Editor’s Note: Tal Bahar will begin a monthly program, “Tal’s Take,” to discuss her Reflector article, beginning March 6. For details, see a graphic at the end of the article with a link to RSVP.
By Tal Bahar, Community Shlicha
They always told you that the State of Israel has never started a war. Well, that’s not exactly true. We’ll get to that soon.
The date is March 5, 1946. Nearly a year after the end of World War II, on a stage at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, stood Winston Churchill, the former British Prime Minister, delivering one of the most important speeches in the history of the Cold War.
Some say his speech created it.
The decline of Britain and France after World War II, along with the early stages of decolonization, changed the global reality. A new world order was on the horizon.
In his speech, Churchill coined the term “Iron Curtain” dividing Europe: The imaginary wall that separating the “bad” and the “good” – the communist “East” and the capitalist “West.”
In hindsight, it’s clear that not much time had passed, and suddenly, the imaginary Iron Curtain crossed not just Europe, but the entire world.
The Cold War lasted from 1945 to 1991, on a global scale. After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the two superpowers, the strongest nations on earth, and each sought to achieve greater accomplishments than its rival.
The Cold War was evident in areas such as space, sports, technological innovations, and even cinema.
On the surface, such a war seemed moral – a competition that fostered excellence. After all, a man landed on the moon because of it.
The only thing they didn’t do was fight each other directly. The term “Cold War” reflects this. Of course, like empires, power, as perceived by them, was a necessary commodity.
Therefore, it didn’t stop the arms race and the growth of nuclear stockpiles, which came dangerously close to destruction more than once. Both superpowers feared direct conflict with each other due to their rival’s achievements, so the struggle between them remained “cold.”
And of course, a “cold” conflict at home serves as excellent cover for a “hot” war abroad. This required a significant foothold in other regions, competition for spheres of influence worldwide.
And if they succeeded in turning space into a significant arena for the struggle for supremacy and control, the world could just as well be a chess game.
The two superpowers had similar interests but represented two completely different social and political ideologies, and their policies were different.
The USSR, totalitarian communists, believed in a “communist paradise” where the working class would rule the world without borders, nations, states, religions, or classes. As a result, they sent “satellites” to countries where they saw potential for a socialist regime.
The USA, the democratic capitalist’ the “guard dog of democracy,” as Truman simply stated: “I believe that it must be the pol-icy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” (Truman Doctrine, 1947).
One of my majors in high school was history. History, especially when it pertains to the Jewish people and Israel, has always fascinated me. I spent many hours reading and writing about it and loved every moment.
When my amazing teacher, Dr. Ahuva Shaler, announced that we had to write a thesis on the Cold War, based on articles, books, and a documentary, I knew right away that I would write about the Six-Day War.
Like many proud Israelis, the Six-Day War was my favorite.
For years, I couldn’t let go of the question: how could such a young country, on such a small and disputed piece of land, with such a relatively small army, achieve such a magnificent victory in just six days?
I was amazed by the psychological and social effects of the miraculous victory, to the point where Israelis, intoxicated with pride, refused to listen to reports about the impending war, as if they shut their eyes to the black smoke that appeared six years after the glorious victory, which was followed by the fierce and destructive fire of the Arab armies on Yom Kippur morning.
And I must admit, I didn’t expect the connection between this “private,” glorious, and formative war and the Cold War to be so easy to find.
Since then, my perspective on the world, my understanding of Israeli history in particular and world history in general, has changed.
In my research, I delved into the involvement of the USSR and the USA in the Middle East, and in Israel and the Six-Day War specifically.
Unfortunately, the end result spans 44 pages, so here I will be a bit briefer.
In 1947, the UN Partition Plan for Israel was supported by both superpowers. Each believed that the new small state would be built on the values that led them and would become their ally in the Middle East.
Many of the founding of this state were from Soviet backgrounds, but Western values of freedom and progress ran through Israel’s veins.
On May 14, 1948, David Ben Gurion declared the establishment of a Jewish state in the land of Israel.
Although Israel manages to have its cake and eat it too, behind the scenes, the chosen super-power was the USA.
In November 1949, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State George McGee clarified that, given the growing Soviet threat and Britain’s weakness, “The United States can no longer afford to remain in the backseat on Middle Eastern issues.” The U.S. needed Israel as well.
The Soviet Union was disappointed when it realized that Israel was not developing in its image.
In 1953, diplomatic relations were severed. The USSR infiltrated the Middle East from the other side, beginning with the first Egyptian-Soviet arms deal in October 1955, and from then on, continued to support the Arab world militarily, politically, and economically against Israel.
