American Minute for June 5th:
JUNE 5, 1967, the Six-Day War began. Egypt sent 80,000 troops and 900 tanks to attack Israel. Jordan and Syria, with Soviet weapons, violently shelled Jerusalem and Israeli villages. Cairo radio announced: "The hour has come in which we shall destroy Israel." The hot line between Washington and Moscow was used for the first time. In a surprise move, Israeli Air Force destroyed 400 Egyptian planes, courageously drove Syria from the Golan Heights and captured all of Jerusalem. In a CBS-TV interview, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion stated: "In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles." Seven months after the War, on Jan. 7, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson toasted Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, saying: "Welcome to our family table...All Americans-and all Israelis-know...that none...can ever live by bread alone...One of your ancestors said it for all men almost 2,000 years ago...for peace it is written, 'pursue it.' That is our intention in the Middle East...To pursue peace...If we are wise, if we are fortunate, if we work together - perhaps our Nation and all nations may know the joys of that promise God once made about the children of Israel: 'I will make a covenant of peace with them...it shall be an everlasting covenant.'"
Endnotes
Ben-Gurion, David. Oct. 5, 1956, comment in an interview with Edward R. Murrow, "Person to Person," CBS-TV. James Beasely Simpson, Best Quotes of '54, '55, '56 (NY: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1957), p. 302. Public Papers of the Presidents: Toasts of the President & Prime Minister Eshkol at a Dinner at the LBJ Ranch. Jan. 7, 1968, "Mr. Prime Minister, Mrs. Eshkol: Welcome to our family table. We are honored and happy to have you here in our home. Here, we ask only that you enjoy the warm ties of friendship and partnership that mean so much to each of us, and both our peoples. Our peoples, Mr. Prime Minister, share many qualities of mind and heart. We both rise to challenge. We both admire the courage and the resourcefulness of the citizen-soldier. We each draw strength and purpose for today from our heroes of yesterday. We both know the thrill of bringing life from a hard but a rewarding land. But all Americans-and all Israelis-also know that prosperity is not enough-that none of our restless generation can ever live by bread alone. For we are equally nations in search of a dream. We share a vision and purpose far brighter than our abilities to make deserts bloom. We have been born and raised to seek and find peace. In that common spirit of our hopes, I respect our hope that a just and lasting peace will prevail between Israel and her neighbors. This past year has been a busy one for America's peacemakers-in the Middle East, in Cyprus, in Vietnam. Wherever conscience and faith have carried them, they have found a stubborn truth confirmed. Making peace is punishing work. It demands enormous courage, flexibility, and imagination. It is ill served by hasty slogans or half-solutions. I know you understand this, sir, better than most men. One of your ancestors said it for all men almost 2,000 years ago: 'Other precepts are performed when the occasion arises . . . but for peace it is written, '"pursue it."' That is our intention in the Middle East and throughout our world. To pursue peace. To find peace. To keep peace forever among men. If we are wise, if we are fortunate, if we work together-perhaps our Nation and all nations may know the joys of that promise God once made about the children of Israel: 'I will make a covenant of peace with them . . . it shall be an everlasting covenant.' Let that be our toast to each other-our Governments and our peoples-as this new year begins. Its days are brighter, Mr. Prime Minister, because you lighten them with your presence here and the spirit you will leave behind."
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