George Brown and British Policy Towards Israel in the Aftermath of the Six-day War

Abstract

In the aftermath of the Six-Day War (5–10 June 1967), Britain’s foreign secretary, George Brown, invested significant efforts in improving Britain’s relations with Egypt as part of his strategy to restore Britain’s standing in the Arab world and protect British economic and geostrategic interests in the Middle East. The unavoidable result of this policy was the worsening of relations between Britain and Israel, which blamed the British Foreign Office of adopting a deliberate pro-Arab and anti-Israel policy. The growing tension between the two countries developed into a personal confrontation between the Israeli prime minister and the British foreign secretary, who was regarded in Israel as the chief architect of the change of British policy in the region.