They engaged in propaganda against Israel, presenting it as working on behalf of Western oil companies and American imperialism.
Meanwhile, the U.S. continued to nurture its ally – Israel. And then, as today, sometimes clashes of interests occurred. Like Operation Shredder (1966), prior to the Six-Day War, a retaliation against Jordan after frequent attacks and threats from Jordan and many Arab states.
The operation went awry, expanding beyond its scope and resulting in casualties. consequentially, there was unrest in Jordan, and King Hussein’s pro-Western rule was at risk. In an angry response, the Americans threatened to cut off military aid to Israel if it took further action.
Before the outbreak of the Six-Day War, the U.S. did everything in its power to maintain peace between the countries of the Middle East, even at the cost of turning a blind eye and Israeli restraint.
Meanwhile, Soviet propaganda against Israel, explicit threats from Nasser to throw the Jews into the sea on radio broadcasts, Soviet agents training Arab armies on Israel’s borders, hundreds of Soviet shipments of planes, artillery, radar stations, and, if that’s not enough, Soviet ships unloading tanks, armored vehicles, and heavy equipment in Alexandria and Latakia ports.
Israel’s hands were tied.
Finally, after a tense waiting period of existential fear, Meir Amit, then head of the Mossad, and Robert McNamara, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, had met, a meeting which records never existed in any American source, as if it never took place – Israel received the green light from the Americans to take action. And thus, the Six-Day War began on June 5th.
The glorious results of the war are well known to all.
But here’s the thing – the issue isn’t just the Six-Day War. It’s just a symptom of the larger phenomenon known as the Cold War. Many lives were lost, many of whom didn’t belong to the battle of control, many of them nothing more than pawns in this chess game. Countless questions remain about the morality of these superpowers’ involvement in territories, society, and security worldwide.
But the key question is: are we still amid a Cold War today?
I argue that we are. Maybe it’s a strange idea I’m about to propose, but in my view, unlike the 1960s or the 1990s, different forces are at work on us now. Perhaps today, the Cold War we are witnessing isn’t even being fought by superpowers and states – but by cultures.
You can observe it in sports, space, and technology, just as before. This time too, each culture has different characteristics and worldviews, often in direct opposition to one another.
But the most powerful player in the arena is new, cunning, simple to operate, and addictive. It’s none other than social media. And just like the motifs from the Cold War we know from the past century, it has brought progress, creativity, shared learning, and healthy competition.
Everyone is close to everyone, just a message, post, or video away. Borders no longer matter; through the internet and screens, we live in one small global village.
Many countries are trying to fight it. For it could be a call for freedom and resistance. It has many advantages, but also worrying disadvantages.
Social media is a fertile ground for a Cold War that shapes generations. A war on history, on what’s real and what isn’t, on lies and truth. One that creates imaginary maps, without any checkpoints or borders. In this war, the winner is the one who gains attention.
And although it’s hard to admit, we too are sometimes dragged into the strange rules of this war.
I began this text saying, “They always told you that the State of Israel has never started a war. Well, that’s not exactly true.”
We’ve all seen, and some of us have even shared, the post showing all of Israel’s wars and operations, with the flag of the country or organization that started each one. The Israeli flag doesn’t appear in any of them.
Even though we started the Six-Day War. Yes, after a long and tense waiting period, and out of a justified existential fear, but we attacked first.
And more than just inaccurate facts, one TikTok video and a sad image can influence public opinion and create the illusion of a significant situation, much more than any elected leader in a suit appearing at a press conference.
And sometimes this war doesn’t make sense. This intercultural consciousness design is something that can’t be predicted, but once it happens, it seems like it’s always been there.
After all, the rules are new. They’re so complicated to understand, and sometimes even to identify, that the average person becomes a soldier in this Cold War, even without under-standing how and why.
They have no uniforms, no consciousness of war, and no weapons. The weapon here is words. It’s much more dangerous. In the name of sacred values, it fuels hatred, extinguishes love, exploits innocence and ignorance. In the name of progress, it revives the winds of sand from the dark history of the world.
And how does one win in such a Cold War? Many have tried to decipher the formula, and it seems as if only negative forces succeed. Perhaps these are my feelings, because the good that I hold differs by definition from what many of the “winners” promote.
I am overwhelmed with thoughts and questions, as with any writing of such an article. And therefore, I have decided to launch a new program, where I will meet with you, members of the community, who want to discuss, ask questions, and seek answers together with me. All the details are in the registration page. I look forward to meeting you!
To RSVP, visit
