30 October 1956-UK and France Enter the Second Arab-Israeli War

By the morning of 30 October, 1956, Israeli troops were deep in the Sinai, steadily pushing the Egyptian forces westward towards the Suez Canal. The United States introduced a resolution in the UN Security Council, calling for an immediate cease fire and a withdrawal of both Egyptian and Israeli forces to the armistice lines drawn after the conclusion of the First Arab-Israeli War of 1948-49. When the vote in the Security Council was called, France and the United Kingdom vetoed the resolution. Since both were permanent members of the UN, their vetoes killed the cease fire motion. The Soviet Union then introduced a similar resolution, which was also vetoed by France and the UK. These vetoes alarmed the US, and also provided more evidence that both countries were somehow involved in the military action taking place in Sinai.


President Eisenhower was concerned over the lack of intelligence on French and British intentions in the Egyptian-Israeli conflict. Ike was so much in the dark that he speculated that “the hand of Churchill” rather than of Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden, might be behind the British Suez adventure, since it was “in the mid-Victorian style”. (For the President’s Eyes Only, p. 233). Shortly after 10 that morning, an erroneous report came in that British and French forces were about to land at Suez. The report was wrong, but it was eerily prophetic, as an invasion of Egypt and France was part of the British/French/Israeli plot. After Eisenhower received the report of the landing, he drafted a message to Prime Minister Eden, stating that “the UK and U.S. quickly and clearly lay our their present views and intentions before each other”. Ike went further in the message, confronting Eden with some of the intelligence the U.S. had regarding the French and British build up of aircraft on Cyprus and in Israel, and the fact that the day before Israel invaded the Sinai, NSA reported a sharp spike in encrypted traffic between Paris and Tel Aviv.

Eisenhower’s message to Eden reached London just as Eden was addressing Parliament on the current crisis. Eden then stated that Paris and London were presenting an ultimatum to both Israel and Egypt to withdraw ten miles from the Suez Canal within 12 hours, and then permit Anglo-French occupation of key points along the Canal. The ultimatum, coupled with the previous veto of the UN Security Council cease fire resolution, showed that all three countries were in collusion. Israel said it would comply, but Egypt refused.

When news of the ultimatum reached Eisenhower, he exploded into one of his famous rages. The persona of the grinning, amiable Ike was for public consumption, but in reality he was a coldly calculating, firm leader who truly despised being double-crossed. As the ultimatum was read out, Eisenhower erupted with a string of curses, and then placed an immediate phone call to Prime Minister Eden. When the call was completed, it went to Eden’s press secretary by mistake. Eisenhower, thinking he was talking to Eden, poured forth his invective, concluding with “Anthony, I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing, but you’ve gone out of your fucking mind!”