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| Volume XIV, Fall 2007, Number 3 |
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EXCERPT
Speech to the South African Parliament on the 40th Anniversary of the Israeli Occupation, June 6, 2007
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| Ronnie Kasrils |
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Mr. Kasrils, minister of intelligence services of the Republic of South Africa, has been a member of Parliament since 1994.
Madam Speaker, Honorable members, this speech is dedicated to the memory of David Rabkin, South African freedom fighter, who died in Angola. Forty years ago this week, Israel’s military unleashed lightning attacks against Egypt, Jordan and Syria, alleging provocations as justification for its strikes. Within six days the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights had been captured. Apart from the Sinai from which Israel withdrew in 1977, the other areas remain under Israeli military occupation and control to this day.
Whilst some justify Israel’s actions on the grounds of pre-emptive self-defense, the obverse was the truth. From the horse’s mouth we learn who the aggressor was. Israel’s military Chief of Staff, Yitzhak Rabin stated: “I do not believe that Nasser wanted war. The two divisions he sent into Sinai on May 14 [1967] would not have been enough to unleash an offensive against Israel. He knew it and we knew it.” Menachem Begin, later Israel’s prime minister, reminisced that the Egyptian army deployment in the Sinai did not prove that Nasser was about to attack Israel. “We must be honest,” he explained. “We decided to attack him.”
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