To Elazar’s astonishment, Dayan rejected a preemptive strike.
To Elazar’s astonishment, Dayan rejected a preemptive strike I just wanted to get this out of the way. I have a busy day ahead of me, says the friend. An early riser in an East European shtetl is surprised to see a friend coming out of a brothel at 6 a.m. When Elazar said he wanted to quickly smash the Syrians, the defense minister asked what his hurry was. An officer who took notes of the meeting was surprised at Elazar’s jauntiness. (IDF Spokesperson’s Unit/Defense Ministry Archive)Īt 5:50 a.m., Elazar met with Dayan. Then-IDF chief of staff David Elazar, center, and other IDF top officers visit the Sinai Peninsula during the 1973 Yom Kippur War in an undated photograph. Without waiting for authorization, he himself ordered the call-up of several thousand key personnel, including staff officers at various command levels also, some commando units. Israel Tal, to activate the network that would carry it out, thus saving several hours. There was as yet no authorization for mobilization but Elazar told his deputy, Gen. He was totally focused now on what lay ahead - “like a bulldog,” his aide would say. The certainty of war had, for Elazar, at last cleared the air. These sources included Jordan’s king Hussein who had secretly helicoptered to Tel Aviv the week before to alert Meir. He assured the chief of staff that Egyptian president Anwar Sadat would not go to war, a theme he had consistently been expounding despite numerous reports from reliable sources in recent weeks that war was imminent. Eli Zeira, chief of military intelligence, arrived at headquarters shortly after Elazar. The present timetable – half a day’s warning, if that - was something he had never imagined. Two days’ warning was the least expected but enough for mobilization.
YOM KIPPER WAR FULL
This would permit full mobilization and allow time for reservists to feel the heft of their weapons. It immediately registered “extreme.” It had been a basic assumption of the high command that Military Intelligence would provide a five- or six-day warning of war. ”War.” The look on his face, almost ceremonial, was one she had seen before.ĭriving through the empty streets of Tel Aviv, Elazar made a quick scan of the situation. –noon.Īs Elazar dressed, his wife, Talma, sleepily asked what was happening. Peled said the air force would be ready by 11 a.m. “I’ll get permission.” Authorization for a preemptive strike would have to come from both Dayan and Meir.
Peled gave priority to Syria’s SAM (surface-to-air missile) batteries since the Syrian front, close to the Golan settlements and Israel proper, presented a more immediate danger than the relatively distant Egyptian front. “Are you ready?”īenny Peled, IAF chief at the time of the Yom Kippur War (IDF) “We have information that there will be war with Egypt and Syria by tonight,” said Elazar. The heads of Northern and Southern Commands were to be there by 6.Įlazar himself telephoned from home the air force commander, Gen. Elazar asked that members of the General Staff be at headquarters by 5:15. It was only at 4:30 that IDF chief of staff David Elazar, upon whom time would press most of all, was wakened by his own aide-de-camp. Next was defense minister Moshe Dayan’s aide-de-camp. Yisrael Leor, Golda Meir’s military aide. Translating Zamir’s message into straightforward Hebrew, Eini made his first call at 3:40 a.m. “They don’t have partners outside the region.” (The Soviets will not be involved.) Saturday, OctoYom Kippur “They think they can land before darkness.” (An attack at dusk.) “The executives intend to come to Israel even though they know it is Yom Kippur.” (The attack begins today.) “They speak about the contract in terms we are familiar with.” (That meant the Egyptians would be executing the updated war plan the Mossad had acquired from its high-priced Egyptian agent, Ashraf Marwan, son-in-law of former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser.) Then, dictating slowly, he described a talk with foreign business executives. He told Eini he would give him the gist of his meeting.
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