LIVING BY THE SWORD traces the efforts of the U.S. and Israel to seek a military solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, in the period from 1968 to 1987. During this time, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have been built gradually into a position of regional dominance, as high-tech weapons systems, both conventional and nuclear, have been acquired or developed, either overtly or covertly. Inevitably, Israel has been tempted to apply its military superiority again and again, in localized disputes and even in situations where diplomacy might otherwise have sufficed. As LIVING BY THE SWORD demonstrates, this militaristic approach has been abetted by two developments: a) Egypt’s remarkable decision to disarm unilaterally in the period 1973-79; and b) America’s willingness to share, virtually without reservation, military technology far more advanced than anything obtained by the Arabs from the Soviets, or from any other source.
This book develops its themes by examining a series of little-publicized events in Middle East history, including: A) the Israeli Air Force’s repeated attacks on the (then) largest U.S. development project in the Middle East—-the East Ghor Canal irrigation scheme in Jordan—in 1968-69. B) Johnson administration’s commitment to supply Israel with the F-4 Phantom-at the time, the most advanced fighter-bomber ever developed. Many NATO units were waiting for them. USAF units in Vietnam were waiting for them. The version that went to Israel in September 1969 was “nuclear capable,” i.e. wired and harnessed to deliver nuclear weapons”. C) shooting down, by two of those F-4 Phantoms, of a Libyan civilian airliner, resulting in the deaths of 107 men, women and children. The subsequent investigation clearly established that the plane was headed away from Israeli-occupied Sinai at the time it was attacked. Why was the plane destroyed? Stephen Green concludes that the IAF may have thought the plane was spying, because El Al aircraft, equipped by the CIA with U.S. cameras, were used frequently for espionage! D) the U.S. Government knowledge of, and subsequent cover-up of, a joint Israeli-South African nuclear test in 1979. E) The history of Israelis arms aid to Iran.
