June 5, 1967,
day one of the war.
In the early morning of June 5,
Israel launched a preemptive attack
on Egyptian air force bases.
The Israeli air force had come up with
a bold, risky,
and complex plan involving all
but 12 of their approximately 250 jets.
The plan required dozens of Israeli squadrons
from different bases to rendezvous silently
over 11 Egyptian air bases.
The first Israeli planes took off
at 7:10 AM flying low
to avoid radar detection
and observing complete radio silence
they began the surprise attack before
the Egyptian pilots could scramble
and get their jets in the air.
After first bombing the runways
so that they could not be used,
Israeli jets bombed
and strafed Egypt's combat aircraft
on the ground.
In a matter of four hours,
Israel destroyed two thirds
of the entire Egyptian air force,
the largest in the Arab world.
This singular act gave Israel control
of the air space over southern Israel, Egypt,
and Sinai providing a great advantage
on the southern front
and freeing Israel's air force
for use on other fronts.
A preemptive strike had not been taken lightly.
Israel had determined that the 200,000 Arab troops
and 1,000 tanks gathered near Israel's borders
were poised for action
with the goal of destroying Israel.
If Israel were to wait
for a coordinated Arab strike
on all its borders,
the future of the country would
be at great risk
and casualties would be massive.
Immediately after the attack
on the Egyptian bases,
the Israelis sent a message to King Hussein
of Jordan saying that Israel would not attack Jordan
if Jordan stayed out of the war.
Even though it meant that
the Jewish holy sites of Jerusalem
would remain under Jordanian control
inaccessible to Jews.
But Jordan had received false information
from Egypt claiming massive successful
attacks against Israel.
Reassured of Arab victory,
Jordan rebuffed Israel's offer
and launched multiple attacks on Israel.
Thousands of mortar shells rained down
on Jewish areas of west Jerusalem,
hitting civilian locations indiscriminately
including Hadassah hospital
and Mount Zion church.
Because of Israel's narrow nine mile waistline
and Jordanian control of the strategic high ground
of the West Bank,
Jordan easily shelled civilian locations
all the way to Tel Aviv
and carried out air strikes against
the coastal communities
of Netanya and Kfar Saba.
Jordan had aggressively entered the war.
Next Syria and Iraq joined the war
by launching attacks inside Israel.
Syrian planes attacked Haifa's oil refineries
but were destroyed by Israeli forces.
They also continued with artillery
and heavy machine gun fire
on northern Israel.
And carried out attacks in the valley
below the Golan.
Later in the afternoon,
Israeli jets responded
by attacking Jordanian, Syrian,
and Iraqi air bases.
Without the element of surprise,
they experienced a number of losses,
but succeeded in doing great damage
to all three Arab air forces.
But Israel was still outnumbered
and outgunned, taxing the limits
of its small military.
Despite its efforts
to avoid war in the West Bank
and Jerusalem,
Israel found itself drawn into
a war on three fronts.
A situation that would ultimately
reshape the map of Israel.