Israel must awaken from post-Yom Kippur syndrome

Ha'aretz ^ | Friday, October 11, 2012 | Israel Harel

[SunkenCiv]

Years ago at a conference in Amman, a few Israelis and Egyptians were sitting together chatting. One of the Israelis was asked when he had last visited Egypt. "On October 16, 1973," he answered, somewhat humorously. "And without a passport. I crossed the Suez Canal with my unit until we withdrew a few months later. But now we have peace; I don't mean to insult anyone."

A minor commotion ensued. That never happened, some of the Egyptians responded. One of them, a retired general, said to his friends: "Technically, the Israeli is not lying. We drew them across the canal in a planned ambush, to destroy them." Turning to the Israeli, he continued: "If you won, why did you withdraw from the west side of the canal and then from all of Sinai on our terms?"

Last week Egypt marked the glorious "October victory," as it has for the past 39 years. President Mohammed Morsi awarded medals to officers who fought in that war. And the crowds cheered. In contrast, the Israeli media, as it has done for the past 39 years, marked the Israel Defense Forces' victory by continuing its campaign of wailing, searching for failures and breast-beating over the sins we committed. But mainly over the sins we did not commit.

I have claimed for years that the victory celebrations are an excellent example of a basic aspect of Egypt: life in an imaginary world. And imaginary myths lead to distortions in government, the economy, health, education, the status of women and minorities, and to the other misfortunes typical of Egypt and most Arab regimes.

In contrast, I have noted that the Yom Kippur War was the greatest victory a Jewish army has ever achieved.

[SunkenCiv]

[snip] Ezov does a fine job of describing the difficulties the complex operation entailed: The IDF had no experience negotiating a water obstacle; contrary to all the planning, the operation did not commence at the waterline itself but rather kilometers from there, and penetrating the Egyptian deployment and clearing the crossing zone became the main effort; all of the movement to the bridgehead took place on the first night along a single route, which created a massive traffic jam; and the units that had practiced transporting the bridging to the waterline were fighting elsewhere, so the ones that ultimately carried out the job ran into trouble because they were inexperienced. As a result, the first bridge, the pontoon bridge, was laid over the canal 48 hours after the operation began and the second bridge, the roller-bridge, 33 hours later. The plan for the Abirei Lev operation called for both bridges to become operational on the first night of the operation... [/snip] -- On one of Israel's most controversial battle campaigns, review by Uri Bar. Caption:Yom Kippur War, laying a bridge over the Suez Canal. Photo by IDF Spokesman's Office

[SunkenCiv]

Nice op-ed, plus a unit history link, and a snip from a review of a book.

[SunkenCiv]

The 87th. Armored Recon. Battalion: The Unit that lead the way to the Suez Canal crossing and the turning point in the 1973 War -- [snip] The 87th, still attached to the 14th armored brigade, was ordered to lead the attack, taking advantage of its experience from the scouting mission on October 9th. Shortly before H-Hour, which was set at 1800 hrs, the commanding officer of the 14th Brigade, Colonel Amnon Reshef, addressed the warriors of the 87th. He emphasized the importance of the unit's mission -- to lead the brigade, the division, Southern Command, and in fact the entire IDF in an attack that could (and indeed would) change the course of the war, transferring the battle into the enemy's homeland encircling the 3rd Egyptian army and launching pressure on the 2nd army, which was stuck in its October 14th position. The Colonel's address was recorded by a military correspondant attached to the 14th brigade and the recording has been preserved until today. The 87th was ordered to reach the area designated for the launching of the Canal crossing by going westward along the sector border between the two Egyptian armies (the same path the unit had identified on its scouting mission), then northwards along the road that runs parallel to the Canal, and finally westwards towards the bank of the Canal in a three-pronged movement. "B" company was ordered to lead the unit and to take up the northernmost position, "C" company would follow and hold the center, and finally "A" company, accompanied by the medical and ordnance platoons, would deploy in the southern position, in the actual area of the Canal crossing. Three tank and three paratrooper battalions were to follow the 87th and attack the southern flank of the 2nd Army. The paratroopers of the 247th brigade would follow to establish the bridgehead on the western bank of the Canal. The initial phase of the operation caught the Egyptians by total surprise, and the 87th reached its designated positions undiscovered, receiving only sporadic and uncoordinated fire, mainly from small arms. [/snip]

[Hardraade]

Kill Egypt.

Then the rest.

[Eleutheria5]

“In contrast, I have noted that the Yom Kippur War was the greatest victory a Jewish army has ever achieved.”

Greater than Bar Kochba’s victories over Rome? OK, he lost the war, but he won some pretty awesome battles.

[Olog-hai]

I think that this has been misnamed. Israel suffers from post-Camp David syndrome, not post-Yom Kippur.

The UN proved back in 1975 that it served the lingering Nazi (and allied Islamic) agenda when it declared Zionism to be “racism”. It is to the USA’s national shame that the UN was not destroyed then and there.

[SunkenCiv]

The Yom Kippur war was a costly victory, the Bar Kochba war was a catastrophic defeat.

[SunkenCiv]

I’m not that fussy about the order. :’)

[SunkenCiv]

And the Sec’y General of the UN at that time was ex- of the Waffen SS.

[Olog-hai]

None other than Kurt Waldheim.

That’s what the USA got for not staying longer to de-Nazify both Germany and Austria . . . how is it that anyone over here thought that the process could be handed over to the natives a mere two years after the war? who subsequently unilaterally declared it “over” (not “complete”) three years after that?

[Olog-hai]

The moves against circumcision even today are wholly Hadrianic/Hellenic in origin and cannot be pinned on Islam.

[SunkenCiv]

Yes, and Islamic countries have a very high rate of circumcision.

[SunkenCiv]

That was as done as it could be, given that everyone just wanted to go home after the war, and the USSR remained in force just over the frontier — the key postwar move to make was to snuff them as they pop their heads up into prominent political positions.

[Olog-hai]

Sounds like the Morgenthau Plan was the lesser of two evils, albeit with the customary “hindsight 20/20” perspective. Also sounds like the Cold War was kicked off due to underground Nazi intrigue, putting a wedge between former allies.

[SunkenCiv]

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Crossing ("Tzlicha"): Sixty Hours in October 1973 by Amiram Ezov

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[Eleutheria5]

The Maccabees won against the Greeks, though.

[SunkenCiv]

The Morgenthau Plan was the de facto handover of Germany and the rest of western Europe to Soviet domination and eventual occupation. So, no.

[Olog-hai]

That sounds like what people wanted us to think. Certainly handing over control of the portions of Silesia and Prussia to USSR-dominated Poland (as happened anyway) would have had to been corrected.

Either way, West Germany had quite the rapprochement with the USSR. Remember Willy Brandt? He was merely continuing something that Adenauer had started.

[SunkenCiv]

And against each other.

Maccabean dynasty/small>

[Olog-hai]

The Greek empire was the bronze part of the statue (belly and legs of the statue) that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. Fighting against the legs of iron (the Roman Empire) was a whole different kettle of fish, as well as the prophecy in Daniel 2:40 associated with it (that it would smash every other surrounding nation-state).