[McNamara:] We had had a carrier group in the Med and fairly close to Israel, and we'd sent it on a training exercise toward Gibraltar. And then we thought the situation was so tense in Israel that perhaps the Syrians, fearing Israel would attack them, or the Russians supporting the Syrians might wish to redress the balance of power and might attack Israel. So we turned the carrier group around and sent it back toward Israel, not with any intention whatsoever of supporting an Israeli attack on Syria, or any Israel offensive moves whatsoever, but rather purely to be able to defend Israel in the event of further attacks on Israel.
McNamara certainly does not call Israel a "US proxy." The US gave little military aid to Israel in the LBJ years.I call a carrier group backing you up if you start to lose "military aid", but I may just be regressive.