🚀 go-pugleaf

eggertj@atc.ll.mit.edu writes:
#
#Steven does say in his book that the Egyptians were broadcasting false
#news for domestic consumption in the early days of the 1967 war.  Yet
#he does also say that the foreign radio broadcasts from Cairo, giving
#actual accounts of the battle, were purposely altered by the Israelis
#to draw Jordan into the war.


But this is simply insanity. Do you really believe this? If Israel would
want to draw Jordan into the war, would it warn it (twice) to stay out?
Would it broadcast the fact that the Egyptian air-force has been eliminated,
thus making clear that the war was over after 3 hours? Have you given
any thought to the technical possibility of "altering messages"?

How do the following quotes from the leaders of Jordan and the Jordanian
army at the time correlate with the assumption that "Jordan was dragged 
into the war"?

"..Syrian, Egyptian and Arab propaganda blared over the radio their
message of war, vengence and victory and were listened to by millions
of Arabs in the middle east. They claimed that the hour of reckoning
was at hand and that the Israelis would receive the retribution they
richly desereved. This produced a massive response in favor of
war amongst the Arabs of Jordan...the pressure of public opinion
in favour of war was so strong that king Hussein knew that if he
failed to participate he ran the risk of civil war. King Hussein's
commanders warned him that they could not hold their men in check any 
longer and that there would be a serious crisis if Jordan failed to act."


Jordanian journalist Samir Mutawi, summerizing from interviews
with king Hussein, major general Salim, field marshal Majali,
Lt general Haditha and Ben Shaker, commander in chief of the
Jordanian army.


"There was in the country and all over the Arab world what you
might call a mass euphoria about the possibility of war and that
this was something we have been waiting for a long time - we
were going to defeat Israel once and for all."


As told to Jordanian journalist Samir Mutawi in an 1983 interview
by Zaid Rifai, a senior aid to king Hussein, and two times
Jordanian prime minister.


-Danny Keren.