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To: iowamark
When Israel became an independent nation on May 14, 1948, the armies of four Arab neighbors — Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq — immediately invaded the new country to prevent its creation.

Couple points.

These Arab armies were, like all Arab armies at the time, designed and structured to parade and to oppress the ruler's enemies. That means a very different type of army from one designed to fight and defeat another army.

Not to take anything away from the bravery of the Israelis, but they were extremely lucky in their enemies. Also, the population and theoretical military power of the Arab countries involved may have been impressive, but they never succeeded in bringing those forces to bear. The Israelis had considerably more fighters actually in the line for most of the war. The Arabs also had on paper a lot more equipment, but a very great deal of what they had wasn't effective, due to lack of maintenance.

The statement above also leaves out Transjordan/Jordan, which actually did have a functional army unit, the Arab Legion. It gave the Israelis a good deal more trouble than the rest of the Arab "armies" put together.

10 posted on 05/17/2014 1:52:43 PM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: Sherman Logan

“These Arab armies were, like all Arab armies at the time, designed and structured to parade and to oppress the ruler’s enemies.”

Just like the classic Turkish Army parade march, where the soldiers step off, take one step forward, pivot right & stare at the crowd, take another step forward, then pivot left & stare at the crowd on the other side, and so on.

An excellent observation. Go to youtube & look at newsreels of the Egyptian army parading in Cairo just before the 1967 Six Day War. Verrrry impressive!


20 posted on 05/17/2014 7:54:47 PM PDT by elcid1970 ("I don't like Islam and I don't trust Muslims.")
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