Eisenhower and the 1956 Suez Crisis: When a U.S. President Stopped a Mideast War

The world’s attention has certainly been grabbed by this anomaly, even more so than with the Ukraine crisis.  There are meetings and conferences to organize a ceasefire, with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting coming up this weekend, and the fact that there are various UN officials speaking out, memos of opposition to Biden’s policy from administration officials in the State Department and the Agency for International Development.  Most interestingly, one of the leading U.N. Human Rights officials, Craig Mokhiber, resigned.  He talked about the impotence of the United Nations when it comes to protecting human rights.

There is a real potential for a strategic shift today, with large demonstrations around the world.  People are becoming aware of this; they’re definitely focused on the unfolding of the tragedy, a great tragedy, which shows that the Netanyahu regime places more value on a piece of real estate than on children’s lives.  That’s now being seen through social media, even through some of the media coverage; even in the United States it’s getting through.  There’s a lot of talk, and a lot of potential for a change.

However, there’s a problem.  Netanyahu is not going to stop doing what he’s doing.  He’s made it clear.  Under pressure he agreed to a 3-4 hour pause every day to let aid go through.  What happens during the other 20 hours of the day?  Relentless pounding, hitting hospitals, more children injured and killed.  This is defended now by Israeli officials who say the hospitals are used by Hamas as shields to protect their operations.  Netanyahu has made clear that they’re going to continue this until they completely wipe out Hamas.  He also said that Israel does not have an intention of displacing people.  How can he say that when already more than a million people have been displaced?  Not only displaced from their homes, but sent into areas where they then become targets for bombs, missiles, and now the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).  There’s a complete fraud coming from Netanyahu on this, which is not surprising.

People who know him, we’ve quoted Leah Rabin on this; she said he’s a criminal, a murderer, he can’t be trusted.  Even former Prime Minister Olmert came out and said that Netanyahu’s focus, while he talks about security and defense, it was under his watch that the security and defense was overcome by the Hamas attack. Olmert added that Netanyahu’s intent is to use the war to stay in office.  There will be a phase one, a phase two, a phase three, maybe phase infinity, to keep the war going so that he can say, “You have to keep me in power for security.”  He’s made it clear there will be no ceasefire, just these humanitarian pauses, which have maybe limited value, but with the onslaught continuing, that’s the best that he’s going to offer.  And his ultimate goal is that of the Greater Israel fanatics, the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, the removal of the Palestinians from Israel.

Now, what about the United States?  Well, Blinken was just on tour, and when he was confronted — whether by King Abdullah of Jordan, Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority; everywhere he went, including the G-7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting, he reasserted “No ceasefire.  Israel should do what it needs to do.”  This is, of course, Biden’s policy, or whoever it is who is making Biden’s policy, which includes the people who are behind Blinken.  When Biden was asked about the chances for an end to the hostilities — in other words, a ceasefire — he said, “None.  No possibility.”  Then he said he is pushing for a pause in the fighting.  So, the blatant hypocrisy of Biden is on display, but it just adds to the sense of impotence and anger in the world.  The total discrediting of institutions such as the UN, the United States, the European countries that are continuing to support this; that hypocrisy which has deadly effects, is seen by everyone.

So, what can be done to stop the killing, to prevent the prospect of an escalation to a larger regional war?  I want to take a brief look at what happened one time before when a US President stood up and put his foot down and said we will not support this kind of war.  That happened in 1956; the President was Dwight Eisenhower.  It occurred around the Suez Canal crisis.

Brits, French Target Nasser

What occurred then was that the President of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser, was a committed anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist; not just for Egypt, but had a mobilization internationally.  He worked with Sukarno and Nehru to create the Non-Aligned Movement.  He was denouncing the French for their attacks on the Algerian liberation forces trying to decolonize Algeria.  Nasser was also at the same time trying to build up the national economy of Egypt.  One of the projects was the upgrading of the Aswan Dam.  The United States had at one point made a pledge to provide money to help that happen.  But it was pulled back; probably because of John Foster Dulles, maybe Allen Dulles, and others in the Eisenhower administration, who pulled back the money and said they were not going to fund it.  At that point, Nasser saw no alternative but to nationalize the Suez Canal; to take it over as something that should have been in Egypt’s control in any case.