During the famous "Six Day War" fought during June of 1967 against neighboring Arab countries, the Israeli infantry was armed with the FN FAL rifle chambered for the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge. The weapon was in widespread use among non-communist nations during that period. Their opponents during that conflict were primarily armed with Soviet designed 7.62x39mm AK-47 and AKM assault rifles. Prior to the war, the Israeli's were well aware of the limitations of the FN FAL in a desert environment, which was subject to jamming from ingesting the very fine sand found in the deserts of the region. The Israeli's discovered during the Six Day War what Americans were learning in Vietnam; despite its crude appearance the AK rifle was an effective and reliable weapon. The Galil rifle was developed by Israel Galil who was a weapon designer at Israeli Military Industries. Early prototype weapons were manufactured using components from the Finnish 7.62x39 M62 employing the basic Kalashnikov operating system. The Galil family of assault rifles were based on a forged/milled receiver. The rotating bolt system is used and locks the bolt into recesses machined into the receiver. The internal fire control components housed inside of the receiver are also patterned after the Kalashnikov design. The hammer spring is a durable multi-strand design, while the trigger and sear springs are of a conventional design. The large Kalashnikov type selector lever is located on the right side of the receiver, but there is also a smaller thumb-operated selector lever on the left side near the pistol grip. Weapons destined for Israeli military service have the selector markings depicted in Hebrew characters. Selector positions on Galil rifles produced for export are marked S A R representing S-Safe, A-Full-automatic and R-Repetition. The full-automatic cyclic rate is from 630 to 700 rounds per minute, depending on the ammunition. The Israeli Defense forces adopted the Galil assault rifle during 1972, chambered for the m193 5.56x45mm cartridge. 

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The following is quoted from the publication "AK-47, The Grim Reaper" By Frank Iannamico