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== "In reaction to the mobilisation of Egyptian forces along the Israeli border in the Sinai Peninsula, Israel launched a series of preemptive airstrikes" ==
== "In reaction to the mobilisation of Egyptian forces along the Israeli border in the Sinai Peninsula, Israel launched a series of preemptive airstrikes" ==
{{rfc|hist|rfcid=0E56426}}
The above sentence in the lead was written [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Six-Day_War&diff=prev&oldid=634654862][https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Six-Day_War&diff=635019165&oldid=634978950] without discussion at the end of 2014.
The above sentence in the lead was written [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Six-Day_War&diff=prev&oldid=634654862][https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Six-Day_War&diff=635019165&oldid=634978950] without discussion at the end of 2014.


Revision as of 07:01, 22 May 2017

Former good article nomineeSix-Day War was a good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
September 28, 2006Good article nomineeNot listed
March 12, 2008Good article nomineeNot listed
Current status: Former good article nominee

I edited part of the section about the events leading to war

The article was missing an important confrontation that occurred on April 7, 1967 between Israel and Syria, so I added it. -- Wiki Khalil (talk) October 13 2012

Sources for the Egyptians side:

Senior Egyptian officials:

"the testimony of Egyptian Chief of Staff General Mahmoud Fawzi to the effect that an Egyptian air attack was scheduled for 27 May, and that the relevant orders had already been signed by Abdel Hakim Amer when Nasser ordered its cancellation on 26 May" (Gluska 2007 , p. 168)

"According to then Egyptian Vice-President Hussein el-Shafei, as soon as Nasser knew what Amer planned, he cancelled the operation" ( Bowen 2003, p. 57 (author interview, Cairo, 15 December 2002). I have not verified)

the testimony of Bassiouny, who recalls that when the Washington Embassy reported that Secretary of State Dean Rusk had information that Egypt was going to start the war, Amer wrote on the cable, “Shams, it seems there is a leak.” (Shlaim, Louis, 2012, p68 )

Egyptian military steps

on May 26, two Egyptian Air Force MiG-21s overflew the reactor (at 52,000 feet) on a photographic reconnaissance mission, and interceptors and missiles failed to bring them down. The Israelis linked the mission to a possible preemptive strike on the plant (Morris, victims, p. 308)

In the Sinai, there was deep confusion; as late as 5 June officers were still not sure whether their goal was offensive or defensive. Nasser is said by some officers to have added to the chaos by his constant interference in military plans (Shlaim, Louis, 2012, p66 )

On approximately 20 May, Saad alDin Shazly, commander of a Special Forces unit in the Sinai, was given an offensive mission plan involving an advance through Israel.(Shlaim, Louis, 2012, p67 )

As late as 25 May, therefore, everything was set for an attack at daybreak on 27 May.(Shlaim, Louis, 2012, p67 )

It was only one hour before the planned strike on 27 May that Said’s army liaison officer told him the attack had been aborted after a U.S. request to the Soviets. Shazly was not informed of the shift to a defensive posture until about 1 june. Although Nasser reiterated that Egypt would not strike first, tanks and planes in the Sinai were fully fuelled and not concealed, as if they were going to attack (Shlaim, Louis, 2012, p68 )

Nasser intentions

On 13 May 1967 Nasser received a Soviet intelligence report which claimed that Israel was massing troops on Syria's border. Nasser responded by taking three successive steps which made war virtually inevitable (Shlaim, Louis, 2012, p 7 )

He was subsequently to imply- as during his speech of May 26 to Arab trade union leaders-that the whole sequence of moves, culminating in the closure of the straits, had been planned to trigger war with Israel, with the ultimate aim of “liberating Palestine." (Morris, victims, p. 306)

In 1966 Nasser himself had declared that if Israel developed an atomic bomb, Egypt’s response would be a “preemptive war’ directed in the first instance against the nuclear production facilities.27 On May 21, Eshkol had told the cabinet Defense Committee that Egypt wanted to close the straits and “to bomb the reactor in Dimona. (Morris, victims, p. 307)

He was subsequently to imply- as during his speech of May 26 to Arab trade union leaders-that the whole sequence of moves, culminating in the closure of the straits, had been planned to trigger war with Israel, with the ultimate aim of “liberating Palestine." (Morris, victims, p. 308)

