Hungary and the Arab-Israeli War of 1967

Abstract EN

During the outbreak of the six-day „blitzkrieg” on 5 June 1967, the Arab world was severely defeated.

The defeat also signified the failure of the allies of Egypt and Syria: the Soviet Union and the socialist countries as well.

Hungarian political leaders continued to offer their support to the Arab nations affected by the Israeli aggression, however, they also criticised certain Arab politicians (Syrians and the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization - PLO)for their extremist, reckless and often demagogic statements.

International public opinion was mixed.

Some elements were sceptical about support for the Arabs as they were badly defeated in a short time in contrast to the heroic fight for Vietnamese independence in the early 1950s.

The authors of the present article searched Hungarian archive records (reports of the embassies in Damascus, Moscow and Cairo), the documents of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party and the Hungarian-Egyptian daily press including Nepszabadsag,' Nepszava,2 al- Ahram,3 Rose al-Yusuf4 al-Messa,5and The Egyptian Gazette.