Mideast Election

Once again, another political myth is dredged up! I’m referring to the 7-paragraph statement by Ilan Mor, Israeli consul for press and information for the local consul general of Israel, which appeared July 29 (letter).

At the end of paragraph 6, he says, “(Israel) is prepared to negotiate over the fate of the territories under its control since it was attacked in 1967 without preconditions.”

How much longer is the Israeli government going to keep claiming it was attacked in 1967, starting the Six-Day War? Books like Donald Neff’s “Warriors for Jerusalem” and William B. Quandt’s “Decade of Decision” keep coming out, indicating the true facts were know then.

Israel, feeling it was alone and backed into a corner, launched its own preemptive strike on Arab positions that fateful June 5 at 7:45 a.m., local time. Three days earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk had cautioned the Israeli ambassador against military action, indicating it would be extremely important who fired first. Once the fighting had begun, Israel’s foreign minister, Abba Eban, told the American ambassador, Walworth Barbour, a lie: that Egypt had attacked first. By the time the U.S. learned Israel had struck first instead, it was too late to do anything about it.

I can understand how pressured the Israelis must have felt in 1967, with all the saber-rattling going on at the time. But what I cannot stand is the official perpetuation of false propaganda that’s gone on since then.

CASEY KASEM

Beverly Hills