The 1956 war and Israel’s current security challenges

65 years after the  war between Egypt and Israel, national security analyst Dr. Ehud Eilam examines regional developments and explains how the old enemies joined forces to counter the new one

The 1956 war and Israel’s current security challenges

IDF SOLDIERS PREPARE TRENCHES AND CLEAN THEIR WEAPONS IN SINAI PRIOR TO RENEWED FIGHTING WITH THE EGYPTIAN ARMY AT THE MITLA PASS DURING OPERATION KADESH, 1956.  Photo: VERED AVRAHAM, GPO

Israel  now marks  herself at 65 years out from the 1956 war, which took place between October 29th and November 6th. Aspects of that war can be compared with Israel’s current national security challenges.

Egypt was Israel’s main enemy from 1948 to 1979. The 1979 peace treaty ended the Egyptian – Israeli conflict. Although it only established a cold peace, this is an accomplishment, versus a cold war or outright armed battle on the ground. The friction between Egypt and Israel centered around Palestinians.

Remarkably, Egypt was able to keep the peace despite ongoing confrontations between Israel and the Palestinians occurring in close proximity to its country. Egypt often served as a broker between Israel and the Palestinians, a stunning prospect to those who experienced the 30-year conflict with Egypt before.

In 1979, Egypt ended its conflict with Israel. During the same year Iran started its conflict with Israel; one that has spanned over two decades. Iran and its proxies see Israel as their arch-enemy.  Israel and Iran did not fight directly, unlike direct wars in 1956, 1967, 1967-1970 and 1973. Iran being a distant country from Israel, used its proxies to carry out the conflicts.  The use of proxies could have been used as a means for reducing tension between the nations, but this scenario, unfortunately, did not play out.  Iran’s ongoing desire to destroy Israel are reminiscent of propaganda from the Egyptian-Israeli conflict of the past.

In 1956 Israel and Egypt fought in the Sinai Peninsula. The IDF seized most of Sinai in less than a week, deploying there for several months. In recent years, Israel has been assisting Egypt in their fight against their common enemy in Sinai, ISIS. The Egyptian military, due to its strength, enjoys a clear advantage over ISIS, yet the Egyptian armed forces nonetheless struggle to defeat ISIS.

The Egyptian military, despite having a cold peace with Israel, is still intently focused  on preparing for a high intensity war with Israel, if conflict should arise again. Egypt continues to get ready to fight like the 1956 war, not the current war in Sinai. The Egyptian military should adjust and prepare  to confront ISIS, not the IDF.  

Following the peace with Egypt, the IDF had to be ready to confront other Arab militaries, mostly the Syrian and Iraqi militaries. The 1991 war, combined with the subsequent 2003 war, destroyed the Iraqi military. The Syrian military had declined in the 1990s, after it lost its Soviet patron.

The Syrian armed forces were still quite powerful, but nonetheless experienced a crisis that almost resulted in a meltdown during the Syrian civil war. Therefore the IDF no longer faces a strong Arab military that might attack Israel.

Theoretically, Egypt might encounter Israel, but the latter assumes this is a very low probability scenario.  It explains why the IDF, unlike its Egyptian counterpart, had made a major shift, from preparing to fight high intensity war to focusing on non state actors, such as Hezbollah and Hamas. The IDF can still run high intensity warfare, mostly by relying on the IAF, although the latter and Israel’s ground units have been concentrating on fighting an NSA.  

Israel’s war with Hezbollah in 2006 and the confrontation with Hamas since 2008 ended more or less in a tie. Nevertheless, the IDF did improve its ability to confront NSA. The IDF made much more progress in this matter than the Egyptian military, which sticks to its guns by continually preparing for a high-intensity war.

In 1956, Israel joined Britain and France in a secret alliance against Egypt. Now Israel, western powers including France and Britain, and Egypt need to join forces to deal with Iran and its proxies. The chances of building a vast coalition, which would include Western powers, Arab states and Israel, against Iran are quite small, due to different of opinions and conflict of interests.

Nevertheless, those who oppose Iran can reach an overall understating and act together against Iran. Techniques such as tough sanctions and cyber warfare could be effective in this respect.

Prior to the 1956 war, the Egyptian military was in the process of assimilating hundreds of Soviet aircraft, tanks etc. which would have made her  more dangerous to Israel. Egypt, after getting its forces ready, would then have been capable of waging combat with the assistance of other Arab militaries, against the IDF, in order to destroy Israel.  

Therefore, Israel initiated a preventive war against Egypt in 1956. In recent decades, Israel has been very worried about Iran’s nuclear program, which could represent an existential threat to Israel. Israel might have to consider launching a preemptive strike, despite the risks and challenges of such an attack.