The Six-Day War is the popular name for the 1967 Arab–Israeli war (5–10 June 1967).
For all of Nasser’s popularity with the Egyptians and Arabs for his Pan-Arab vision, he was a complete disaster as a political leader.
He allowed his armed forces to sleepwalk into battle with the Israelis without proper training and zero radar and anti-air defense against Israeli warplanes.
The war is not his first mistake. In 1956, Nasser announced the nationalisation of the Suez Canal. This resulted in the British and the French planning an invasion, but they needed a pretext. So they asked the Israelis to march their troops into the Suez Canal, after which they would demand that both Egypt and Israel withdraw their troops, knowing Nasser wouldn’t agree, and thus giving them a pretext for invasion.
The invasion of the Suez Canal did come, but US President Eisenhower was furious and demanded that all sides agree to a ceasefire and withdraw, which they did.
This ceasefire bought the Israelis 10 years of peace, during which they built up their armed forces. This was the key to their victory in The Six day War.
The Israelis were motivated to fight to save their young nation. When I was small, I read the novel Eagle in the Sky (1974) by Wilbur Smith and learned firsthand about the fighting spirit of the Israeli air pilots.
Israel was founded on 14 May 1948. It is always touted as a young state. That may be a bit of an understatement, as Malaysia was only founded on 31 Aug 1957 and India on 15 Aug 1947.
The best book on the history of Israel is arguably Israel: A History by Martin Gilbert ( 2008 revised.
Sir Martin Gilbert is a prolific historian of Winston Churchill. His whole life was spent writing on WSC and on the Jews. His contribution is tremendous. He moved to Israel and spent his last days there.
LWH, Chinese New Year 8th day, 24 Feb 2026