Abdel Magid Farid, however, suggests that Nasser did actually consider the first strike option until early on 27 May, when he was hauled out of bed at 3 by the ambassador from the Soviet Union (his only source of arms and spare parts) and warned not to precipitate a confrontation (Shlaim, Louis, 2012, p68 )


Sources for the Israeli side:

Israeli military considerations

In the first days of June ... as did the sense that the Arab states might launch an attack within days There was particular fear of a limited Jordanian or Jordanian-Egyptian offensive against Eilat. (Morris, victims, p. 310)

Israeli diplomatic and political steps

"In private, Eshkol had sent Nasser secret messages urging deescalation. In public, he continued to assert Israel’s peaceful intentions, call for international mediation, and avoid criticism of Egypt. This reinforced the existing image of Egyptian military superiority — if Israel wanted to avoid war, it was presumably because Israel thought it would lose" (Shlaim, Louis, 2012,The 1967 Arab-Israeli War: Origins and Consequences, p66 )

Nasser seems to have been encouraged by the fact that Israeli rhetoric condemning the Tiran blockade and subsequent developments was relatively mild. Even the fact that the United States counselled restraint was interpreted as an attempt to protect Israel from Arab wrath — and therefore as further evidence of her need for protection. (Shlaim, Louis, 2012, p68 )

Although Eshkol denounced the Egyptians, his response to this development was a model of moderation (Mutawi p. 93)

the leaders of the confrontational states were caught by complete surprise when Israel took their threats at face value (Shlaim; Louis2012, p. 63 )

Nasser appeared to challenge Israel to a duel (Shlaim; Louis2012, p. 7 )

"In reaction to the mobilisation of Egyptian forces along the Israeli border in the Sinai Peninsula, Israel launched a series of preemptive airstrikes"

The above sentence in the lead was written [1][2] without discussion at the end of 2014.

It is the single most important topic that scholars have argued about non-stop for 50 years. Yet our sentence shows only one side of the debate. The words "in reaction to" and "preemptive" are the Israeli justification. They should not be written in Wikipedia's neutral voice, and the other side of the debate should be noted in the lead.

For those less familiar with the topic, the other (opposite) scholarly perspective is that Israel had coveted Jerusalem ever since the 1948 war (this is undisputed), that Israeli intelligence knew that Jordan had a military treaty with Egypt and that Egypt's actions were chest beating without an intention to attack Israel, and that Israel took the opportunity to launch a war of conquest while blaming the other side for having started it. This is covered in the article Controversies relating to the Six-Day War.

There was significant discussion of this topic many years ago at /Archive 5 and /Archive 9. For example, the threads: Do we need to qualify the statement "Israel launched a pre-emptive attack" in order to conform to NPOV? in July 2010 which had 8 votes to 2 in a debate over whether "preemptive" required a qualifier, and recent revert in March 2012 on a similar debate.

Oncenawhile (talk) 06:32, 22 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that there has been lots of controversy over the issue. To me, the phrasing in the article seems to be a straightforward case of "B followed A, therefore B was caused by A". At the very least, it implies causation, if not specifically stating it. How to rephrase? My suggestion is the following: split the sentence into two or more sentences. The first part can summarize the situation prior to the airstrikes (on all sides, not just Egypt), and the second part can note the airstrikes, without implying that they pre-empted an Egyptian attack. Kingsindian ♝ ♚ 13:42, 22 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Agreed. The first, broader, sentence you are suggesting is already in the article:

Relations between Israel and its neighbours had never fully normalised following the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]]. In the period leading up to June 1967, [[Origins of the Six-Day War|tensions became dangerously heightened]].

I have in mind a couple of sentences as follows:

On 5 June, Israel launched a series of airstrikes against Egyptian airfields. The reason for the strikes is one of a number of [[Controversies relating to the Six-Day War|controversies relating to the conflict]] - after initially claiming that Egypt had struck first, Israel claimed that the strikes were [[Preemptive war|preemptive]] in reaction to the [[mobilisation]] of Egyptian forces along the Israeli border in the [[Sinai Peninsula]], whilst Arab leaders claim the strikes were a premeditated opening act to a war of [[conquest (military)|conquest]].

