Fifty years ago, I had been preparing for my Latin exam in university as a 22-year-old who had just completed his compulsory military service a year earlier. But then everyone had their world turned upside down when a nationwide reserve call-up was announced. I was lucky to make it back alive. The dead and the wounded earned the right not to be forgotten.

Reflecting on the fateful war’s 50th anniversary, Uri Bar-Joseph, professor emeritus in the Department for International Relations of the School for Political Science at University of Haifa, warns that the country is facing unprecedented security challenges.