Kissinger Denies Delaying Airlift During Yom Kippur War So Israel Could ‘Bleed Enough For Post-War Diplomacy’

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JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In an interview with Israel’s channel 12 marking the occasion of his 100th birthday, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger denied having delayed vital airborne supplies to Israel during the first week of the Yom Kippur War.

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The New York Times reported three years afterwards that Kissinger delayed the airlift because he wanted to see Israel “bleed just enough to soften it up for the post-war diplomacy he was planning.” However Kissinger claims that this is “rubbish”, stating that “it takes a special Israeli attitude to even ask such a question”.

Kissinger stressed that initially Israel had appeared to be winning and did not immediately ask for the airlift, and when it did make the request a few days after the outbreak of the war, America was already mired in domestic crisis after vice-president Agnew resigned and Watergate was already beginning.

Kissinger said that he asked Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, a Jewish-born convert to Lutheranism, to authorize the airlift, which “had never before been done in war” and Schlesinger, wary of the Russian response, refused to comply. Kissinger even claims that he should be seen as the hero for pressing the defense establishment to enable the airlift, which only began in the second week of the war.

However transcripts of previously classified telephone conversations between Kissinger and  Soviet envoy Anatoly Dobrynin released in 2019 demonstrate that the US interest was not to achieve an Israeli victory, which would anger the US’s oil-rich Arab allies.

During a conversation on 18 October 1973, after he agreed that the military situation was stable, even stalemated, Kissinger declared that “my nightmare is a victory for either side.” Dobrynin observed: “it is not only your nightmare.” Kissinger would say different things to different interlocuters, but he may have worried that if either Egypt or Israel attained a decisive military advantage it would weaken U.S. influence over post-war peace talks. Dobrynin likely had the same concern for the Soviet position.

Israeli suspicions about Kissinger’s motives were compounded by his post-war demands from Israel for territorial compromise, but Kissinger still had a major influence on the peace talks which eventually led to the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.


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10 Comments
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Z E
Z E
9 months ago

It takes a special Chutzpah for Kissinger to attack the questioner for something he knew to be correct

Lgb
Lgb
9 months ago

Once a liar always a liar

anonymous
anonymous
9 months ago

Kissinger was directly responsible for the horrific coup in Chile which led to 30 years of fascist diktatorship there and the cruel murder of 25,000+ incl many young Jewish students and artists.

yosher
yosher
9 months ago

He is a liar!

Turk
Turk
9 months ago

He is no different then any other politician they are all liars

yosher
yosher
9 months ago

It seems that as Kissinger contemplates his death he is concerned about his legacy. Well Henry here it is in brief: your parents were Shomer Mitzvos, you married a Shiksa on Shabbos and you were an anti Israel advocate for Israel during an existential crisis. Your legacy amongst Jews will be that of an enemy and a traitor and your next world will be on the grill.

i

Educated Archy
Educated Archy
9 months ago

There was a little of everything there. The man is no saint and no villan. And then Nixon thought it would help with watergate too support Israel.
Its pretty clear though that Carter had very little to do with the 1979 treaty. In fact most historians say that Egypt’s goal in the yom Kippur war was to enter a treaty and they wanted one last shot so they can enter in a position of strength. In fact it became an expression in Israel when people say someone needs their egypt moment. (Barak said that about araft YM”S). Egypt planned the treaty in 73 already. They achieved their goals at the war and kind of won.