Writing in the Jerusalem Post on February 7, 2002, Henry Siegman, U.S. Council of Foreign Affairs senior fellow and former American Jewish Congress President, enthusiastically recalls and invokes President Eisenhower’s declaration”… without equivocation that the 1956i nvasion of Egypt by Israel, Great Britain and France was wrong and needed to be reversed, all three countries pulled out promptly.”

(This episode is routinely raised by those who want the US to be severe with Israel.)

But Eisenhower changed his mind. In 1965 he said: “You know, Max, looking back at Suez, I regret what I did. I never should have pressed Israel to evacuate the Sinai.” (“Quiet Diplomat, Max A Fisher”, biography by Peter Golden, 1992, page xviii) Golden relates Eisenhower continuing “… if I had a Jewish advisor working for me, I doubt I would have handled the situation the same way. I would not have forced the Israelis back.” (page XIX)

Evidently Eisenhower did not contemplate that any Jew would have Siegman’s mindset.

As an advocate of “land for paper” it should come as no surprise that Siegman also neglects to mention what evolved as a result of Eisenhower’s pressure: Israel pulled out of the Sinai in return for a written American assurance that the U.S. would act if Israel was denied passage through the Straits of Tiran. A written assurance not honored when Nasser imposed a blockade on Israel in 1967. Also, Egypt did not follow through on the understanding that she would leave the Gaza Strip. No doubt Siegman is so dedicated to his position that none of this matters.

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