‘The Soviets were just an excuse’: why Israel did not destroy the Egyptian Third Army

Abstract

On 23 October 1973, the third week of the Yom Kippur War, the Israeli army cut off all supply routes to the 20,000 strong Egyptian Third Army on the east bank of the Suez Canal. Five days later, however, Israel partly lifted the siege and allowed the first convoy of non-military supplies to reach the Third Army. This decision was explained in Israel as deriving from American pressure, the source of which, according to the Americans, was the threat of Soviet intervention. This paper argues that a Soviet threat was not the main reason for the United States' pressure, but that it derived from an array of American interests in the region. The Israeli leadership, in turn, used American pressure to publicly justify its decision to spare the Third Army, though it had its own reasons for doing so.

Notes

  [1] New York Times, 29 October 1973.

  [2] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 573.

  [3] Kissinger, Crisis, 305.

  [4] (Israel State Archives (ISA), A 8163/9, Protocols of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee (FADC) meetings, Defence Minister Moshe Dayan to the FADC members, 28 October 1973).

  [5] Laqueur, Confrontation, 143; Golan, ‘Moscow's Policy in the Yom Kippur War’, 4.

  [6] Oren, The History of the Yom Kippur War, 149.

  [7] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 486–7; Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger, 525; Laqueur, Confrontation, 193; The National Security Archive (NSA), Doc. 63: Transcripts of Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger Staff Meetings, 23 October 1973, 4:35 P.M. Box 1. http://www.gwu.edu/∼nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB98/octwar-63.pdf.

  [8] Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger, 523; Parker, The October War, 163; Brecher, Decisions in Crisis, 209–10.

  [9] Karsh, ‘Preface’.

 [10] Karsh, ‘Preface’; NSA, The October War and US Policy, note 30.

 [11] Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger, 523–4; Parker, The October War, 163.

 [12] Heikal, Road to Ramadan, 228; Rubinstein, Red Star on the Nile, 272.

 [13] Israelyan, Inside the Kremlin, 103; Golan, Yom Kippur and After, 112; Dawisha, Soviet Foreign Policy Towards Egypt, 67; Insight Team, Insight, 368; Laqueur, Confrontation, 182–3.

 [14] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 554.

 [15] (Adan, On Both Sides of the Suez, 281); Laqueur, Confrontation, 197.

 [16] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 554; Insight Team, Insight, 379; Laqueur, Confrontation, 194–5.

 [17] (ISA A, 8/6139, Protocols of the FADC, 22 October 1973); Dayan, Story of My Life, 443–4; Laqueur, Confrontation, 197.

 [18] Bar Siman Tov, Israel, 222; Laqueur, Confrontation, 197.

 [19] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 569; Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger, 529; Insight Team, Insight, 399, 401.

 [20] Parker, The October War, 167; Laqueur, Confrontation, 185.

 [21] Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, 480; Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger, 524; for an explanation of the different levels of American military alert see Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 587.

 [22] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 600: NSA, Doc. 76: Dobrynin to Kissinger, enclosing letter from Brezhnev to Nixon, 25 October 1973, received 3:40 P.M in: NPMP, HAKO, box 69, Dobrynin/Kissinger Vol. 20 (12 October–27 November 1973). http://www.gwu.edu/∼nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB98/octwar-76.pdf.

 [23] Schulze, The Arab–Israeli Conflict, 42.

 [24] Quandt, Peace Process, 99.

 [25] NSA, Doc. 2A: Memorandum of Conversation [Memcon] between Muhammad Hafez Ismail and Henry Kissinger, 20 May 1973, 10:15 AM in: RG 59, Records of Henry Kissinger, box 25, Cat C Arab–Israeli War; Doc. 2B: Memorandum from Kissinger to the President, ‘Meeting with Hafiz Ismail on May 20’, 2 June 1973 in: NPMP, HAKO, box 132, Egypt/Ismail Vol. VII (20 May–23 September 1972). http://www.gwu.edu/∼nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB98/index.htm#VII.

 [26] NSA, Doc. 2A: Memorandum of Conversation [Memcon] between Muhammad Hafez Ismail and Henry Kissinger, 20 May 1973, 10:15 AM in: RG 59, Records of Henry Kissinger, box 25, Cat C Arab–Israeli War; Doc. 2B: Memorandum from Kissinger to the President, ‘Meeting with Hafiz Ismail on May 20’, 2 June 1973 in: NPMP, HAKO, box 132, Egypt/Ismail Vol. VII (20 May–23 September 1972). Both available from: http://www.gwu.edu/ ∼ nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB98/index.htm#VII, INTERNET Doc. 2B; Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 226.

