Egypt radio announcer who claimed troops had reached Tel Aviv in 1967 dies
Ahmed Said told Egyptians their air force had downed dozens of Israeli jets; in fact, Israel had destroyed Nasser’s planes on the tarmac
CAIRO — The radio announcer who claimed Egyptian troops had reached Tel Aviv when they had actually suffered a crushing defeat in the Six Day War with Israel has died at the age of 93.
Ahmed Said, who died Monday, worked for the Voice of the Arabs, a Cairo-based station used by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser to whip up Arab nationalism.
During the 1967 war, Said told listeners that Egypt had shot down dozens of Israeli warplanes. In reality, Israel had destroyed nearly all of Egypt’s air force on the tarmac.
In just six days, Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria.
He resigned as the radio station’s director that September.
Said was buried Tuesday, the 51st anniversary of the start of the war on June 5.
Palestinians commemorate the date annually, known as the “Naksa” in Arabic, or setback, and it is usually marked by rallies, protests, and often confrontations between Palestinians and IDF troops in the West Bank and Gaza.
Officials in Israel had feared this year’s Naksa Day commemoration could see a return to recent violent protests on the Gaza border, though military officials now believe Gazans will wait until Friday, when major protests have been held for the past two months, to show up at the border in large numbers.
Nonetheless, extra troops were deployed along the border Tuesday in case large-scale protests break out, according to reports in Hebrew-language media.
Since March 30 there have been weekly clashes at the Gaza border as part of the so-called “March of Return” protests, which had been originally planned to culminate with a mass attempt to breach the border fence in mid-May to mark Nakba Day, commemorating Palestinian dispossession during the war for Israel’s founding in 1948. Over 110 Gazans have been killed and thousands more injured by Israeli gunfire and tear gas.
Israel says it is defending the border from attempts by Gazans to damage or breach the Gaza fence, and accuses the Hamas terror group of using the unrest as cover to carry out attacks. At least half of those killed have been identified as members of Hamas or other terror groups.
