.jpg?w=1)
Details
BEN-GURION, David. Typed letter signed ("David Ben-Gurion"), as Prime Minister and Defense Minister, to Moshe Sharett, (1894-1965), Jerusalem, 3 May 1956. 1 page, 8vo, matted and framed with photograph of Ben-Gurion. Signature and text in Hebrew.
"I CONTINUE TO SUPPORT WHAT YOU CALL 'REPRISALS' BY THE IDF AGAINST MURDERS FROM EGYPT AND FROM JORDAN"
AN IMPORTANT LETTER IN THE LEAD UP TO ISRAEL'S 1956 WAS WITH EGYPT. "Dear Moshe: Further to our talk, I continue to support what you call 'reprisals' by the IDF against murderers from Egypt and from Jordan. I have no fear that the report of the U.N. Secretary General will harm the status of Israel. According to the U.N. Charter every member of the organization has the right of self-defense. Paragraph 51 of the Charter states: 'Nothing in this Charter shall be construed as limiting the natural right of individual or collective self-defense, if a member of the U.N. is subjected to armed aggression.'"
In 1955, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser sponsored a series of terrorist raids across Israel's border with the Gaza Strip. These Arab fighters, or fedayeen, were supplied with Soviet arms and trained in camps in Jordan as well as the Gaza Strip. When the Israeli Defense Forces retaliated with attacks on both Egypt and Jordan, the United Nations condemned Israel for its violation of the armistice that ended the 1948 war. When Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal two months later, France and Britain concocted the fateful scheme that would result in the Suez War of October 1956. An Israeli strike against Egypt was to be followed by Britain and France calling for a cease-fire. On the pretext of Egypt's likely refusal to stand down, Britain and France would then pour in their forces, reclaim the Canal and topple Nasser. All three nations, however, badly miscalculated the likely American reaction. President Eisenhower was furious at what he saw as a naked imperial grab by Britain and France, as well as an unnecessary war that could lead to a nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union. He applied great diplomatic pressure to bring an end to the fighting and to compel Israel to return virtually all of its conquered territory.
"I CONTINUE TO SUPPORT WHAT YOU CALL 'REPRISALS' BY THE IDF AGAINST MURDERS FROM EGYPT AND FROM JORDAN"
AN IMPORTANT LETTER IN THE LEAD UP TO ISRAEL'S 1956 WAS WITH EGYPT. "Dear Moshe: Further to our talk, I continue to support what you call 'reprisals' by the IDF against murderers from Egypt and from Jordan. I have no fear that the report of the U.N. Secretary General will harm the status of Israel. According to the U.N. Charter every member of the organization has the right of self-defense. Paragraph 51 of the Charter states: 'Nothing in this Charter shall be construed as limiting the natural right of individual or collective self-defense, if a member of the U.N. is subjected to armed aggression.'"
In 1955, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser sponsored a series of terrorist raids across Israel's border with the Gaza Strip. These Arab fighters, or fedayeen, were supplied with Soviet arms and trained in camps in Jordan as well as the Gaza Strip. When the Israeli Defense Forces retaliated with attacks on both Egypt and Jordan, the United Nations condemned Israel for its violation of the armistice that ended the 1948 war. When Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal two months later, France and Britain concocted the fateful scheme that would result in the Suez War of October 1956. An Israeli strike against Egypt was to be followed by Britain and France calling for a cease-fire. On the pretext of Egypt's likely refusal to stand down, Britain and France would then pour in their forces, reclaim the Canal and topple Nasser. All three nations, however, badly miscalculated the likely American reaction. President Eisenhower was furious at what he saw as a naked imperial grab by Britain and France, as well as an unnecessary war that could lead to a nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union. He applied great diplomatic pressure to bring an end to the fighting and to compel Israel to return virtually all of its conquered territory.