Fifty-seven years ago this May, Israel was in grave danger. The charismatic Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser announced that the Straits of Tiran would be closed to Israeli shipping. Nasser was preparing for war and assembling a coalition that would eventually include Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon. “Our goal is clear,” Iraqi President Abdel Rahman Aref said, “to wipe Israel off the face of the map.”
The United States, bogged down in Vietnam, was loath to come to Israel’s aid — despite previous promises to do so. President Lyndon B. Johnson was sympathetic to the Jewish state, but he faced severe constraints. Johnson did not want Israel to strike preemptively and instructed Ambassador Arthur Goldberg to deliver a message: “I must emphasize the necessity for Israel not to make itself responsible for the initiation of hostilities.” The note added: “Israel will not be alone unless it decides to go alone. We cannot imagine that it will make this decision.”
