Six Day War Analysis

Israel has been at an almost constant state of tension with its neighbors since it gained its independence in May 1948. The Jewish people, who have been persecuted and murdered for their faith and culture since biblical times, have always inhabited the Middle Eastern country of Israel. In 1881, the first Aaliyah, or wave of Jewish immigration, came into the nation, and four waves followed in the next 60 years. It wasn’t until the creation of Zionism, however, that the Jewish people began to covet the Land of Israel as the place promised to them by God to be the Jewish homeland. Thus tensions with close Arab countries began, as the Jews took over and “forced out” the previous inhabitants. Friction intensified when the United Nations partitioned …show more content…
Realism focuses on the international, or third image, motives for the way states behave. It stresses the fact that anarchy in the international system leads states to being self-interested and seeking to accumulate as much power as possible, foregoing any other states. There are three different types of realist thinking: human nature, defensive, and offensive. Human nature realism is a first image theory, which means that it focuses on the idea that individual choices are what causes outcomes in international relations. This form of realism states that it is “human nature” for individuals to seek power over other actors. (Shlaim, …show more content…
Israel emulated the prediction made by offensive realists of self-help: as is described in this analysis, Israel did not rely on making mutual agreement or treaties with other nations that would save them if they were to have to go to war with its neighbors. Israel was determined to help itself because the Jewish people believed that no one else was suited to help them due to the discrimination they had faced in the past. Additionally, Israel, like the other countries involved in this conflict, wanted to be a regional hegemon in the Middle East and the only way to do that was to maximize its power against those that wanted to take it by fighting harder and smarter than their adversaries.
Another major theme that Israel emulated with the start of the War was the security dilemma. The security dilemma is a concept derived by Robert Jervis that states that when one state’s security increases, it automatically decreases the security of another. This leads to a security competition between states because it forces them to increase their security faster and more efficiently than others so as not to fall behind. This causes war as actors fight for security