New Confirmation of the Soviet Role in theSix-Day War
A piece in the Jerusalem Post today reports on the confirmation by a Soviet airforce colonel that the Soviets did fly reconnaissance missions over Israel just prior to the Six-Day War. This admission bolsters the claim by Gideon Remez and Isabella Ginor in their controversial book, “Foxbats over Dimona: The Soviets’ Nuclear Gamble in the Six-Day War” that the Soviet Union instigated the Six-Day War in order to destroy Israel’s nuclear capacity. The authors also claim that Soviet forces were in place to launch a seaborne landing on Israeli beaches and submarines were positioned off the Israeli coast to launch missile strikes if Israel attempted to defend itself with nuclear weapons.
The Post quotes a translation of an announcement appearing on the web site of the Russian Defense Ministry stating:
In 1967, the military valor and high combat training of Col. Bezhevets, A.S. (now a Hero of the Soviet Union, an honorary test pilot of the USSR, [and] retired Air Force major-general), were demonstrated while carrying out combat operation in Egypt, [and] enabled [him] to perform unique reconnaissance flights over the territory of Israel in a MiG-25RB aircraft
Traditional histories of the Six-Day War describe the Soviet Union’s troublesome meddling, but emphasize its desire to avoid an all-out war between its Arab client regimes and Israel. Remez and Ginor’s book indicate that the Soviet intent to start a war in the Middle East was underestimated and should give pause to those who today downplay the bellicose intentions of Iran, which has replaced the Soviet Union as the main backer and armorer of forces dedicated to the destruction of Israel.
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