[In memory of my teacher Zev Almog, H.y.d., Dean of the Israeli Naval Academy in Acre (Acco). Zev Almog, 74 years old, was slaughtered together with his wife, son and two grandchildren by a 29-year-old female attorney suicide bomber.]
Thirty years after the terrible war that, had it not been for HaShem?s mercy on the Jewish people, could have been the end of the Jewish state, we must ask ourselves: What have the leadership learned from that war? Can we truthfully say that it will not happen again? Will Israel never be surprised by its enemies again?
Let us not fool ourselves into believing that Israel was caught by surprise in October 1973. The truth is known: the leaders of Israel at that time ? Prime Minister Golda Meir, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, and IDF Chief of Staff David (?Dado?) Elazar ? had more than exact intelligence, which pointed to the planned attack by Egypt and Syria. Both had plainly concentrated their entire armies along the borders, and all the Russian advisers and their families were evacuated from those countries days before the war.
The Israel leaders chose to ignore all the signs and warnings.
?Why?? one might ask. There are basically two reasons: first ? that they were so intoxicated with victory after the incredible miracles of the 1967 Six Day War, which saw the return of the Temple Mount, all the land as far as the Jordan River, the whole Sinai and the Golan. Their ?conception? was that the Arabs wouldn?t dare try it again; and second ? the eternal ?what will the goyim say?? The leaders of the State of Israel decided that Israel would look bad in the eyes of the world if Israel were to make a pre-emptive strike on the Arab armies who were about to attack. Even worse: they decided not even to call up the reservists.
In October 1973, the IDF was caught totally unprepared for the major attack, which took the Arabs weeks of on-the-ground and plain-to-see mobilization, and months of behind-the-scenes planning. And what was the excuse for this criminal negligence that caused the death of thousands of Israelis and almost ended the Zionist dream in the Land of Israel? Good PR, not to look like an aggressor in the eyes of the world.
Has the lesson been learned? Or have the current leaders adopted the brainless ways of the leaders of ?73? Everyone knows that the Arab motive in the ?peace? plan is to destroy Israel one way or another. Egypt allows the ?Palestinians? free passage to smuggle arms into Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority obviously allows (supports) outright terrorist organizations, which work out of areas under their control. Time is working to their advantage. But again, the leaders of the State of Israel don?t want to look bad in the eyes of the world. ?If we do this America will be upset?; ?If we do that Europe will be in uproar?. So instead, we sit back quietly, watching as Jewish families are butchered in restaurants and busses in the Jewish State, while at the same time, the Arabs are planning our destruction. What good will all the hasbara and PR do when we are gone?
While all of this is happening, the ?Israeli? Arabs are winning a war of demographics. They simply have more babies than the Jews do. And again, we don?t want to look bad in the eyes of the world, so we don?t dare address the problem realistically. Like an ostrich, we tend to stick our heads in the ground and hope that our problems will go away.
The Yom Kippur War, and Jewish history in general, have proven that it doesn?t work that way. When the Jews are threatened, if they don?t act, they are hit. We must understand that we are not subservient to America, but rather subjects of HaShem.
Bombing terrorist bases in Syria is fine, but why are the terrorist bases in Jenin, Shechem and Kfar Kana not being bombed from the air? Do Arab terrorists in Israel have immunity? They are the bases that the Arab terrorists are surfacing from to kill Jews in Israel. Expelling Arafat is also ineffective, he too should be buried under the debris of his headquarters.
Thirty years after the terrible war that, had it not been for HaShem?s mercy on the Jewish people, could have been the end of the Jewish state, we must ask ourselves: What have the leadership learned from that war? Can we truthfully say that it will not happen again? Will Israel never be surprised by its enemies again?
Let us not fool ourselves into believing that Israel was caught by surprise in October 1973. The truth is known: the leaders of Israel at that time ? Prime Minister Golda Meir, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, and IDF Chief of Staff David (?Dado?) Elazar ? had more than exact intelligence, which pointed to the planned attack by Egypt and Syria. Both had plainly concentrated their entire armies along the borders, and all the Russian advisers and their families were evacuated from those countries days before the war.
The Israel leaders chose to ignore all the signs and warnings.
?Why?? one might ask. There are basically two reasons: first ? that they were so intoxicated with victory after the incredible miracles of the 1967 Six Day War, which saw the return of the Temple Mount, all the land as far as the Jordan River, the whole Sinai and the Golan. Their ?conception? was that the Arabs wouldn?t dare try it again; and second ? the eternal ?what will the goyim say?? The leaders of the State of Israel decided that Israel would look bad in the eyes of the world if Israel were to make a pre-emptive strike on the Arab armies who were about to attack. Even worse: they decided not even to call up the reservists.
In October 1973, the IDF was caught totally unprepared for the major attack, which took the Arabs weeks of on-the-ground and plain-to-see mobilization, and months of behind-the-scenes planning. And what was the excuse for this criminal negligence that caused the death of thousands of Israelis and almost ended the Zionist dream in the Land of Israel? Good PR, not to look like an aggressor in the eyes of the world.
Has the lesson been learned? Or have the current leaders adopted the brainless ways of the leaders of ?73? Everyone knows that the Arab motive in the ?peace? plan is to destroy Israel one way or another. Egypt allows the ?Palestinians? free passage to smuggle arms into Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority obviously allows (supports) outright terrorist organizations, which work out of areas under their control. Time is working to their advantage. But again, the leaders of the State of Israel don?t want to look bad in the eyes of the world. ?If we do this America will be upset?; ?If we do that Europe will be in uproar?. So instead, we sit back quietly, watching as Jewish families are butchered in restaurants and busses in the Jewish State, while at the same time, the Arabs are planning our destruction. What good will all the hasbara and PR do when we are gone?
While all of this is happening, the ?Israeli? Arabs are winning a war of demographics. They simply have more babies than the Jews do. And again, we don?t want to look bad in the eyes of the world, so we don?t dare address the problem realistically. Like an ostrich, we tend to stick our heads in the ground and hope that our problems will go away.
The Yom Kippur War, and Jewish history in general, have proven that it doesn?t work that way. When the Jews are threatened, if they don?t act, they are hit. We must understand that we are not subservient to America, but rather subjects of HaShem.
Bombing terrorist bases in Syria is fine, but why are the terrorist bases in Jenin, Shechem and Kfar Kana not being bombed from the air? Do Arab terrorists in Israel have immunity? They are the bases that the Arab terrorists are surfacing from to kill Jews in Israel. Expelling Arafat is also ineffective, he too should be buried under the debris of his headquarters.