Why Did The Yom Kippur War Happen?

to follow in the early hours of the 6th of October 1973 the phones of Israel's political and military leaders were ringing Ellie's era the director of Israel's Military Intelligence directorate had learned through what he believed was an indisputable source that there would be a joint Egyptian and Syrian attack on Israel at 6 PM that day word reached Israeli Prime Minister goldamir defense minister Moshi Dayan and Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces General David elazar shortly after 4 30 am the news stunned them they have believed assurances from Israeli military intelligence that there was a low probability of war and they were unprepared Israeli intelligence had failed to identify the correct time of the Arab attack and a shortly after 2 pm Egypt and Syria commenced their assault the Israeli Army was caught completely off guard by the offensive on two fronts with its Reserve forces two-thirds of its strength still being mobilized Egypt and Syria had chosen to attack on the day of Yom Kippur the holiest day in the Jewish calendar with Jews across the world spending the day fasting and gathered in synagogues for intensive prayer Israel would come to a virtual standstill and the Arab Nations believed it would give them an advantage prior to the Yom Kippur War there had already been three major Arab Israeli Wars this was the fourth War just six years after the previous conflict while tense coexistence had endured between Jews and Muslims in the region for hundreds of years tensions and conflict would ignite again between Arab peoples Jews and Britain at the end of the first world war when the Ottoman Empire was dissolved in 1920 Britain was given a mandate by the League of Nations to administer the territory of Palestine until it was able to stand alone Britain had made conflicting commitments to various groups during the war to Garner support and in 1917 published the Balfour Declaration a public statement announcing a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine then part of the majority Muslim Ottoman Empire with a small minority Jewish population this was the first acknowledgment from an imperial superpower that the Jews had a historical connection to the land of what would become Israel but the Declaration was specifically vague as there was no plan on how a national home would be achieved in the 1920s and 30s Jewish immigration to the region increased significantly fueled by Hitler's rise to power in Germany in 1933 this led to riots from the Arab population and violent confrontations they demanded independence from Britain and the end of what they perceived to be open-ended Jewish immigration and land purchases in response Britain originally proposed partitioning the land but this was rejected by the Arab people and a Revolt broke out the government then issued the white paper of 1939 which stated that the Balfour Declaration had only called for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and with over 450 000 Jews already in Palestine they had fulfilled the Declaration it stated that Britain would work towards the establishment of an independent state in Palestine over the next 10 years and put restrictions on Jewish immigration in any further purchase of land this outraged the Jewish population who felt betrayed but their options were limited despite the restrictions during the second world war the Jewish population increased further a Zionist organizations facilitated illegal immigration for Jews fleeing persecution exhausted by the combination of the first and second world wars and intent upon withdrawing from the Middle East Britain announced they would terminate the Mandate and return the question of Palestine to the U.N who in 1947 proposed a partition plan with creation of independent Arab and Jewish States and an internationalized Jerusalem this was accepted by the Jews but rejected by the Arabs on the 14th of May 1948 David Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of a Jewish state to be known as the state of Israel with Gurion as the first prime minister immediately following the announcement five Arab Nations invaded the former Palestinian mandate to protect Arab designated areas and also to launch an attack against the Jewish designated areas now named Israel this marks the start of Israel's so-called war of independence the first arab-israeli war the fighting ended in 1949 and the state of Israel controls the area that the UN had proposed for the Jewish State almost 60 percent of the areas proposed for the Arab State and West Jerusalem which was meant to be internationalized Jordan took control of the West Bank including East Jerusalem and Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip the surrounding Arab states refused to recognize Israel seven hundred thousand Palestinian refugees fled their homes in the areas that had become Israel the second arab-israeli war occurred in 1956 when Egyptian president Gamel Abdel Nasser nationalized the foreign-owned Suez Canal and blocked The Straits of Tehran to Israeli shipping he did so without any political consultation which shocked the UK and France who owns the majority shares in the canal operating company Israel wanted to regain shipping entry through the Straits of Tehran but was also concerned about the large amount of Soviet Weaponry that Egypt had obtained and saw this as a narrow opportunity to weaken a dangerous hostile state Israel France and Britain combined forces to repossess the canal but political pressure from the U.S and USSR forced them to withdraw NASA was defeated but his regime survived Israel gained military confidence but withdrew only after they had secured American assurances over freedom of navigation in The Straits of Tehran the UN created the UN emergency force or UNIF peacekeepers to police the Egyptian Israeli border and Israel asserted that any future closures would be a justification for war entitling Israel to exercise its right to self-defense there was no peace agreement after the 1956 war and tensions between Israel and Egypt continued NASA pursued a policy of unification with like-minded Arab states chiefly Syria in 1967 tension along the Israeli Syrian border peaked due to disputes concerning Regional resources of water testing NASA's rhetoric concerning Arab solidarity a series of small-scale militant attacks started in May and Israel held Syria responsible Syria responded with claims Israel was planning a large-scale attack and claimed Egypt would join in mutual self-defense Israel ruled out the possibility of War believing that they had a safe margin of superiority over any combination of Arab forces likely to attack it and they did not believe the