Yom Kippur War of 1973

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           

         

The War of 1973 (also known as the Yom Kippur War or October War) started because Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated surprise attack on Israel to reclaim the territories Israel captured during the 1967 Six-Day War—specifically the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights.The Yom Kippur War actually began on October 6, 1973  when a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated surprise attack against Israel. This happened 6 years after 1967.                                                    

Golda Meir nee Meyerson, was elected PM in 1968 and was PM throughout the Yom Kippur War.  She was re-elected in 1973 but retired in 1974.  She wrote My Life, an excellent book that I have read.  

 The 1967 Arab League summit (the Khartoum Conference), held in Khartoum, Sudan, from August 29 to September 1, 1967, in the aftermath of the Arab defeat in the Six-Day War.  They decided on their famous 3 NO''s.  Participants: Leaders and representatives from eight Arab states.   Oil-rich Arab nations (such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait) agreed to provide financial support to Egypt and Jordan to help rebuild their economies and military forces.

                                                           

            Jews, people who would not revert from their religion to the consternation of all other religions. None would win them over, even though the religion itself divided into Reform, Conservative and Orthodox Jews and how they view Judaism in the late 1800's.  

          No peace with Israel

• No recognition of Israel
• No negotiations with Israel 

Later Shift: These "Three No's" guided collective Arab policy for decades until later shifts, such as the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace treaty, the 1994 Jordan–Israel peace treaty, the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, and subsequent normalization agreements like the 2020 Sudan-Israel deal.                                   

The Syrians initially overran much of the Golan Heights, but, despite support from Iraqi and Jordanian troops, etc, they were stopped and driven far behind the lines from which they had attacked.                                              

Artillerymen hold their ears as 155mm guns lay down barrage on Syrian positions during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Bettman/Getty Images.

The Egyptians crossed the Suez Canal in the 1st hours of the war and seized the Israel forward positions (the "Bar Lev line").  As a result of wide-ranging tank battles, however, they were unable to progress through the Sinai Desert.  

It is said that the Israel that fought the Yom Kippur War no longer exists.  Fifty- years is a long enough time to dissipate the impact of war.

The Yom Kippur War of 1973 has probably  receded in the Israeli imagination. But its specter is more complex than Vietnam for Americans. The 2,500 Israeli soldiers killed (a fraction of the 15,000 Arabs who perished) was three times the per capita human cost of the Vietnam War to the United States. Steven Simon, writer of this article, was in Israel during that time, and everyone knew someone who’d been killed. The war was also far shorter, about 10 days, so the casualty list had an outsized emotional impact. It was not the long slog of Vietnam, but rather an avalanche.

Early in the war, Syrian armor destroyed the Israeli tank brigade deployed to the Golan Heights and reached Gesher B’not Yaakov (Jisr Banat Yaqub). Just beyond it was the Jezreel Valley. The prospect of a large Syrian armored formation penetrating the Israeli heartland was as ghastly for Israelis as it must have been thrilling for the Syrians. The United States has never experienced anything like this, including 9/11.

Both sides suffered severe losses in equipment, but when a Soviet airlift replaced Arab materiel, the US countered with a major arms airlift, starting on October 14th.  Two days later, an Israeli force crossed the Suez Canal and in a few days cut off the Egyptian 3rd Army.                                                                  

The USSR, concerned about the possibility of a major Arab defeat, invited US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to Moscow to work out terms for a cease-fire, which were accepted by the UN on October 22 and became operative on October 25th. 

Israel's overall military victory was thankful but minor; as the war had grave repercussions within the country because of the initial defects revealed;  the loss of more than 2,600 men, and the effectiveness of the Arab oil weapon, used internationally for the 1st time.  

Territorial Loss in 1967: During the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel seized the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip from Jordan. Egypt and Syria wanted to take back their land.  (Al Jazeera)  So they can blame Egypt in the 1st place for talking them all into attacking Israel in 1967.                                           

For the Jewish community, both in Israel and across the globe, the timing of the attack on Yom Kippur—the Day of Atonement and the holiest day in Judaism—created profound religious, cultural, and historical resonances.

Restoring Honor and Leverage: Egypt and Syria wanted to shatter Israel's image of military invincibility and force the international community to take the Arab-Israeli conflict seriously.  

