Former Deputy Special Assistant to President Nixon, Bruce Herschensohn discussed how the 37th President would have handled the current conflict in the Middle East and Israel’s dealings with the Palestinian Authority. Topics covered included RN’s policy position during the 1973 Yom Kippur War and his efforts to restore peace in the region.
Today, “I am convinced that he [Richard Nixon] would support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu all the way,” said Herschensohn. During the Yom Kippur War, “he gave 27 thousand tons of military equipment to Israel in a flash. He told his Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, ‘whatever they want, send anything we have that flies.’ All of that brought about a statement from Golda Meir – who was the Prime Minister at the time… in her later years she said that President Nixon was the best friend Israel ever had in the White House.”
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Photo courtesy of Corbis images: RN welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir to the White House in September 1969.