 [27] Schulze, The Arab–Israeli Conflict, 42; Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, 463, 478.

 [28] (ISA, A 8163/9, Ibid.); Meir, My Life, 371.

 [29] Dayan, Story of My Life, 536; Herzog, The Arab–Israeli Wars, 46.

 [30] (ISA, A 8163/9, Briefing by Chief of General Staff Deputy, Major General Tal, Protocols of the FADC, 22 October 1973); Schiff, October Earthquake, 286; Insight Team, Insight, 392: Israelyan, Inside the Kremlin, 156; Laqueur, Confrontation, 198.

 [31] (ISA, A 8163/9, Protocols of the FADC, Dayan speaking to the FADC members, 28 October 1973).

 [32] (Ibid.).

 [33] Interview with Prof. Galia Golan, Herzlia, 17 July 2006.

 [34] Parker, The October War, 167–68.

 [35] Eban, Abba Eban: An Autobiography, 536; Rubinstein, Red Star on the Nile, 276; Laqueur, Confrontation, 200, 203; Insight Team, Insight, 409, 410, 411.

 [36] Haaretz, 23 October 1973; Golan, Yom Kippur and After, 116.

 [37] Israelyan, Inside the Kremlin, 180; 152, (Schiff, October Earthquake – Yom Kippur, 1973, 152).

 [38] Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger, 531.

 [39] Heikal, Road to Ramadan, 253–4.

 [40] During an air raid on Syria on 9 October, Israeli planes bombed the Soviet Cultural Centre in Damascus. On 12 October, in another air raid, they sank a Soviet merchant ship, Ilya Mechnikov, in the Syrian port of Tartus (Israelyan, Inside the Kremlin, 68).

 [41] Israelyan, Inside the Kremlin, 143–4, 168, 180, 181.

 [42] Quandt, Peace Process, 167; Laqueur, Confrontation, 216; Parker, The October War, 167, 171.

 [43] Golan, Yom Kippur and After, 124–25.

 [44] Golan, Yom Kippur and After, 116, 122–3; Insight Team, Insight, 411.

 [45] Dobrynin, In Confidence, 297.

 [46] Lauqueur, Confrontation, 199.

 [47] Israelyan, Inside the Kremlin, 197.

 [48] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 590; Oren, The History of the Yom Kippur War, 327.

 [49] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 600; Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger, 531.

 [50] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval.

 [51] Kissinger, Crisis, 395; Laqueur, Confrontation, 214.

 [52] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 574.

 [53] Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger, 526; Parker, The October War, 169; Laqueur, Confrontation, 216.

 [54] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 573.

 [55] (ISA, A 8163 /9, Protocols of the FADC, Dayan speaking to the FADC members, 28 October 1973).

 [56] Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, 487, 527, 553.

 [57] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 602.

 [58] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 602

 [59] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 602, 605; Parker, The October War, 171.

 [60] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 571, 573; Parker, The October War, 169; NSA, Doc. 34A: Memoranda of Conversations with Arab Foreign Ministers, 17 October 1973 in: SN 70-73, POL 27 Arab-Isr.; Doc. 34B: Memcon between Nixon and Arab Foreign Ministers, 17 October 1973, 11:10 A.M. in: Middle East War Memos & Misc. NPMP, NSCF, box 664 (6–17 October 1973). http://www.gwu.edu/∼nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB98/index.htm#VII.

 [61] Quandt, Peace Process, 167; NSA, Doc. 45A: State Department Cable 208776 to all Diplomatic and Consular Posts, ‘Middle East Situation’, 21 October 1973 in: NPMP, NSCF, box 1175, 1973 Middle East War, 20 October 1973-File No. 15; Doc. 45B: Embassy in Saudi Arabia Cable 4663 to State Department, ‘Saudi Ban on Oil Shipments to US’, 23 October 1973 in: NPMP, NSCF, box 1175, 1973 Middle East War, 23 October 1973-File No.18. http://www.gwu.edu/∼nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB98/index.htm#VII.

 [62] Parker, The October War, 169.

 [63] Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger, 521; Rubinstein, Red Star on the Nile, 285.

 [64] NSA, Doc. 82: Nixon Hotline Message to Brezhnev, 27 October 1973, sent 2:18 A.M in: NPMP, HAKO, box 69, Dobrynin/Kissinger Vol. 20 (12 October–27 November 1973). http://www.gwu.edu/∼nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB98/index.htm#VII.

 [65] NSA, Doc. 82: Nixon Hotline Message to Brezhnev, 27 October 1973.

 [66] (28.10.73) (ISA, A 8163/9, Protocols of the FADC, 28 October 1973).

