitla and Giddi Passes only to find themselves trapped in deadly culs-de-sac blocked by Israeli tanks and pounded by the Israeli Air Force. Following orders to defend the Suez Canal from the west, Egyptian commanders faced the destruction of their retreating armor and heavy personnel losses.

Major General al-Ghul reported to Field Marshal Amer that Egyptian tanks, artillery, and anti-aircraft guns were burnt and communications cut as their forces were overrun.

• 10,000 men lost their lives on June 8 at the passes according to Mahmoud Riad
• 100 Egyptian tanks destroyed at the passes and another 60 east of Nakhl
• 400 guns and an entire SAM-2 missile battery taken intact

The Golan Offensive

Moshe Dayan reversed his opposition to attacking the Syrian Golan Heights after receiving intelligence reports of Syrian military collapse and an intercepted cable from Nasser. Initially opposed to a major offensive against Syria, Dayan changed his mind when Major Eli Halahmi provided aerial photos showing deserted Syrian army camps around Quneitra and an intercepted cable from Nasser advising Atassi to accept the cease-fire immediately to save the Syrian army. Encouraged by this, Dayan pushed through orders for Northern Command under David Elazar to attack.

The assault on the heavily fortified Syrian position of Tel Fakhr resulted in exceptionally brutal close-quarters combat and heavy Israeli casualties. Assigned to clear strongly entrenched positions like Tel Fakhr, the Golani Brigade faced intense fire from bunkers and trenches. The attacking forces suffered high casualties as they navigated minefields and wire, engaging in hand-to-hand combat to overcome the defending Syrian garrison.

Battalion commander Moshe 'Musa' Klein was killed by a Syrian soldier during the assault on Tel Fakhr after jumping into the trenches with his men.

• 31 dead and 82 wounded - Israeli casualties in the seven-hour struggle for Tel Fakhr
• 62 Syrians killed and 20 taken prisoner - casualties at Tel Fakhr
• 700 meters - distance when the platoon in the front trench prepared for battle under heavy shelling

Superpower Brinkmanship

Faced with humiliating defeat in its client state, the Soviet Union severed diplomatic relations with Israel and issued severe military warnings via the White House hotline. The Kremlin blamed Israel for violating UN resolutions and moving on Damascus, threatening independent military action and sanctions. To appease domestic hawks and signal commitment, Moscow broke diplomatic ties with Israel, followed by nine other Communist bloc countries except Romania.

In response to Soviet threats of military intervention, the United States countered by redirecting its naval fleet closer to the Israeli coast to demonstrate resolve. Prompted by McNamara, Thompson, and Helms during a tense White House Situation Room meeting, President Johnson ordered the Sixth Fleet to steam eastward to within a hundred miles of Israel's coast to signal Moscow that Washington would not back down under a threat.

Soviet ambassador Chuvakhin burst into tears in Eban's office after announcing the rupture of diplomatic relations.

• 10 Communist bloc countries recalled representatives from Israel
• 400 Soviet advisors authorized to fight in Syria
• 100 miles from Israel's coast

10 Key Ideas

1. The 1967 Six-Day War resulted from decades of unresolved border disputes, Palestinian guerrilla raids, and superpower rivalry that established a volatile regional framework.
2. A series of localized border escalations and false Soviet intelligence warnings regarding Israeli troop concentrations pushed Egypt and Israel onto an unintended collision course.
3. The removal of United Nations peacekeepers and President Nasser's decision to reinstate the blockade of the Straits of Tiran crossed Israel's declared red line and made military conflict virtually inevitable.
4. Internal political pressure, military revolts, and King Hussein's defensive alignment with Egypt ultimately compelled Israel to form a national unity government and vote for war.
5. By launching nearly 200 aircraft flying at extremely low altitudes over the Mediterranean and Red Sea, the Israeli Air Force caught the Egyptian air force completely unprepared and secured total air supremacy during Operation Focus.
6. Prompted by false reports of Egyptian victories, King Hussein ordered his army to shell Israeli population centers, forcing Israel to rapidly shift forces and capture East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
7. Utilizing concentrated armor and overcoming extensive minefields and pillboxes, Israeli forces broke through Egyptian defenses in the Sinai to open the road to al-Arish.
8. Egyptian forces suffered catastrophic losses while retreating through the Sinai passes toward the Suez Canal under relentless Israeli air and armor attacks.
9. Following intelligence reports of Syrian military collapse, Moshe Dayan reversed his opposition and authorized the Northern Command to attack the heavily fortified Golan Heights.
10. Faced with a humiliating defeat in its client states, the Soviet Union severed diplomatic relations with Israel and issued severe military warnings, prompting the United States to redirect its naval fleet closer to the Israeli coast to demonstrate resolve.