Hungary and the Arab-Israeli war in 1967 In light of Arab-Hungarian archival documents and press

Abstract

The Arab countries were heavily defeated in the “blitz” that broke out on 5th June 1967 and lasted for six days. This inflicted a blow on the allies of Egypt and Syria, the Soviet Union and the socialist countries. The Hungarian leaders continued to provide support for the Arab countries hit by Israeli aggression. However, they criticized the extreme, reckless, often demagogic statements of certain Arab politicians (Syrians, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization). Part of the general public had doubts that the Arabs should be backed, as they had suffered a heavy defeat very quickly. The two authors of the article studied documents from Hungarian archives (e.g. reports by embassies in Damascus, Moscow and Cairo); documents of the communist party and the press in Hungary-Egypt, including Népszabadság, Népszava, al-Ahram, Ruza al-Yusuf, al-Mesa and The Egyptian Gazette.