 [67] (ISA, A 8163/9, Protocols of the FADC, MK Yitzhak Ben Aharon speaking to the FADC members, 28 October 1973).

 [68] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 573.

 [69] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 573

 [70] (ISA, A 8163/9, Protocols of the FADC, 24 October 1973).

 [71] Major Knesset Debates, 1948–1981, Vol. 5, 1827: Sitting 465, Demand for Immediate Release of Israeli Prisoners of War, 30 October 1973.

 [72] Adan, On the Banks of the Suez, 450.

 [73] Adan, On the Banks of the Suez, 451.

 [74] Interview with Prof. Itzhak Galnoor, Oxford, 18 August 2006; Oren, The History of the Yom Kippur War, 352.

 [75] Eban, Personal Witness, 539; Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, 499; Kumaraswamy, Revisiting the Yom Kippur War, 2.

 [76] Eban, Personal Witness, 539; Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, 499.

 [77] Adan, On the Banks of the Suez, 450, 456.

 [78] Adan, On the Banks of the Suez, 456.

 [79] (ISA, A 8163/9, Ibid.); Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, 485; Parker, The October War, 164.

 [80] Schiff, October Earthquake – Yom Kippur 1973, 243; Laqueur, Confrontation, 216.

 [81] Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Soviet Involvement in the War of Attrition.

 [82] Israel Government Press Office Weekly News Bulletin, 13–19 November 1973, supplement, S2.

 [83] Insight Team, Insight, 388.

 [84] (A 8163/9, Protocols of the FADC, 22 October 1973).

 [85] Haaretz, 22 October 1973.

 [86] (ISA, A 8163/9, Protocols of the FADC, 22 October 1973).

 [87] Haaretz, 24 October 1973.

 [88] Eban, Personal Witness, 539.

 [89] Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, 488.

 [90] Adan, On the Banks of the Suez, 396.

 [91] Rolef, ‘The Domestic Fallout of the Yom Kippur War’, 189; Arian, The War, 161.

 [92] Arian, The War, 141.

 [93] Dayan, Story of My Life, 447–8.

 [94] Kissinger, Crisis, 395.

 [95] Haaretz, 25 October 1973; Insight Team, Insight, 429.

 [96] Kumaraswamy, Revisiting the Yom Kippur War, 2.

 [97] Haaretz, 25 October 1973; Meir, My Life, 366; Eban, An Autobiography, 537; Eban, Personal Witness, 539; Insight Team, Insight, 429; Adan, On the Banks of the Suez, 462.

 [98] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 615.

 [99] NSA, Doc. 64: Message from Kissinger to Brezhnev, 23 October 1973, Dispatched from White House at 5:15 PM. In: NPMP, HAKO, box 69, Dobrynin/Kissinger Vol. 20 (12 October–27 November 1973). http://www.gwu.edu/∼nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB98/index.htm#VII.

[100] Sitting 465, 30 October 1973, Demand for Immediate Release of Israeli Prisoners of War, in Major Knesset Debates, 1948–1981, Vol. 5, 1827.

[101] (ISA, A 8163/9, Protocols of the FADC, 24 October 1973, protocol no. 332).

[102] Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, 485.

[103] Sitting 463, 23 October 1973, Response to US Appeal for a Ceasefire, in Major Knesset Debates; Meir, My Life, 372.

[104] (ISA, A 8/6139, Protocols of the FADC, 22 October 1973, protocol no. 327); Dayan, Story of My Life, 443–4.

[105] (ISA, A 8163/9, Protocols of the FADC, 28 October 1973, protocol no. 331); Insight Team, Insight, 387.

[106] Haaretz, 23 October 1973; Laqueur, Confrontation, 215.

[107] Insight Team, Insight, 429; Laqueur, Confrontation, 217; Arian, The War, 160.

[108] Insight Team, Insight, 428; Arian, The War, 158; Oren, The History of the Yom Kippur War, 328.

[109] Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, 488.

[110] Adan, On the Banks of the Suez, 456.

[111] (ISA, A 8163/9, Protocols of the FADC, 28 October 1973, protocol no. 331)

[112] (ISA, Ibid.), Haaretz, 28 October 1973; Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, 488.

[113] Arian, The War, 160.

[114] Insight Team, Insight, 429; Laqueur, Confrontation, 217; Arian, The War, 160.

[115] New York Times, 4 June 1974; Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, 490.

[116] Schiff, October Earthquake, 239.

[117] Schiff, October Earthquake, 239; Adan, On the Banks of the Suez, 456; Oren, The History of the Yom Kippur War, 329.

[118] Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, 485.

[119] Interview with Galnoor, 18 August 2006.

[120] Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 107.

[121] Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, 486; Insight Team, Insight, 387.