Search JTA's historical archive dating back to 1923

Mrs. Mair: Russia Responsible for Six-day War and Continuing Mideast Strife

June 11, 1970
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
Advertisement

Premier Golda Meir said yesterday that she was “more and more convinced” that the Soviet Union precipitated the June, 1967, Six-Day War and is responsible for the continuing strife in the Middle.East today. “The Soviet Union, in pursuit of its scheme to dominate the Middle East, does not care if Israel goes up in flames,” Mrs. Meir said in an address to the International Conference of Social Democratic Women at Beth Berl. “We Socialists of the free world must realize that the Soviet Union is a cruel dictatorship ruled by a ruthless regime which is guided only by its narrow interests,” the Prime Minister declared. She said a prime example of the Soviet’s nature is what happened to Czechoslovakia. She said that in recent months Israel has been faced not only with Soviet weapons and advisers but with Russian pilots and troops on operational duty. “We are deeply concerned that Soviet and Israeli pilots may meet. Our pilots will not run away. If they were to do so it would mean that all of us would have to flee,” Mrs. Meir said.

Defense Minister Moshe Dayan told a meeting of Haifa high school students Monday that “the only way to bring the Arabs to the negotiating table is to hit them hard.” According to Gen. Dayan, “the greater their military failures the greater are the chances that they will talk, they will shift from the hope to defeat us to the realization that settlements are preferable. They must be made to understand that they cannot win.” Gen. Dayan said the Arabs were depending on their hope that Israel cannot withstand the prolonged pressure, casualties and economic burdens of a war of attrition. They also pin their hopes on their numerical superiority, their ability to dispense favors of which other countries stand in need, like petroleum and the support of their votes in the United Nations, the Defense Minister said. He warned that the aim of the Egyptians, the Syrians and the Fatah is “to destroy us.” “You must not lose sight of that fact,” he told the youngsters.

Recommended from JTA

Advertisement