Leaked 1970 recording: Nasser told Gaddafi that Egypt washed its hands of the Palestinian issue, predicted Black September ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Sunday, April 27, 2025

Leaked 1970 recording: Nasser told Gaddafi that Egypt washed its hands of the Palestinian issue, predicted Black September

Nasser meeting Gaddafi at airport August 3, 1970 (screenshot)

Arabic media is buzzing about a newly released recording of an August 3, 1970 meeting between Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser and Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.

The recording was made only days before Egypt accepted the Rogers plan for a cease fire with Israel, and Nasser seems to explain his pragmatism while Gaddafi wants more war with Israel. Nasser expressed frustration that Egypt is bearing the brunt of wars with Israel and the Arab countries were not contributing their share, so he said Egypt only wants the Sinai back and let everyone else try to defeat Israel, which will not happen because "the Jews are smart."

Nasser also said that he was willing to lose 10 Egyptian soldiers for every Jew they kill.

Here is the part of the recording being transcribed in Arabic media:

Nasser’s Statement on Fighting and the Palestine Issue:
“If someone wants to fight, let them fight. If someone wants to struggle, let them struggle. But today, they say either all of Palestine from the river to the sea or nothing. What the Iraqis are saying means we’re giving the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza to the Jews, and within a year or two, all these areas will be Judaized. America supports Israel with its money and weapons. How will Iraq liberate [Palestine] with a budget of 70 million pounds? It would’ve been easier, my brother Muammar. And don’t think I accepted this decision for personal gain. I know the fedayeen might come to kill me, or some Palestinians might say about this issue that Abdel Nasser betrayed and surrendered on the Palestine issue. Even some Egyptians might believe this talk. I know what I’m doing. The Iraqis might incite people and say Abdel Nasser betrayed the cause, surrendered on Palestine, and recognized Israel’s existence, like what Hardan said, or like in 1954 when they said I betrayed in the evacuation agreement with the British because I gave them the right to keep a base for seven years. Someone shot at me back then, and Mohammed Naguib and others stood against the agreement. But the point was that the British were leaving the country, and here, personal matters don’t matter at all.”
Nasser on the Risk of Repeating 1948:
“Those who say we’ll liberate, we won’t liberate, and it’ll happen like in 1948. This is bitter talk, but who will liberate the West Bank? This means we’re giving the rest of Palestine to the Jews. Is that what’s wanted? Despite this, I say a peaceful solution is far off, meaning there needs to be a serious international situation to push America to pressure Israel, because America is the one in control of the matter to pressure Israel to withdraw. But a withdrawal without concessions? I don’t think that will happen.”
Nasser’s Call for Others to Fight:
“Those who want fighting and liberation, go ahead. Algeria, Syria, Iraq, Yasser Arafat, and George Habash, go ahead, meet, and we’ll boycott the meeting. Fight, and I’m ready to give you 50 million pounds in aid. Leave us alone, let us focus on our western front and Sinai.”
Nasser on the Global Challenge:
“My problem is I want to liberate the West Bank, to take back the land we lost in 1967, and then work to take back the land we lost in 1948. But to reach Tel Aviv against all the great powers, especially America, Russia, France, England, and the whole world that says Israel must keep this land because Israel is threatened by Arab aggression—that’s an international stance. It means we’d be fighting the whole world.”
Gaddafi’s Response and Nasser’s Counter:
Gaddafi responded: “So what, we’ll fight the whole world, and if we can’t survive, so be it.” Nasser replied: “No, the Jews are smarter than us. The Jews planned for 25 years. They took all of Palestine. In 1947, they took the partition; in 1948, they took more than the partition; in 1956, they took Sinai and annexed it, then gave it back to us; and in 1967, they took the rest of Palestine entirely and now say they must continue and take from the Nile to the Euphrates. We, as Arabs, always say either we do it today or it’s useless. We sit and plan, and my opinion now is if we can take this part, we take it regardless, and then we create situations to recover the rest. But how do you liberate Tel Aviv? The Jews are superior to us on land and in the air, despite all we’ve done and all we’ve spent. I’m not saying this because I’m defeatist. I’m saying if we want to achieve a goal, we must be realistic and know how to achieve it.”
Gaddafi on Military Mobilization and Nasser’s Response:
Gaddafi said: “We achieve it by mobilizing military force.” Nasser replied: “Mobilize, I’m not stopping anyone from mobilizing their military force. The two military forces that can mobilize are Iraq and [Algerian president] Boumediene, and they can spend. Mobilize these forces and give us 16 planes. I don’t want planes, I told Boumediene I don’t want planes, I want pilots. At the Rabat conference, I told them I want money and pilots. I need money to buy weapons; I have contracts, I’ll pay 25 million. I have planes that need pilots. He said, ‘I can’t give you pilots.’ We went to the Soviet Union, and they gave us pilots for the MiG-21s, the F13s. They said they’d give us 40, they gave us 16. Do you know how many planes we’ve lost from 1967 until now? 102 in training and battles. There’s no one-sided attrition; there’s attrition and counter-attrition. When I come to wear you down today, you also have to keep saying you’ll wear me down. When we decided on attrition, we knew the Jews would counter with attrition. We calculated and said we’d accept counter-attrition up to this: 10 Egyptians for one Jewish soldier, and that means we’re winning. Even if we kill one Jew and they kill 10 Egyptians, we’re satisfied with that. No one in the world sacrifices like this. But I could’ve sat like the Iraqis and not had a ceasefire. They all complained about the number of dead and wounded on the Canal front. Talk is very easy, saying we’ll mobilize our forces. We’ve been talking about this since 1948, it’s not the first time, and no one has done anything. I have a suggestion: go to Baghdad and try. We’re staying out of it, we’re the ones for the defeatist peaceful solution, and I can bear that with a clear conscience. Go ahead, those who want to fight, let them fight. Aren’t you saying this is an Arab battle?”
Nasser on Egypt’s Focus on Sinai:
“We won’t act on anything, and we’ll agree to talk only about Sinai. We have no business with the Palestine issue, secure borders, or anything else. We’ll talk only about Sinai. Let them leave Sinai and the borders, and whatever help you want from us, we’ll help you with. It’s like throwing him into the sea and saying, ‘Don’t get wet.’ You hold us, throw us into the sea, and say, ‘Don’t get wet.’ Now the situation is like this: we’re the only ones fighting, and you tell us, ‘Go ahead, fight.’ You’ll fight the Jews, they’ll hit you, and then you’ll fight us along with the Jews.”

