101. Transcript of Telephone Conversation Between Secretary of State Kissinger and Egyptian Foreign Minister Zayyat 1
K: Mr. Foreign Minister, sorry to disturb you. We have had a report, which does seem very reliable, and an appeal from the Israelis to the effect that your forces and the Syrian forces are planning attacks within the next several hours.
Z: Several hours?
K: Yes. We have been in touch with the Israelis. The Israelis have asked us to tell you of the seriousness and that they have no intention of attacking, so that if your preparations are caused by fear of an Israeli attack, they are groundless.
Z: Yes.
K: And on the other hand, if you are going to attack, they will take extremely strong measures. This is a message I am passing to you from Israel. I want to tell you I have just called the Israeli Minister and I have told him that if Israel attacks first we would take a very serious view of the situation and have told him on behalf of the United States that Israel must not attack, no matter what they think the provocation is.
Now, I would like to ask you, Mr. Foreign Minister, to communicate this to your Government.
Z: I will do that.
K: Urgently. And to ask them on our behalf to show restraint at a time when we are at last beginning to . . .
Z: I will do this immediately although I am very apprehensive that this is a pretext on the Israeli part.
K: If it is a pretext we will take a strong measure against them.
Z: Thanks for calling, and I will take care of this.
K: All right, Mr. Minister.2
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, Kissinger Telephone Conversations, Transcripts (Telcons), Chronological File, Box 22. No classification marking.↩
- At 7:35 a.m., Kissinger called Zayyat again and informed him that he had a reply from the Israelis to his request that they not initiate any military operations, and had received formal assurance that they would not launch an attack. (Ibid.) Printed in part in Kissinger, Crisis, p. 21.↩