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Another Thing. Robin Day, the shrewd British interviewer who asked the questions for Britain's ITN, wanted to know how Nasser reconciled his stand against Communism at home with his overseas dealing with Russia. "Well," said the dictator, "local Communism is illegal, but dealing with Russia is another thing." Confronted with a direct question on Egyptian policy toward Israel—whether he really wanted to see its destruction as a state—Nasser tried desperately to fight his way between the Charybdis of a yes that would please Arabs and the Scylla of a no that would mollify the West. "There is a difference," he said, squirming visibly, "between the rights of Palestine Arabs and the destruction of Israel. We cannot gamble a big war." Then, said Day, "is it right that you now accept permanent existence of Israel as an independent sovereign state?"
"Well, you know—" said Nasser, "you know you are jumping to conclusions."
"No," said Day, "I am asking a question."
Hate America. The answer could only be found by tuning in on the Voice of the Arabs.
Linking Israel, the U.S. and Jordan's King Hussein together as common villains is Nasser's latest propaganda device to try to win the Arab masses. "Brethren in Arabism, brethren in Palestine," cried Cairo's Voice of the Arabs, "imagine all these things which imperialism wishes for you, American imperialism itself. Imagine it is not only intended to scatter one million Palestine Arab refugees, but the intention today is to kill them and annihilate them completely . . . Brethren, imagine your fate after [they] hand you over to your American enemy to annihilate you . . ."
Americans in Cairo could not remember a time when hatred was so directed at them. Day after day Cairo's kept newspapers accuse the U.S. of plotting with Israel and Jordan's young King Hussein to sell out the Arab refugees, to push French massacres in Algeria, to threaten the world with atomic disaster. Street stands are cluttered with paperback tracts such as one called This Is America, with a cover picture of Eisenhower as the Statue of Liberty, holding a gallows rope instead of a torch.
And as the defeated Nasser struggles to free himself from isolation, the very U.S. intervention which saved him last November is now baldly distorted. During the Suez invasion, said one Egyptian newspaper last week, it was the U.S. naval attache in Port Said who gave signals to the attacking French and British bombers to guide them to their targets.