Summary
The United States’ representative in Israel in 1948-1951, whose memoir My Mission in Israel 1948-1951 (1951) is a principal source in Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace for the Anglo-American ultimatum that forced Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai at the end of 1948 and for Israel’s privately declared Western orientation (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.108-109).
Details
- McDonald recounts delivering Washington’s cable transmitting Britain’s threat to invoke its 1936 treaty with Egypt and enter the war unless Israeli troops withdrew from Egyptian soil, a cable sent in the President’s name using phrases such as “grave consequences”, “review of our attitude” and “no desire to act drastically if” (My Mission in Israel 1948-1951, pp.116-117, quoted at PDF p.108).
- He read the paraphrase to Sharett, who took it down word for word, white-faced, and conveyed it to Ben-Gurion in Tiberias and to the president; the first withdrawal order was issued the day the cable arrived and by Sunday, January 2nd, “not an Israeli hoof remained in Egypt” (Ibid., pp.117-124, quoted at PDF p.109).
- His memoir also records a high Israeli official telling Knox in confidence: “The United States has a firm friend in the State of Israel, which is oriented toward the West politically and culturally …” (Ibid., p.88, quoted at PDF p.113).
Related pages
Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, Yitzhak Sadeh, Moshe Sharett, Non-alignment