Harvest of the Lean Years

The bilateral relations between the United States and Israel during the four years preceding the Suez War were crucial factors in Israel’s decision to go to war. Once Israel had come to perceive the United States as an unreliable guarantor of its survival, the range of its options narrowed dramatically. Devoid of U.S support, and faced with existential dangers, Israel decided against continued diplomatic passivity, grabbed at the straw-promise of the Anglo-French alliance and opted for war.