The Surprise Timing: The attack began on October 6, 1973. The date coincided with Yom Kippur (the holiest day in Judaism) and the Islamic month of Ramadan, catching Israeli intelligence and military forces off guard. [In 2027 Ramadan will fall in February.]  {A monstrous and bloody attack will happen again on Israel on October 7, 2023) .

Stalled Diplomacy: Peaceful efforts and proposals to negotiate a return of the land had failed over the preceding six years. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat sought a military move to break the political deadlock. 

Major Jewish Historical & Cultural References

• The Synagogue Mobilization: Because the surprise attack occurred on Yom Kippur, the vast majority of Israeli military reservists were not at their military posts; they were fasting and praying in synagogues. Because the streets were completely empty and the entire population was gathered together, commanders simply went from synagogue to synagogue to call up their units. Soldiers famously stripped off their tallitot (prayer shawls) and kittels (white holiday robes) directly over their civilian clothes to board military transports heading straight to the frontlines.
• The Debut of the "Hesder" Units: The 1973 war was the first major conflict featuring distinct Hesder army units—frameworks allowing Orthodox yeshiva students to combine intensive Torah study with active combat duty. Their frontline service, particularly in the grueling tank battles on the Golan Heights, deeply impacted the religious Zionist community and integrated military defense as a core component of their religious identity.
• The Problem of the Agunot (Chained Widows): In Jewish law, a woman cannot remarry if her husband is missing in action but his death cannot be legally verified. Following the heavy, chaotic losses of the war, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, painstakingly reviewed hundreds of military forensic cases to halachically permit the war widows to move on with their lives.
• Shift in Yom Kippur's Modern Meaning: Prior to 1973, modern secular Israelis often viewed Yom Kippur as an individual day of rest. The national trauma of nearly losing the state transformed the holiday into a deeply national day of collective remembrance. It fractured the supreme confidence built after the 1967 Six-Day War and introduced a sobering language of vulnerability and social introspection to Israeli culture. 
• What the Arabs neglected to learn was what Yom Kippur was all about.  Had they realized this, would Egypt had attacked in the 1st place?  Yom Kippur is the Jews' Day of Atonement.  It is an all day solemn fast-day  (Lev.23:32 as a Sabbath of solemn rest.  A man must cleanse himself of all sin.  It is the day on which Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the 2nd tablets of the law and announced to the people the Divine pardon for the sin of the Golden Calf.  Man is to stop all work and abstain from food, drink, and sexual intercourse;  the day was outstanding for the elaborate Temple Ceremonial.  They included the sending of the scapegoat to the wildernss  "for AZAZEL."  In the evening is the rendition of Kol Nidre, a time of canceling rash vows between man and G-d  AND  the Concluding Neilah service, saying the Shema and the declaration:  "NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM."

• 1. What Is Ramadan?

  Ramadan commemorates the month during which Muslims believe the prophet Muhammed was given the first revelations of the Quran, the holy book of Islam, from the angel Gabriel. It’s an extremely important month in the Muslim year. During this time, Muslims fast during daylight hours (no food or drink—even water—permitted from dawn to sunset) and strive to avoid any impure thoughts or immoral behavior. Participating in this observance is one of the five pillars of Islam, meaning that it is required for all healthy adult Muslims. Ramadan ends in a festival called Eid-al-Fitr, or the Festival of Breaking the Fast. Muslims celebrate and give thanks for the strength Allah imparted in them during fasting. Children receive presents and new clothes, and young girls may decorate their hands with henna.

• https://responsiblestatecraft.org/yom-kippur-war-50th-anniversary/

• The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

• Wikiwand

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HAMAS EVOLUTION

 Nadene Goldfoot

Nadene Goldfoot 

                                                

                         PLO Leader Yasser Arafat 1969-2004

It started with Yasser Arafat in 1959.  Yasser Arafat became the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1969, succeeding Ahmed Shukairy. He led the PLO until his death in 2004. Prior to leading the PLO, Arafat co-founded the Fatah movement in 1959, which aimed for Palestinian independence. He also served as the President of the Palestinian Authority (PA ) from 1994 until his death. 

