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Former President Richard Nixon demonstrated an absolute commitment to Israel’s security, in contrast to the current administration’s stance, Ben Stein told Newsmax on Tuesday.
Stein, whose book “The Peacemaker, Nixon: The Man, President and My Friend” has just been published, described on Newsmax’s “Newsline” the extent to which Nixon was dedicated to making sure the Israeli army recovered from the surprise attack by Egypt and Syria in the opening days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
Stein, an economist and former presidential speechwriter, said that the Arab forces had advanced Soviet anti-aircraft missiles that decimated the superior Israeli air force and negated the Israeli advantage at the beginning of the war.
The Israelis requested that the U.S. provide black boxes that could jam the Soviet missiles, but the Defense Department refused, Stein said. Nixon demanded that officials at the Defense Department immediately send the black boxes the Israelis needed, even staying on the phone until he was sure the equipment was on its way to Tel Aviv.
Stein said that once the Israelis had received the equipment that could jam the anti-aircraft missiles, the Israeli army was able to turn the tide against both the Syrians and Egyptians.
This led to a situation where Israeli forces pushed forward on their way to Cairo, with the Soviets warning the Americans they would send paratroops to defend Egypt.
Nixon, according to Stein, stood his ground and told the Soviets that if they did that the U.S. would raise the Defcon level to one stage before nuclear war, forcing them to back down.
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Ben Stein
Brian Freeman | editorial.freeman@newsmax.com
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.