>Yadlin recalled the lead-up to the 1967 war, which he said was provoked by the Soviet Ambassador in Israel. > >Can anyone offer some views?
This is elaborated upon further down in the memo where it states:
"Recalling the 1967 war, Yadlin commented that it had started as a result of the Soviet Ambassador in Israel reporting on non-existing Israeli preparations to attack Syria."
What the ambassador doesn't explain is that this all played into Israel's deception plan to trick Nasser into making a move. Israel had 'signaled' that it was getting ready to attack Syria, and the Soviets bought it, as did Nasser's own intelligence service, who both told him that Israel was on the verge of attacking Syria. This was a bluff -- there was no intention to attack Syria. Note that the ambassador confirms this. The intention was to hold off on Syria, while raising the tension. It was a trap to make it more difficult for Nasser to do nothing in the face of Israeli provocations. Nasser's problem was that, as the putative leader of the Arab bloc, he was in a dangerous spot anyway: continued inaction in response to Israeli provocations against any Arab state would open him to further charges of being a coward.
This is all better explained than I can do in the third volume of Alan Hart's series on Zionism, pages 40 - 44.
Edit: for clarity.