Oncenawhile (talk) 14:41, 22 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment The main question for me is why mention of Egypt closing the straits of Tiran has been removed from the lead – Israel had stated this would be casus belli and Egypt went ahead and did it. The proposed wording by Oncenawhile is not acceptable because it reads as if the Egyptian troop build-up is an Israel claim rather than fact. I would suggest:
In the period leading up to June 1967, tensions became dangerously heightened. Israel reiterated its 1950s statement that the closure of the straits of Tiran to its shipping would be a casus belli and in late May Nasser announced the straits would be closed to Israeli vessels. Egypt then mobilised its forces along its border with Israel and on 5 June Israel launched what it claimed were a series of preemptive airstrikes against Egyptian airfields.
This implies no causation but is a simple chronological order of events. Number 57 10:55, 23 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • In the lead, use the above version that is a simple chronological order of events. This is the best version as it most closely conforms to NPOV. In addition, a version which mentions the view that Israel did not attack due to the threat of a very potential Egyptian attack is not a consensus view. For example, Britanica’s article says near the lead of their article: “In response to the apparent mobilization of its Arab neighbours, early on the morning of June 5, Israel staged a sudden preemptive air assault that destroyed more than 90 percent Egypt’s air force on the tarmac.”[3]. We really should use Ockham’s razor here and use the simplest explanation that is also the most likely explanation. For example, Vox Day wrote: “It’s also interesting to note that more than half of these religious wars, sixty-six in all, were waged by Islamic nations, which is rather more than might be statistically expected considering that the first war in which Islam was involved took place almost three millennia after the first war chronicled in the Encyclopedia, Akkad’s conquest of Sumer in 2325 B . C . In light of this evidence, the fact that a specific religion is currently sparking a great deal of conflict around the globe cannot reasonably be used to indict all religious faith, especially when one considers that removing that single religion from the equation means that all of the other religious faiths combined only account for 3.35 percent of humanity’s wars.”[4] So it is not like the Israelis did not have any concern about Egypt’s true intentions concerning their troop movements given the history of Islam/wars. Israel is a small country and does not have the luxury of engaging in speculative gambles.desmay (talk) 01:31, 1 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Comment. Just to be clear, is that a support for the suggestion from User:Number 57. Moriori (talk) 02:00, 1 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Desmay's essay does not address the question in terms of Wikipedia policies and so should be discounted. The question here is not what happened in 1967, but how to present the content of reliable sources about it. Zerotalk 02:12, 1 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • I support Onceinawhile's wording. This is a complex issue, since on one level the Israeli attack was "reactive" to the Egyptian buildup in the Sinai, but the reality was also that Israeli generals were clamouring for war and a chance to destroy Egypt's military potential. The Strait closure provided a good pretext, but Israel would have used another pretext had Nasser not closed the Straits. Onceinawhile's wording also conveys the important point this is not something everyone agrees on. --Dailycare (talk) 16:49, 3 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
    • The last two comments ignore the misleading wording that can be read as if the Egyptian troop buildup was an Israeli claim, and also the fact that he closure of the Straits of Tiran was a major part of the buildup. It seems to be fairly clear attempt to downplay the Egyptian role in causing the conflict and put the blame squarely on Israel. This is not NPOV and therefore not acceptable for Wikipedia, and I hope the closing administrator takes this into account. Cheers, Number 57 20:46, 3 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Support User:Number 57's suggestion.

From the Suez-Crisis on Nasser was building up his forces for a show down with Israel. It may have come sooner than he expected so what? I think you will have a hard time finding historians who argue that Nasser was not expecting to have a conflict with Israel at some point.

The Israelis had many reason to expect an attack. UNEF was kicked out, the Egyptian mobilized and closed the Straits. So what if the Israelis lied about Egypt attacking first they did so for rational reasons, to keep Soviet forces out of the conflict as long as possible.Jonney2000 (talk) 08:35, 6 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Support User:Number 57's suggestion. Hi all. I've been summoned by the rfc bot. 57's proposal is solid in what is a difficult matter. In particular, his first sentence is extraordinarily neutral as it takes passive voice to avoid pointed, specific blame. His entire proposal is very measured and reasonable. I encourage all to avoid speculation on what Israel or any country would have done. While speculative actions are certainly possible, even possibly probable, that speculation should be avoided when making our determination. Thanks to User:Number 57 and all who have participated.Horst59 (talk) 00:18, 18 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 11 May 2017

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 22 April 2017

2.52.196.123 (talk) 17:05, 22 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done. Blank request. El_C 11:02, 23 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]


Countries like the United States, France, and GB needed to be added on the list as countries involved in the way. The page makes it look like Israel was in it alone HandSack (talk) 19:26, 11 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. DRAGON BOOSTER ★ 05:13, 12 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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