Today is Yom Hazikaron, the day Israelis remember the fallen warriors of past wars. Tomorrow is Yom Haatzmaut, Independence Day.
Unlike North Americans, Israelis are intimately familiar with war. Being surrounded by hundreds of millions of hostile neighbors makes that inevitable. Most Israelis serve in the armed forces from the age of 18 to 21 and do up to a month of military reserve duty each year well into their forties.
Each generation of Jews has its tormentors. Each generation of Israelis has its wars. My father fought in the 1956 Sinai War. He was an experienced soldier, having been trained by the Russian army defending Stalingrad during World War II. He just missed the War of Independence, arriving in Israel in late 1948. The Six Day War of 1967 was my war.
I remember the resolve of the nation in June 1967. We knew that the enemy wanted our destruction while we only wanted to be left alone. We knew that we were honorable and good and that they were blood thirsty savages. Much of the clarity and courage eroded over time. Relentless attacks by post-Jewish, post-Zionist hordes of pseudo-intellectual academics, pontificating TV talking heads and corrupt useful idiots in the political classes have weakened the people’s resolve and undermined the military.
Way back then, we were not afraid to name the enemy. We were proud to use the biggest bombs we had. We named each military operation as we pleased and if the enemy did not like it we rubbed his face in it. In the days of empire, the British used pig skin to bury killed Jihadis, as a deterrent. Worked every time! Alas, we don’t do that anymore. We are all sophisticates now. “Infinite Justice” would have been a wonderful name for an operation to avenge the 9/11 attacks, precisely because the enemy found the name irritating. Under pressure from “our friends the Saudis,” Bush changed the name to “Enduring Freedom” and Obama to “An Overseas Contingency Operation.” Do you feel safe yet?
Here is a photo gallery commemorating the Six Day War.
