On October 6th, in 1973, 39 years ago today, Egypt and Syria launched a co-ordinated attack against Israel. It was Yom Kippur ~ Israel's (Judaism's) Holiest day ~ a day of Atonement & Affliction. And it was One affliction Israel did not immediately expect. Israelis were davening in Synagogue, imploring Ha'Shems mercies for the year to come, and forgiveness for the year just past. The Yom Kippur War began with a joint surprise attack by our Arab enemy when Egypt and Syria crossed ceasefire lines to enter Israel in the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights. The war began with a massive and successful Egyptian attack across the heavily-fortified Suez Canal during the first three days, after which they dug in, settling into a stalemate. In the north, the Syrians attacked the Golan Heights at the same time and initially made threatening gains against the greatly outnumbered defenders, but their momentum waned.
Egypt and Syria's coordinated surprise attack against Israel was immense. The equivalent of the total forces of NATO in Europe were mobilized on Israel's borders. On the Golan Heights, approximately 180 Israeli tanks faced an onslaught of 1,400 Syrian tanks. Along the Suez Canal, 436 Israeli defenders were attacked by 80,000 Egyptians. At least nine Arab states, including four non-Middle Eastern nations, actively aided the Egyptian-Syrian war effort. Thrown onto the defensive during the first two days of fighting, Israel mobilized its reserves and eventually repulsed the invaders and carried the war deep into Syria and Egypt. The Arab states were swiftly resupplied by sea and air from the Soviet Union, which rejected American efforts to work toward an immediate ceasefire. As a result, the United States belatedly began its own airlift to Israel ... typically, way too belated to matter at all!!
Within a week, Israel recovered and launched a four-day counter offensive, driving deep into Syria itself. Two weeks later, Egypt was saved from a disastrous defeat by the UN Security Council, which had failed to act while the tide was in the Arabs' favour. The Soviet Union showed no interest in initiating peacemaking efforts while it looked like the Arabs might win. The same was true for Anti Semitic UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim. (Waldheim's service with a World War II German army unit guilty of war crimes in the Balkans resulted in his being barred from entering the United States after his election as President of Austria). On October 22nd, the Security Council adopted Resolution 338 calling for "all parties to the present fighting to cease all firing and terminate all military activity immediately." The vote came on the day that Israeli forces cut off and isolated the Egyptian Third Army and were in a position to destroy it. We had turned the situation right around, the Egyptians went back on the offensive, but were decisively defeated ~ the IDF then counterattacked at the seam between two Egyptian armies, crossed the Suez Canal, and advanced southward and westward in over a week of heavy fighting. Victory at hand.
Victory for Israel meant between 2,520 and 2,800 killed in action. An additional 7,250 soldiers were wounded. Some 293 Israelis were captured. Approximately 400 Israeli tanks were destroyed. Another 600 were disabled. The Israeli Air Force lost 102 aircraft & two helicopters were also shot down. But Victory is Victory!!!!
Defeat in this war humiliated the Arab world .... let's remember this, & how our Arab enemy issued the "three no's", resolving that there would be "no peace, no recognition and no negotiation with Israel". They haven't changed their minds, just their strategy. Why have we changed ours?? Let's remember our forthrightness under Ha'Shem & our astounding victory in battle this Yom Kippur & may it lead to a decisive change in our Strategy in our present 'peace' negotiations. Appeasment Never Works!!!!
What lessons are still to be learned from a war Israel fought 39 years ago today?
The current wave of Blatant Anti-Semitism & Anti-Israel demonization in Europe and elsewhere was prefigured then, in the months after the Yom Kippur War. The Arab oil boycott turned Israel into a pariah ~ fewer countries had diplomatic relations with the Jewish state than with the PLO, which didn’t even pretend to seek anything but Israel’s destruction. The UN General Assembly gave a standing ovation to Yasser Arafat, who wore a pistol to the session and preached the destruction of a UN member state, the Jewish State of Israel. This war taught Israel that it must be ever-vigilant in terms of intelligence and that it must rebuild deterrence to avoid enemy countries attacking again.
Zionism was supposed to represent Jews’ final strategy for acceptance, ending their status as a ghost people haunting the nations, as Zionist Leo Pinsker put it. But, not only has Zionism failed to win Jews acceptance, Zionism itself has become the pretext for the latest assault on Jewish legitimacy. Why does every attempt to create a normal Jewish relationship with the world seem to fail? Because we are seeking to please International opinion into accepting the Jewish State of Israel on Equal terms. I don't think they will ever do this. Ever, except over our dead bodies. Destruction of Judaism .... that is the world's Desire, this Yom Kippur, as last Yom Kippur, as Yom Kippur 1973!!
Yom Kippur, a day of introspection for Jews, also a day of remembrance for our personal dead, will also always be a day of remembrance for those who died keeping Israel safe on its holiest day. Why do the Goyim always pick our Holidays to attack ... No Respect for Ha'Shem, in fact a Hatred for Him and His holy Torah. And the people of His Torah ..... Jews!!
Despite the Israel Defence Forces' ultimate success on the battlefield, the war is somehow considered a diplomatic and military failure. The only possible 'fail' I can identify is that Israel SHOULD HAVE GONE ON TO CRUSH THE ARAB STATES AND RECLAIM ALL LAND THAT HAS BEEN BEQUEATHED TO B'NEI YISRAEL BY HASHEM. Leadership 'failed' then ... as now.
"in military terms Israel would recognize its achievement in the war as having few historic parallels. Reeling from a surprise attack on two fronts with the bulk of its army still unmobilized, and confronted by staggering new battlefield realities, Israel's situation was one that could readily bring strong nations to their knees. Yet, within days, it had regained its footing and in less than two weeks it was threatening both enemy capitals, an achievement having few historical parallels. Israel faced not just the Egyptian and Syrian armies but much of the Arab world, and did so with the arm it had most relied on, the air force, tied behind its back. As a military feat, the IDF’s performance in the Yom Kippur War dwarfed that in the Six Day War. Victory emerged from motivation that came from the deepest layers of the nation’s being and from basic military skills that compensated for the grave errors of leadership" ~ Abraham Rabinovich, 'The Yom Kippur War' p. 498.
"The removal of all Arabs who refuse to accept the exclusive, unquestioned Jewish sovereignty over Eretz Yisrael is not only logical and normal for any Jew with a modicum of an instinct for self-preservation; it is also the Jewish halakic obligation. It is important that we know this in order to realize what true “Jewishness” really dictates and in order to instill in ourselves the faith and assurance that if we do this, all the nations in the world will be incapable of harming Israel.
The Jewish people are not merely one more nation. "Though I put an end to all the nations among whom thou art scattered, but I will never put an end to thee" (Yirmayahu 30:11). Israel is indestructible. It is unique, it is holy, it is the Chosen of Ha'Shem, it has a reason for being. Its national uniqueness is built on an idea, on an ideology, that it alone has. The Jew is selected and obligated to be a religio-nation, commanded to obey the laws and follow the path of Torah. The Covenant. The Jewish people took upon itself the yoke of Ha'Shem, acknowledging Him as G*d and observing His laws. The Almighty chose them as His unique people, pledging that they would be indestructible and would live in peace and prosperity in their own land, Eretz Yisrael".
~ Rabbi Meir Kehane, 'They Must Go' ~
A NEW Documentary by Israeli Filmaker Yuval Delshad ~ I've only watched this part, which is one of three.
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