                                  NO NO NO

The Khartoum meeting of Arab leaders, known as the Khartoum Resolution, took place from August 29 to September 1, 1967 after losing in the Six Day War with Israel. This meeting, held in Khartoum, Sudan, occurred shortly after the Six-Day War and resulted in the famous "Three No's" declaration: no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, and no negotiations with Israel. The Arab League Summit also addressed the need for Arab solidarity and efforts to eliminate the effects of the recent aggression.  While Arafat was a prominent figure in Palestinian nationalism at the time, he was not a head of state or government, and thus not part of the Arab League summit. 

The First Palestinian Intifada, also known as the First Palestinian Uprising, began on December 9, 1987. The uprising was ignited by an incident in which an Israeli military truck collided with a vehicle carrying Palestinian workers, killing four of them, near the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. 

Jabalia Camp, located in the North Gaza Governorate, is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. It was established in 1948 by the United Nations to accommodate Palestinians who were displaced or expelled from their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. 

• The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) plays a crucial role in providing essential services to Jabalia residents, including education, healthcare, relief and social services, infrastructure development, microfinance, and emergency response.  UNRWA operates 32 installations in Jabalia, including 16 school buildings accommodating 26 schools, a food distribution center, and health centers.  Funding for UNRWA activities is primarily from voluntary contributions from UN member states. 

Hamas came into being  in late 1987 at the beginning of the first Palestinian intifada (uprising). Its roots are in the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and it is supported by a robust sociopolitical structure inside the Palestinian territories.

With the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, no significant change occurred to the administrative or political representation of refugees. While the UNRWA continued to supervise the camps, the first municipal council was founded in Gaza City on 26 July 1994, and this time it included one member from Shati' camp, while the municipalities of Rafah , Khan Yunis , and Deir al-Balah continued to represent refugees in their locales.

 During the Second Intifada (2000–2005), Fatah intensified armed conflict against Israel, claiming responsibility for a number of suicide attacks. Fatah had been closely identified with the leadership of its founder and chairman, Yasser Arafat, until his death in 2004.  

In 2005, Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip by dismantling all 21 Israeli settlements there. As part of this process, four Israeli settlements in the West Bank were dismantled as well. This was done in the name of peace;  giving land Israel had inherited from the Six Day War.  Ever since, it became a platform from which to shoot from closer into Israel. 

How did Hamas come to power in Gaza in the first place? That history is worth revisiting now, two and a half weeks into the war, as it tests whether Biden’s point is true.

Update: 7/28/25:  The U.S. Congress, including Senator Biden as a key co-sponsor, enacted the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act in December 2006, which codified the policy of prohibiting U.S. assistance to any Palestinian unity government involving Hamas unless these conditions were met. 

• A RAND Corporation publication states that the US, under both Bush and Obama, had a flawed policy toward Gaza that included pushing for elections despite Palestinian and Israeli reservations, which played a significant role in enabling Hamas to seize power.

It was in January 2006 that the Palestinian territories held what turned out to be their last parliamentary elections. Hamas won a bare plurality of votes (44 percent to the more moderate Fatah party’s 41 percent) but, given the electoral system, a strong majority of seats (74 to 45). Neither party was keen on sharing power. Fighting broke out between the two. When a unity government was finally formed in June 2007, Hamas broke the deal, started murdering Fatah members, and, in the end, took total control of the Gaza Strip. Those who weren’t killed fled to the West Bank, and the territories have remained split ever since.

     Fatah and Hamas who could not share the power

 On 20 February,2006  Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was nominated to form a new government. The new government with Haniyeh as Prime Minister was sworn in on 29 March. As of May 2025, no new elections have been held since this one.  He died on  31 July 2024 at age 63 in Tehran, Iran by assassination.           

      Mahmoud Abbas born 15 November 1935), also known by the kunya Abu Mazen (Arabic: أَبُو مَازِن,  is a Palestinian politician who has been serving as the second president of Palestine and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) since 2005;  20 years already.  He's going to be 90 years old.  

  Farouk Kaddoumi constitutionally succeeded Arafat to the position of Fatah Chairman and continued in the position until 2009, when Abbas was elected chairman. Since Arafat's death, factionalism within the ideologically diverse movement has become more apparent.

Are there really a million Gazans starving?  Who counted them?  It's Hamas who is responsible for they started this war and will not end it.  It's either allow them to slaughter Israelis or defend Israelis that Netanyahu's responsibility lies. When a country is attacked, you'd expect that country to defend its population.  

