No U.S. Airlift to Israel in 1973

I think lordroel raises one key point, the Isreali nuclear weapons. Another is that at the height of the cold war could the US has shown itself not supporting an ally who was the victim of an unprovoked attack? Especially given the political importance of the Jewish vote in the US and the fact they were already withdrawing from Vietnam.

Plus this is less than 30 years after WWII so I think it would be politically impossible to abandon a Jewish population to conquest, especially with the stated aim of the Arabs being to wipe the country off the map.

  Interesting link.  Its actually talking about a 1967 alternative where Israel is the subject of a well coordinating attack by its three main Arab neighbours and is overrun but has some parallels.  There is doubt raised about whether the Arabs could manage things that well, especially since it involves three separate armed forces.  I'm not sure whether Israel had a reliable nuclear force at that stage, especially in the face of possible Arab air superiority.

 

 I'm note sure if any other power would be willing and able to reinforce Israel, since it would involve alienating much of the Arab world and also standing against the USSR when the US wasn't.

  IIRC, when the 1st oil crisis started in 73 after the war the French were trying to get on good terms with the Arabs whereas the Dutch I think were the most openly opposed of the Europeans to accepting pressure from OPEC.  Talking a long time ago so could be remembering wrongly but pretty certain that was the case, although I can't remember what steps France took to distance itself from Israel.  However that does suggest that France wouldn't be a likely alternative to support Israel if the US didn't. 

  There's a danger of a wider nuclear war, which could be fairly high.  However it wouldn't be certain.  The ME would definitely be a mess however and any surviving Israeli state would be hated even more by the Arab/Muslim world.

  Checking the Aswan High Dam had been completed by that date but the resulant Lake Nasser wasn't completely filled until 1976.  So not sure of the impact if that was hit but could be very bad for much of Upper Egypt since that is pretty much a narrow valley. 

Did the Arabs actually have air superiority over Israel back in 1973, though?

IIRC the Israelis too heavy losses, in air and armour in attacking prepared defences due to Soviet supplied SAMs and AT missiles. OTL the Israelis adjusted and were able to defeat their opponents when the latter advanced beyond those prepared positions. How possible that might or might not be without US equipment replacements I don't know. However possibly that the Arab airforces could have gained air superiority over Isreal, which could have been very bad.