The five-year time period of 1962-1967, pursuant to Israel’s foreign policy, was primarily characterized by a buildup in tensions between the global superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, with respect to the Cold War. With this in mind, the focus of the investigation, “To what extent was Israel’s foreign policy impacted by the Cold War from 1962-1967?” is important as it is valuable to understand how the global superpowers and their respective allies exerted influence on Middle Eastern countries, as present day conflict in the region is traceable to attempts by these nations to control the Middle East. Any consideration of the Middle East must include Israel; Israel’s foreign policy is especially important with respect to the scope of the investigation, as it includes the years leading up to and the year of the Six-Day War, a watershed event in Israeli and Middle Eastern history.
As one of the Cold War’s main actors, the Soviet Union plays an integral role in this investigation. In 1963, Levi Eshkol became the prime minister of Israel. This worried Moscow as the Soviets were unsure of Eshkol’s foreign policy, specifically Israeli-Soviet relations. In 1964, after the Palestinian Liberation Organization was created by Egypt’s Nasser, the Fedayeen, or guerrilla soldiers whose mission is to destroy the state of Israel, ramped up their attacks. Eventually, in November of 1966, the Israelis countered by raiding the West Bank. This reaction from the Israelis shows how their foreign policy from 1962-1966 was initially reactive, but this would change in 1967 with the advent of the Six-Day War.1
While Eshkol was initially friendly with the Soviets, the relationship later turned south in 1966, when the respective interests of the Soviet Union and Israel diverged. A new political party in Syria, which wished for closer ties with the Soviet Union, rose to power. 2The Soviet Union was pleased with the events in Syria, as one of its main foreign policy goals was to promote communist revolutions abroad and have an ally in the Middle East.3 In addition to the spread of communism, some scholars have argued that “Moscow started the war in order to further its position in the area and increase Arab reliance on Soviet aid.”4 Meanwhile, Ginor and Remez argue that the Soviets were motivated to set the Six Day War into motion, as they wished to liquidate Israel’s nascent nuclear program. Ginor and Remez support this claim by invoking the fact that the Soviets deliberately misinformed the Egyptians about Israeli troop movements, specifically that “13 Israeli brigades had been moved to the Syrian border.”5 The strike is reflective of Israel’s foreign policy becoming more proactive rather than reactive.
Moscow took the side of the Arabs in the Arab-Israeli conflict, arguably for using the conflict as a proxy war for the Cold War with Western nations. It could be argued that the Soviets turned the Arabs against the Israelis for the purpose of increasing Arab reliance on the Soviet Union and to urge Western superpowers to shy away from helping Israel. The USSR likely exacerbated the conflict to make Israel become an aggressor, thinking that the Arab nations would easily defeat Israel, before Western super powers would intervene.
In addition, historian Kenny Kolander further supports the claim that the Soviets had a motive for initiating the war, by arguing that the Soviets had no motive for not starting the war since it would directly counter American interests in the Middle East, the Soviet enemy in the Cold War.6 However, Ro’l and Morozov counter Ginor and Remez’s thesis, arguing that Soviet involvement was purely for the purpose of enhancing its reputation as a Cold War power. This claim is supported by the fact that when the United Arab Republic asked the Soviet Union for weapons, they denied the Republic’s request, because the Soviets eventually realized it would be in their best interest to see the war come to a close, once they realized Israel was dominating the war. 7
The Soviet Union’s enemies in the Cold War, America and Britain, play key roles in this investigation as well. This idea of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East being used as a proxy war between the Western nations and the Soviet bloc is supported by the fact that immediately following the mandate from the then League of Nations that split the British territory of Palestine into a Jewish state and a Palestinian state, the Soviet Union publicly referred to Israel as an “agent of British imperialism.” In addition, “Stalin replaced Germany with the United States as the Soviets’ main adversary, and sought to prevent its supplanting Britain as the dominant regional power in the Middle East.” Furthermore, historian Lev Bezymensky noted that, “Tsarist Russia viewed Palestine as one of its prospective strongholds.”8 This evidence further suggests that the Middle East as a whole, particularly Israel, was used as a chessboard piece by the global superpowers from the onset of its existence, which impacted Israeli foreign policy.10 This claim is supported by the fact that even after the Six Day War, Moscow started a public campaign against Zionism, calling the movement for Israeli self-determination and statehood a “world threat.”9
Unlike the Soviet Union, the Americans and the British certainly did not want a war in the Middle East. From the American perspective, this is evidenced by the fact that the Americans made direct contact with Moscow in order to prevent war. Meanwhile, the British were allied with Jordan and the other Gulf states, thus it most likely would have been a conflict of interest for America and Britain to take opposing sides in a conflict, especially considering the special history of their relationship. While America and Britain did not necessarily affect Israeli foreign policy to as great an extent as the Soviets under the scope of the investigation, their involvement in the Cold War, rivaling the meddling Soviets, certainly makes them key actors in the investigation.
The extent to which Israel’s foreign policy was impacted by the Cold War from 1962-1967 is great, as it is arguable that the Soviets instigated the Six-Day War, a momentous event in Israeli foreign policy during this time period. Meanwhile, America and Britain sought to avert war in the Middle East, but were unsuccessful. Israel’s foreign policy transitioned from being solely reactive, as evidenced by the Fedayeen attacks, to more proactive, as evidenced with the Six Day War invasion. The continued conflict in the region persists, as Israel feels it needs the territory conquered in the Six Day War to secure its borders, knowing that it can only rely on its allies to an extent in an era characterized by violence between the Arabs and the Israelis.