The war began with a massive and successful Egyptian attack across the heavily fortified Suez Canal

savages, that's what - uncivilized, brutal, irrational

that is what you get from the uncivilized; sight seeing tours in the enemy's country, and pair of handcuffs as given bonus or stolen as souvenir.

It makes me furious thinking that this could have been prevented if only the commanders had not been so over confident in their illusions of grandeur. I hope we have learned the appropriate lessons.

Into The Desert And Shot Them. You should be thankful that the Egyptians still believed in the Geneva Convention during the Yom Kippor War.

Citizen of the World: your reference to your bold statement of acclaimed fact is? or did you suck it out of your hindtit?

Historian Gabby Bron wrote in the Yediot Ahronot (17 August 1995) that he witnessed Israeli troops executing Egyptian prisoners on the morning of June 8, 1967, in the Sinai town of El Arish. Bron reported that he saw about 150 Egyptian POWs being held at the El Arish airport where they were sitting on the ground, densely crowded together with their hands held on the back of their necks. Every few minutes, Bron writes, Israeli soldiers would escort an Egyptian POW from the group to a hearing conducted by two men in Israeli army uniforms. Then the man would be taken away, given a spade, and forced to dig his own grave. "I watched as (one) man dug a hole for about 15 minutes," Bron wrote. "Afterwards, the (Israeli military) policeman told him to throw the shovel away, and then one of them leveled an Uzi at him and shot two short bursts, each of three or four bullets." Bron says he witnessed about ten such executions, until the grave was filled. Then an Israeli Colonel threatened him with a revolver, forcing him to leave the area. USS Liberty survivor James Ennes, speculated that Israeli forces shot and killed 150 or more Egyptian Prisoners of war at the town of El-Arish while the USS Liberty passed just 12 miles offshore. Israeli documentary film "Rouch Shakid" alleged an army unit led by Benjamin Ben Eliezer may have killed 250 prisoners of war in the Sinai Peninsula rather than transferring them to POW camps. Ben-Eliezer DENIED [as usual, that] Egyptian prisoners were executed. He said Palestinian gunmen were killed during the fighting, not Egyptian soldiers [as if that's any better].

I’m not sure which event World Citizen is referring to as there were several such war crimes but I’m sure he is referring to an account from an Israeli source. Many such accounts have been documented for example: Arieh Biro (retired Israeli general) openly admitted to ordering the murder (they were gunned down en masse) of 49 Egyptian POWs in 1956 because it was 'inconvenient' to transport them. Gabriel Brun, (retired Israeli sergeant major) has described how, in 1967, he witnessed 5 Egyptian POWs being murdered after they were forced to dig their own graves. Instead of calling his post “nutty” and demanding documentation I suggest that you read up and learn your own history before you post comments which display your ignorance.

Yet again, you seek credit for co-opting the work of others. You pulled your post wholesale from anyone of a number of jihadist and neo-Nazi websites which try to link an alleged (and never proven) execution of Egyptian prisoners of war with the USS LIBERTY. Now, let's have a go at the facts: 1. By June 8, 1967, Egypt was completely defeated, and all captured Egyptian soldiers were sitting in relative comfort in POW camps. 2. They were guarded by reservists, and there are many accounts of the fact that the Egyptian POWs were very docile and quite happy to be prisoners of war, as Israeli doctors were treating them for illnesses which they had had since childhood (tapeworm being the most common) and they were being fed better than they were ever fed by the Egyptian army. 3. By June 8, the overwhelming number of Israeli troops were either fighting in the West Bank or in the Golan. 4. For the umpteenth time, the USS LIBERTY was a signals interceptor ("spy") ship, sent to the Med by direct order of then-President Lyndon Johnson. When it became evident that the Arabs were taking a serious beating, he decided it would be in the best interests of the United States to minimize the humiliation -- the USS LIBERTY was ordered to intercept Israeli military communications; those communications were then relayed to both the Jordanians and the Syrians, with whom the Israelis were actively engaged in hostilities. That is why the USS LIBERTY was blown out of the water. No other reason. There isn't a single country in the world that wouldn't have done the exact same thing. 5. During the Second World War, on occasions too numerous to count, Jews were ordered to dig their own graves, before being shot by the Einsatzgruppen. For many of the soldiers who fought in the Six Day War, this was a vivid memory. The thought that a Jewish soldier would order anyone to dig their grave before being shot is beyond contemplation. It is also beneath contempt for anyone to even allege that such an event took place -- but you are pretty contemptible yourself, so I am not all that surprised that you would suggest such a thing. 6. There are no unaccounted for Egyptian soldiers -- those who died in the fighting were returned to Egypt, as were all the Egyptian prisoners of war. This does not jive with your preposterous claims of mass graves in the Sinai. 7. It is also rather well known that many Egyptian soldiers were shot by their own officers, supposedly by command of Nasser personally. He did not want any soldiers coming back to Egypt and speaking of the disaster that befell Egypt in the Six Day War. This is very credible, because we know that long after the unconditional surrender of Egypt, Egyptian radio was still broadcasting stories of Egypt's "triumph" and the Egyptian press was still publishing stories of how "Israel lay in ruins," and "Tel Aviv has been completely destroyed," yada, yada. 8. Once again, I remind you that you really need to attribute material that you co-opt from other websites. Don't you think we know how poor your English is, and don't you realize we recognize the difference between what you write and what you plagiarize?