When a country attacks another, you'd think they'd have plans if there were returned fire and be ready to defend their own.  But if it's part of a weird plan to gain hatred for their target, they would encourage it to happen.  It's their new ammunition, free and easy to spread;  people are so willing to hate Jews.

Are teens and adult Gazans getting enough food?  Hamas terrorists are.  I haven't seen any grown Gazans walking around looking like Holocaust survivors did; only the babies.  Are they being sacrificed in the name of their holy war against Israel?  

The thing that hurts Jews the most in this world is to see a starving person; and essen is their favorite word in Yiddish-eat, eat.  Hamas knows how to hit us below the belt!   This is gut wrenching for us, too, but we know how their parents sacrificed their 18 year olds by allowing them to become terrorists, and would brag about how they fought for Hamas!!  Now Hamas expects them to with hold food from their babies because it makes better PR.  Look at the adults today;  they look normal, not starving.  Hamas members will never starve.   

You think the pictures are horrible?  Jews are crying out against it even more, believe me.  It's too close to what their families have endured.  

How about the terrorists' parents-relatives?  They voted in Hamas.  They are not emaciated like their babies.  Why?  

USA companies and Israeli companies have brought in food and now the roads are blocked by Hamas.  No other country is helping the USA with food except Israel.  They only supply criticism.  

So It's Come to the Pot Calling the Kettle Black: Iran's Threats Over Jerusalem

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

    Aerial view of the infamous Temple Mount where rioting occurred just before May's 11 Day War.  

Iran is now threatening Israel over Jerusalem.  If there is anymore fighting there, Iran will step in.  Israeli police had to step in to stop the rioting and all that goes with rioting on the Temple Mount during that seems to be one of the sparks that set off the 11 day war with Hamas in Gaza.  

According to Palestinian reports, "Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh said that Israel would “pay a price” for the clashes at the mosque, "Islam’s 3rd"  holiest sites.  Iran is backing this up by reiterating that the threat will also include Iran punishing Israel as well.  It just reminds us that it is Iran who supplies Hamas with weapons to use against Israel.  

What they are asking for, pie in the sky, actually is that Israel can do nothing to any attack coming from Palestinians on the Temple Mount or any other place in Jerusalem, such as East Jerusalem, the neighborhood made up of Palestinians.  Any attempt to quell such attacks coming from Arabs, such as stone throwing, knifing of Jews, bombs, fire attacks, fighting, bombs, etc. will be met with war.  

The hilltop on which it sits is the holiest place in the world for Jews as the site of the two biblical temples — making it a flashpoint for nationalist sentiment and violence between Israelis and Palestinians.                          

Now that the 11 day war is over, Blinkon from the USA has visited and seen the problem areas and is still pressing for a 2-State Solution.  He's rewarding the Palestinians with money and materials saying it's not for Hamas but for the Palestinians (?) and HE expects this to be actually carried out.  Who in the world is going to police it?  Not the Palestinians themselves, or even the PA.  The reasoning is beyond my comprehension.  

                                                            

        Israel map;  Golan Heights not occupied but part of Israel.  8,000 sq miles country, exceedingly small, and chopped up.  Giving Gaza for peace did not bring peace but war with daily attacks of rockets into Israel.  Taking the Golan in 1967 when Israel won against all odds, the miracle of the century, was a strategic blessing.  It's a very high place where bombs could be dropped down on the plain, and by taking it, stopped those attacks.  Just remember, the biblical Israel took place in Judea-Samaria (West Bank).  Whoever drew these plans up (England)(Arabs)  were meshugana.  

In July 2012, a government-commissioned report from a three-member committee, called Levy Report, asserted, based on a number of reasons, that there is no legal basis under international law to refer to Judea and Samaria as "occupied territory". Article 43 of the Fourth Hague Convention of 1907 is the basis of the Levy committee's opinion.

What France and the USA expect, now, that Gazans who have been under the direction of Hamas since Obama's visit to Cairo in 2009 will suddenly sing Kum By-Yah and make nice with Israel is ludicrous- a dream.  The 2-State solution did look good once upon a time, but is not workable in real life;  too many complications, too many variables.  