Arab states was rushed to one another's assistance this belief was tested when the Egyptian Army rolled forward into the Sinai towards the Egyptian Israeli border NASA then demanded the withdrawal of the UNF peacekeeping Force Israeli Prime Minister Levy ascol tried to cool down the situation and made a speech stating that Israel was not preparing for an offensive NASA's response only added fuel to the fire he claimed he was ordering troops to the Border in light of information that Israel was amassing 13 brigades along the Israeli Syrian border NASA closed the Straits of Tehran to Israeli shipping again with further Arab states moving towards Israel's borders on the 5th of June 1967 the third Arab Israeli War began when Israel launched a series of preemptive airstrikes against Egyptian airfields nearly all of Egypt's military assets were destroyed giving Israel the advantage of Air Supremacy simultaneously Israel launched a ground offensive into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula as well as the Egyptian occupied Gaza Strip Jordan and Syria joins the war after six days a ceasefire was agreed giving the conflict its name the Six-Day War the Arab Nations suffered twenty thousand casualties with Israeli losses estimated at less than one thousand Israel had seized Syria's Golan Heights the Jordanian Annex West Bank and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula as well as the Egyptian occupied Gaza Strip the ceasefire lines had completely altered the layout of Israel's map and between 280 and 325 000 Palestinians and 100 000 syrians fled or were expelled the magnitude of the Arab defeat in 1967 created the inevitability of the next War Israel had failed to bring peace with any Arab State and their brilliant military Victory gave rise to a delusion of power and complacency while the Deep sense of humiliation strengthened the Arab resolve to avenge their defeat and regain their pride Israel believes that their neighbors would now be ready to talk peace but NASA refused to admit defeat and allow Israel to dictate peace terms in August 1967 leaders from 13 Arab states gathered at the Arab League Summit and announced the Khartoum resolution which became known as the three no's no peace with Israel no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with Israel over the next three years numerous clashes between Israel and Egypt took place over the Suez Canal the so-called War of Attrition between 1967 and 1970. this period witnessed sporadic but sometimes intense fighting between Israel and its Arab neighbors while Egypt with major Soviet assistance tried to rebuild its Armed Forces in 1970 NASA died suddenly and was succeeded by Anwar Sadat the war of attrition had not budged Israel from the Suez Canal and diplomatic efforts from the International Community had also failed Israeli Prime Minister goldimir was confident of Israel's geopolitical situation and there was a lack of effective International pressure for Israel to return territory gained in 1967. she rejected defense minister Moshi Diane's suggestion in December 1970 that Israel pulled back 20 miles from the canal in order to enable its reopening and thereby reduce Egyptian motivation for going to war in 1971 Sadat astonished the world when he declared his Readiness to achieve a peace agreement with Israel in return for the Israeli withdrawal from all territories captured in the Six-Day War Israel was only prepared to withdraw to so-called mutually defined boundaries not the pre-war boundaries with justification from Moshi Dayan that any piece achieves by pulling back to the vulnerable pre-war borders would be short-lived because it would make another War too tempting for the Arabs for several months in 1971 negotiations continued on the issue of a partial settlement when no progress was made after the Israeli rejection in June Sadat announced his Readiness to sacrifice a million Egyptian soldiers and claimed that 1971 would be the year of decision when this threat was not followed through on at the end of 1971 the Israelis began mocking Sadat with references to the 32nd of December during this time the Soviet Union and the United States were experimenting with what was called de taunt the Soviets attempted to discourage the Arabs from a military confrontation and refused to provide certain weapons making it clear to Sadat that he could not rely on support from the Soviets in regaining the Sinai Sadat also tried to improve relations with the US in the hope that they would pressure Israel back to the international border but to no avail with the failure to secure even partial Israeli withdrawal so that came to the conclusion that only a major military operation across the Suez Canal which are both Israel and the two superpowers out of their lethargy towards Egypt and the arab-israeli conflict Sadat knew that the Egyptian Army would be unprepared to win a general war against Israel so he decided on a limited War his objective was to seize a foothold on the Eastern Bank of the Suez Canal and Leverage The gains to negotiate a return of the israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula he needed to discredit the Israeli security Theory the Israeli belief that they were Invincible against any Arab attempts to regain lost territories and could therefore dictate the peace terms from a position of strength so that also wanted Egypt to regain pride and a place in international politics the Egyptian assault would become known as the Yom Kippur War despite making early gains Egypt suffered eventual military defeat but their initial success in the war enhanced their Prestige and Israel realized there was no guarantee they could always dominate militarily this paved the way for the Israeli Egyptian peace process in 1979 Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister malachem begin signed a peace treaty where Egypt would become the first Arab country to recognize Israel and the Sinai Peninsula would be returned to Egypt for which bacon and Sadat would both win a Nobel Peace Prize for Syria however the Yom Kippur War delivered no strategic success their military aim had been to take back the Golan Heights which they had not achieved Syria voted with other Arab states in 1979 to expel Egypt from the Arab League for normalizing relations with Israel we were able to make these videos thanks to our amazing patrons 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Channel: The Intel Report

Views: 412,189

Keywords: documentary, history, yom kippur war, arab-israeli war, six day war, israel, egypt, idf, israeli defence force, egyptian air force

Id: wAvW7KaLOX8

Length: 14min 24sec (864 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 23 2023