Israel needs to regain the confidence to pre-emptively strike threats - comment

Jerusalem Post - 00:54
In 1967, Israel preempted when its neighbors wanted to destroy it. In 2025, the threat is still there. The Israeli mindset in response should be the same.

In recent conversations with audiences in North America, I threw out a sentence and asked to be challenged. I stated that Israel had not acted in a preemptive manner since 1967. My assertion was made in the context of a discussion regarding the Six Day War.

Before that war began, the armies of Arab states had been massing on Israel’s borders. Arab leaders were threatening Israel with annihilation. The US and France warned Israel not to strike first. The tiny Jewish state took the threats of the Arab states seriously, and did not heed the American and French warnings.

Israel preempted. Israel struck first. The result: Within a week, the State of Israel had expanded to include a unified Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula, and Golan Heights.

On the other hand, when Israel faced threatening enemy military movements and warnings of an imminent war just six years later, in 1973, it did not take the threats seriously. The result was the devastating outbreak of the Yom Kippur War.

The holiest day on the Je...
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