Maj. Gen. Hassan Al-Gandali said there were a number of Israeli POWs in Egyptian camps in 1973. “We were very much concerned about their welfare, though we were aware of the way the Israelis had dealt with our POWs under their custody,” “As I was the chief of operations, I accompanied Egyptian Defense Minister Musheer Ahmad Ismail to the camp in which Col. Esaf Yagouri and 150 prisoners were kept. On seeing us the prisoners looked so terrified as they seemed to think that we were going to send them to the firing squad in return for what Israel had done to the Egyptian POWs in the past. On the other hand, Musheer told them that he did not blame them for obeying the orders of their superiors though it was to occupy a territory belonging to another country. ‘However, you will be treated in line with the Geneva Conventions. So you have nothing to worry about,’ Musheer said.

how soldiers who fought bravely became handcuffed and barefooted. And, when released to their home they would be former soldiers with special needs, not heroes with special deeds.

just go ask any African or Copt that has the unfortunate experience of being in an Egyptian jail. It's happening today!

Infact, the proof they used was alone statement from an IDF soldier which was taken out of context. If there was proof to that claim, the Egyptians would have already taken it to court, but they never could. Spreading rumors as "fact" doesn't make them true. However, there is a lot of citations of the Egyptian massacres of IDF soldiers and civilians in 1948 and 1973.

Forensic evidence weighs much more heavily than a 20 year "eye witness" account. Surely if this did happen, the graves are still there. The part of your statement - "may have killed..." says it all. It's not factual but an unfounded accusation which amounts to...um, zero. If there was massive evidence to support your claim, then why haven't the Egyptians pursued it? And, yes, if the "Palestinian" gunmen were shot, good for Israel. As terrorists they are not protected by any Convention that covers civilians and military from sovereign nations.

Every army in the world has faced a situation where they were unable to take prisoners lest they loose there own ability to advance. The decission has to be made. It is hardly routine, but it does happen. It's a war after all. Israel has to put its survival first. They are too small to always have the luxury to tie up troops with prisoners unlike the larger Arab armies. It is unfortunate, but necessary, and every Army has had to do it at some time.

They are enemy noncombatants and deserve to be shoot. Egyptian soldiers are military and under normal conditions deserve the protection of the Geneva convention. I'm always amazed how guys like you and "World Citizen" manage to hold Israel to a higher standard than any other country while ignore others' atorocities. Israel already holds itself to a very high standard relative to other nations. I oftern wonder what world "World Citizen" is from and what cheap optical shop "Oberver" buy's his or her glasses.

the Israeli Army – the army that claims to hold itself to a higher moral standard than other armies – executed as many as 1,000 Arab prisoners during the 1967 war. USS Liberty was nearby. As those executions were underway, America’s most sophisticated intelligence platform, USS Liberty, was less than 13 miles from ElArish. We were close enough to see the town mosque with the naked eye. With binoculars we could make out individual buildings and might have seen the executions if we had looked in the right place.Could our operators have heard voice radio messages revealing these killings? Did senior Israeli officers sanction the murders, or did they learn of them? How would they have reacted to the knowledge that USS Liberty was nearby and might have heard incriminating radio traffic?Would they have been desperate enough to attack an American ship? Intelligence analysts and others have long supposed that Israel attacked to prevent the ship from reporting the impending invasion of the Golan Heights, then imminent despite cease fire pleas by the United States. Israel's defenders reject that explanation. Recent reports in the Israeli and Egyptian press suggest another powerful possibility. According to eyewitness accounts by Israeli officers and journalists, the Israeli Army - the army that claims to hold itself to a higher moral standard than other armies - executed as many as 1,000 Arab prisoners during the 1967 war. http://www.tvclip.biz/video/jo0yuWsF-vs/prisoners-massacre.html

to Observer and World Citizen: great posting. What is needed is an international museum and gallery of IDF and settlers crimes.

IDF soldiers for taking pictures of blingfolded pali's, what a FARCE !!!

"We were close enough to see the town mosque with the naked eye" Were you there? Or are you -- as usual -- plagiarizing again? Stop with the bullsh*t, already. You're a complete fraud, and everyone knows it. Have you NO pride?

The story of the Egyptian POWs is common knowledge in the outside world. People inside Israel have admitted it happened. Even Ynetnews has had articles about this event. Open the sites of the alleged killings up for examination by ground penetrating radar if you have nothing to fear.

observer, you have clearly never dug a grave. That is where the story becomes utterly ridiculous. To think a man can dig a grave, even a shallow one, in 15 minutes is beyond stupid. It fails the giggle test. The fact tha you join the crowd of mindless parrots that repeat this tale shows you for what you are: an antisemite, nothing more.

Article 3 the Geneva doctrines of 1949 state specifically that a prisoner of war includes “members of militia and members of other volunteer corps, including those of resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory…even if the prisoner professes allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the detaining power into whose hands he has fallen”.

The completed field equations of the general theory of relativity were first deduced by David Hilbert, a fact Einstein was forced to acknowledge in 1916, after he had plagiarized them from Hilbert in late 1915.

Einstein's theory of special relativity was published in 1905; as can be seen from his papers, he started working on his theory of general relativity as early as 1907. There is a reason that the theoretical basis is called the Einstein-Hilbert theory, rather than the other way around. You're no Einstein, habibi; you're just a plagiarist -- and a stupid one at that!