Egypt ex-prez Nasser’s stunning admission before death: "The Jews are superior to us"

A new recording of the legendary Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, published in the past 24 hours, is causing a ruckus in Egypt. In the recording, Abdel Nasser, who was known in Egypt as an uncompromising fighter against Israel, expresses defeatism against Israel and a willingness to compromise with it in order to regain the Sinai, conquered by Israel in the Six-Day War, and harshly criticizes Arab calls for an all-out war against Israel.

The recording, which was published by Nasser TV on YouTube and distributed by many media outlets, is dated to August 1970, less than two months before Nasser died of a heart attack, on September 28 of that year. It came from a meeting with then-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi which he recorded. In interviews with the Egyptian media, Abdel Nasser's children verified the authenticity of the recording.

"The Jews are smarter than us," he is heard saying in the recording. "The Jews are superior to us in everything, better than us on land and better than us at sea, despite everything we have done and everything we have invested. I'm not saying this because I'm a defeatist, I'm saying this because if we want to achieve a goal, we have to be realistic and understand how to achieve it."

"If someone wants to fight, let him fight. But today the Iraqis tell us, all of Palestine from the river to the sea, or nothing. It's as if we're giving the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza to the Jews, and within a year or two all these areas will become Jewish and won't come back," he is heard saying in the recording.

Abdel Nasser also cast doubt that the Arab states have the military capability to confront Israel. "How will Iraq release it with a budget of 70 million pounds for the army? It's not possible. Israel bought its weapons for 400 million pounds in one day, and that's all they announced."

When Gaddafi suggested that he use military force, Abdel Nasser responded: "You are welcome to mobilize the forces, is someone preventing you from doing this? Did I prevent anyone? I didn't prevent anyone." He later added: "I have a suggestion – go to Baghdad and try to fight against Israel. We will stay away from this entire operation. Leave us alone, we will choose a non-violent, submissive, defeatist solution. I am able to accept it with a clear conscience."

"We have no interest in the Palestinian issue, nor in secure borders, nor in anything. We will only talk about Sinai, that they will leave Sinai and the borders, and there will be an agreement." He added.

Abdel Nasser was highly critical of the hawkish stance of the Arab states, which he said demanded victims only from Egypt. "Right now, your position is this: We're the only ones fighting, and you're telling us – keep fighting. Fight the Jews and they will beat you, but we, we will fight against you together with the Jews," he said in the recording.