Henry Kissinger, the greatest figure in world diplomacy, died Wednesday at the age of 100, but he might not have lived to see the fall of the Soviet Union or the end of the Cold War if the plans of some former radical members of the Likud were avenged. , the Israeli right-wing party that heads the current Israeli governing coalition and is led by Benjamin Netanyahu.
As the website The Intercept recalls, Kissinger was so hated by the Likud party in the 1970s that some members tried to kill him, according to a report from the time.
The site cites a 1977 New York Daily News report that “a stubborn group of right-wing Israelis” had signed a $150,000 “contract” to assassinate Secretary of State Kissinger.”. The US newspaper then quoted senior State Department officials assuring that while initial reports of a possible attack on Kissinger pointed the finger at Palestinian militants, the threat actually emanated from the Likud party.
Described as “a small, radical dissident faction within the Likud”, the radicals are said to have been upset by Kissinger’s actions at the end of the 1973 Israeli-Arab war, when the American diplomat played a major role in the agreements of 1974 with Egypt and Syria. which led to Israel withdrawing from the areas it had conquered.
The 1973 war had led to an oil embargo by Arab states against the US and, as the Intercept recalls, Kissinger was prepared to make whatever deal was necessary to turn on the oil taps again – which the 1974 agreements reaches.
The Daily News reported in 1977 that this was the reason for the orchestrated revenge on Kissinger, for allegedly “betraying Israel’s interests” with his diplomatic action in the Middle East.
Likud denied the allegations at the time, as did the US State Department.
Reminds The Intercept that “although Kissinger achieved his short-term goal of ending the oil embargo and returning the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt,” Kissinger violated President Richard Nixon’s own directive to find a path to lasting peace in the Middle East, as he believed that a continued state of conflict and instability gave the US an advantage in the region.
Source: DN