When the USA can solve their own problems of riots and their racial problems, then maybe that will be a cue for Palestinians to make peace and accept Israel in the Middle East, ignore Iran's "assistance" and while I'm dreaming, that Iran will suddenly have Ayatollahs who are peaceful as well and stop financing terrorism.  Such backing of Palestinians are getting now from the USA is the kind of slap on the back that tells them, as they read into things, that all is well with what they have been doing to Israel and to keep it up.  Their claim of winning the 11 day war, saying that Israel only wiped out only 5% of their tunnels, all their boasting says that this calm or cease fire right now will not last forever.  They're just getting revved up.

                                                                  

France, a leading Christian country in Europe, pushing against Israel and warning that they are becoming an apartheid state is the straw that broke my camel's back.  "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday denounced French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian for saying earlier this week that Israel is at risk of “long-lasting apartheid” if a Palestinian state is not established."  

Netanyahu rejected Le Drian’s comments as “an insolent, false claim that has no basis. In the State of Israel, all citizens are equal before the law, regardless of their ethnicity. Israel is a beacon of democracy and human rights in our region… We will not suffer any hypocritical and false moral rebukes on this matter.”

This is an old saw that had already been used against Israel.  The truth is that Israel is the opposite of an apartheid state.   Also, as I think about South Africa and Israel and compare the two, South Africa was at peace with their neighbors and not in the midst of defending herself constantly and they did practice apartheid.    Israel is on the defensive 100% all the time.  They don't have time or patience to be apartheid to Arabs.  They do their utmost to give them the treatment like all Israelis get.  If its so bad in Israel, they could always move over to Jordan which is made up mostly of Palestinians, anyway.  Or they could travel to 48 Muslim majority nations.  They have a choice.  Israelis have no other choices, not even Russia, or England.  I suppose the USA is the only open country today for Jews.  However, those in Israel intend to stay put.  They will not be frightened away.  They understand why Israel was created again and its importance.  

They even have been allowed their own schools too much, in my opinion,   "Israeli schoolbooks were deemed superior to Palestinian ones with regard to preparing children for peace, but the study in 2009 praised both Israel and the Palestinian Authority for producing textbooks almost completely unblemished by "dehumanizing and demonizing characterizations of the other". The study appeared to undermine a charge, often used by Israel to delegitimize Palestinian claims that they were ready for statehood, according to which Palestinians were "educated to hate". With regard to maps, 4% of Palestinian maps mark the Green Line, or label the area west of it as "Israel", 6 out of 10 omit borders, while another third include the green line without reference to Israel; 76% of Israeli textbook maps fail to distinguish the Palestinian territories and Israel, and the Palestinian areas lack labelling, implying that the Palestinian areas form part of Israel."  That study was done 12 years ago.  It's time for another, not only textbooks.  

I don't know if this study includes TV children's programs or not that I have 

personally watched, but they were slanted against Israel.

This either shows that France and all the many other countries in step with his comments, want Israel to be destroyed, as surely being rewarded as a state would bring them more arms to use against Israel and more clout to use against them as if they don't have enough of both now as it is.  The 20% Arab population in Israel now has every benefit of a 1st class citizen.  They have their own political parties in voting on Israel's issues.  They have every right, and you know, they even look like most Jews.  There is little color distinction to make their lives more complicated.  The only thing they don't have right now is that they don't have to serve in the IDF, though many groups do serve gladly, insisting on serving, both males and females.  

This is not the time for a 2 State Solution.  It's time for the Palestinians and any other Arab group who attended the Khartoum Conference in Africa in 1967 who swore the 3 NOs,, that of never making peace with Israel, to amend that statement and change it to accepting Israel as a nation among their own nations as it once was so long ago.  Hatred is only gaining loss of life, and loss of land and loss of food, clothing;   life's little luxuries. 

It's time for this kind of change, not for rewarding bad behavior and attacking Israel.  

Resource:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-slams-france-for-insolent-claim-israel-at-risk-of-apartheid/

TV7 News 5/28/2021

https://www.timesofisrael.com/terror-groups-threaten-israel-over-temple-mount-clashes-dont-play-with-fire/

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/netanyahu-warns-that-israel-will-act-to-counter-iranian-nuclear-threat-669033

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/is-massive-hamas-attack-on-israel-the-assault-iran-warned-of-analysis-667888

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judea_and_Samaria_Area

https://www.debka.com/us-secretary-blinken-will-find-hamas-fiery-islamism-nullifies-two-state-solution/