Arab-Israeli Air Wars 1967-82

Winning a war does not always yield the results that the victori­ous narion had hoped for. As has already been observed by the German strategist Carl von Clausewirz, war is a direct descen­dant of diplomacy. If the political leaders of a nation are not up to the standards of its generals than there should be no surprise when the diplo­matic exploitarion of the fruits of victor)'are disappointing. Looking back thirty years later, it looks as if the Israeli leadership lost the initiative once the 1967 Six Day War was over.
June 196" changed the Middle East completely. Within days Israel was transformed from a small island surrounded by an ocean of hostile Arabs into a local power. On 5 June 1967 the very existence of Israel was at stake. Its borders were long and almost impossible to defend.