Palestinian Fedayeen and Jordan’s Crisis (not in Arabic media)

Nasser predicted the Black September uprising in Jordan the next month: “They’re planning now to stage a coup in Jordan. I wish, I wish the fedayeen would take responsibility in Jordan. Of course, they’ll clash with King Hussein, but if they took power, they’d be people facing reality, with responsibilities ahead of them. How would they liberate the West Bank?”

In 1967, some 15,000 Egyptian soldiers were killed, compared to about 800 Israelis, of whom maybe 500-600 were killed on the Egyptian front, so the ratio was way beyond the 10-1 ratio that Egypt would have been happy with - closer to 20-1.

Nasser's claim of losing 102 aircraft only refers to the War of Attrition after the Six Day War, since Egypt lost about 400 planes during that war. Israel lost about 25 planes during the War of Attrition.

The recording seems legitimate, since Nasser's son says it is and he published it on his own news site. The rest of his family say that Nasser never abandoned his support for Palestinians.

There appear to be some other details from the recording not mentioned in Arab media. Nasser also expressed concern that Israel considers the West Bank to be Israeli land, not occupied: "“The Jews in Sinai can’t take anything from it. The West Bank, I mean, there are more than a million people in the West Bank, they’ll be finished. And the Arab land in Jerusalem, Tel Qarm, Hebron, Nablus, Bethlehem, all this talk, it’s all different. And the Israelis’ words, I read their statements, they want this land, they consider it their homeland, not occupied land. One of them stood up and said,‘We can’t say this is occupied land, this is our land,’ and those who say it’s occupied are liars.'”