The investigation published by the IDF into the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre clearly proves that the IDF General Staff has not really learned from the serious mistakes made before the outbreak of the terrible Yom Kippur War in October 1973. For more than five decades, the IDF has not profoundly changed its vision of the Arab-Muslim world and the real intentions of the Islamist terrorist movements. The blind trust of the generals, the misinterpretation of the intelligence services on the many signs of attack, the constant contempt for the adversary since its great humiliation in the Six-Day War, as well as the government's indifference to possible threats, are always the same signs and symptoms that break the credibility of the IDF each time. Yesterday as today, they plunge the country into uncertainty and anxiety with bitter frustration.
During the Yom Kippur War of October 1973, we saw death in the face, the total destruction of our dear national home. Let us recall that the Arabs attacked with more than 5,500 tanks. On the Suez front, the Egyptians lined up twice as many tanks as Montgomery and Rommel in the Libyan desert during the Battle of El Alamein; while the Syrians attacked with a force equal to that which Germany launched at the time against France.
The legendary general Moshe Dayan even spoke, in a biblical allusion, of the end of the Third Temple. Despite some alarming information from the Mossad and a serious warning from King Hussein of Jordan about a possible armed conflict, the Arabs surprised the Jewish state for the first time.
This Yom Kippur War shook Israeli society on all levels. It was an "earthquake" in political and military life that no one dared to imagine. However, the military victory was total. It was achieved thanks to unwavering faith, exemplary courage and solidarity. The fierce fighting brilliantly led by General David Elazar astounded all foreign general staffs. After 18 days of fighting, the IDF tanks had reached 63 miles from Cairo and 25 miles from Damascus.
The cursed war against Hamas is quite different, the attack was meticulously planned for several years without really seriously alerting our intelligence services because since the withdrawal of the IDF from the Gaza Strip in 2005, the generals as well as the heads of government had neglected the intentions of this fanatic religious movement, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, capable of the worst cruelties and war crimes. For the first time since the War of Independence, a terrorist organization has conquered a sovereign territory of the State of Israel. More than five thousand Hamas terrorists invaded about twenty localities in the south of the country. They murdered 1200 people including old people, women and children, and took 251 soldiers and civilians hostage without the IDF being able to intervene in time and save human lives. The defense army of the State of Israel lost its primary vocation for several hours, that of defending its citizens.
A colossal failure for the army considered the most powerful in the Middle East. The IDF and the Shin Beit failed to take preventive action. For two decades, successive governments believed that Hamas was deterred, that it did not represent a real threat and that Iran was becoming the number one enemy. The IDF's defensive design failed in the Gaza Strip as it did on the Suez Canal in 1973.
The failures are more damning than those of the Yom Kippur War, but now after the publication of the military report, we should conduct thorough investigations of the Shin Beit and the police as well as the political leadership. The Agranat Commission report published after the Yom Kippur War had spared the serious failures of the Golda Meir government and especially those of Defense Minister Moshe Dayan. Let us not repeat this serious mistake with consequences.
Yesterday as today, it is regrettable that the press covered the activities of the IDF without any criticism, without expressing any doubt. The majority of military correspondents did not have the courage to alert on the failures and were content to recite like parrots the army's communiqués without checking the reality on the ground. The ignorance of civilization, mentality and the Arabic language by the country's leaders must also be remedied.
Despite the sad reality, we are proud that the IDF is the only army in the world that seriously investigates its failings and that its generals publicly admit their failures. From the beginning, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi took responsibility. He proved his noble abilities and exemplary courage despite the chaos of the first day of the attack. These days, he is ending his rich military career with dignity, as a true gentleman officer.
Finally, despite the serious shortcomings and the heavy price we have been paying since October 7, 2023, the IDF has managed to overcome the difficulties and promises not to make the same mistakes again. Its duty is to continue the war and drive Hamas out of the Gaza Strip and, above all, erase the Israeli people's distrust of its army.
Let us emphasize that the fight against Palestinian terrorism began more than a century ago. Our national independence, our absolute security, and our freedoms are still not acquired. The fight is painful and long-term, but let us never lose hope for better days, let us meditate daily on our national anthem, Hatikva.
