Israel: A Chosen People In A Promised Land - Part 8
Israel’s Wars
Personally, I see war as the essence of humanities inability to love each other as God intended in the beginning. It is by its very nature, the endpoint of humanities failings and sinful character. And for the most part I am a peacemaker and would prefer that everyone live in peace together. However, I am also cognisant of the fact that peace, true, everlasting peace will not ever be experienced here on Earth until the ‘Prince of Peace’ Jesus Christ the Messiah (Yeshu’a the Ha-Mashiach) comes to rule after his second coming.
Furthermore, when it comes to evil, and the combating of evil – there is a time when bearing arms to fight and destroy that evil is ultimately necessary. Consider the words of the Apostle Paul when he talks about the role authorities play in combating evil, for in Romans 13:3-4 he says…
“For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil...for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil”. (NKJV)
Even Jesus himself told his disciples to go sell belongings so that they could buy swords to protect themselves with – as seen in John 22:36-38. Then in Ecclesiastes 3:1,8 (NIV) the writer informs us that “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:... a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”
Therefore, if you take those previously mentioned scriptures in context, and then if you add in all the Old Testament stories of how the Israelites were told to go and wage war against evil and to utterly destroy it – you have the foundation of ‘Just War’. It is in the view of this that the investigation and outlining of Israel’s most significant conflicts and the defence of the nation, will be viewed.
WAR OF INDEPENDENCE: 1947-1949[1]
Israel’s War of Independence did not start in 1948 when David Ben Gurion declared Israel’s Independence. Rather it began in 1947, when the United Nations voted to partition the remaining sections (non-Transjordan region) of the British Mandate, and the Muslim Brotherhood and other Egyptian Muslim leaders called for a jihad against the Jews. Between late 1947 and early 1948, hundreds of Arabs and Jews were killed with several thousand more wounded in a series of clashes. It wasn’t until the independence of Israel as a nation as declared that full-blown hostilities were declared. Military forces from Lebanon and Syria attacked from the north, while the Jordanians attacked from the west, and the Egyptian forces from the south – the total opposing forces numbered some 800,000 soldiers.
Facing these forces were 60,000 Jewish resistance fighters, of whom only roughly 19,000 were equipped and ready to fight in military actions. Furthermore, the Jewish forces had limited aerial assets with only 10 military type aircraft by the time the nation declared independence – and no artillery or tanks.
By July 1949, Israel would sign armistice agreements with those nations that had fought against it – Israel had prevailed against its enemies. It was a costly victory for the Israeli’s, with nearly 6400 fighters killed. It was also a costly defeat for the Arab nations that had attacked the fledgling nation, with between 4000 and 7000 troops killed in action. It was also devastating for the Arabs as Israel ended up with more land that was given to it during the partitioning. Although the ‘Palestinian’ area of Gaza was controlled by Egypt, and the area known as the West Bank controlled by Jordan.
THE SUEZ CRISIS: 1956[2]
Due to territory captured by Israel during their War of Independence, Egypt insisted that it return territory in the Sinai. Egypt also began denying Israeli vessels from travelling through the Suez Canal. The UN did not support Egypt’s stance. By 1955, President Nasser of Egypt was increasing the anti-Israel rhetoric saying… “Egypt has decided to dispatch her heroes, the disciples of Pharaoh and the sons of Islam, and they will cleanse the land of Palestine...There will be no peace on Israel’s border because we demand vengeance, and vengeance is Israel’s death.” This began the rise in Arabic terrorist organisations, with ‘fedayeen’ soldiers (guerrilla fighters) being trained and equipped by Egypt and Jordan. These terrorist soldiers would predominantly be based in Gaza and Jordan where they could easily infiltrate Israeli territory to commit acts of sabotage and murder.
In 1956, President Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal and initiated a blockade of the Straits of Tiran. After diplomatic efforts failed, Britain, France and Israel attacked to try to regain control the Suez Canal and place it in international control. During October and November 1956, all three nations would put troops on the ground in the Sinai, as well as engaging in aerial warfare. Israel tried to use the war to gain ground for defence against Egypt (in the Sinai) and ended up controlling Gaza. However, both the Soviet Union (Russia) and the USA put significant pressure on all the belligerent nations to cease-fire. Despite victory over the Egyptian forces, Israel was forced to return all territory it had gained during the 100 days of fighting.
Even in this brief conflict the cost was not insignificant. Israel would lose over 200 military personnel killed in action while Egypt would lose approximately 3000. The events of the Suez Crisis, and Egypt’s political posturing towards the U.S.S.R (Soviet Russia) for military and economic support would be some of the precursors for some of the conflicts to come.
THE SIX DAY WAR: 1967[3]
Throughout the late 1950’s till the mid 1960’s Israel and its government tried to establish peaceful relations with its Arabic and Egyptian neighbours, so that the population of Israel (be they Jewish, Arabic, Druze and Bedouin) could live in peace. However, the Arab League was increasing its work to destroy the nation of Israel. During an Arab League assembly in 1964, President Nasser of Egypt told the gathering that, “The danger of Israel lies in the very existence of Israel as it is in the present and in what she represents.” The Arab League would assist in the birth of a new organisation that would be at the forefront of the fight against Israel – the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO).
The PLO was created in 1964, and as it has been mentioned previously, the Charter of the PLO expressly stated that one of its main aims was the destruction of Israel as a nation, and as a people. As part of this they began to initiate terrorist attacks on civilians within Israel in the years leading up to and including the early months of 1967. The attacks came from Jordan, Lebanon and Gaza. However, the Jordanian leader King Hussein, kicked the PLO out of Jerusalem (which was controlled by Jordan and not part of Israel). This caused disunity within the ranks of the Arab League.
As early as September 1965, Israel had intelligence that the Arab nations were preparing to attack. President Nasser of Egypt announced that, “We shall not enter Palestine with its soil covered in sand; we shall enter it with its soil saturated in blood.” This was taken seriously by the Syrians who had begun to shell Israeli ‘kibbutz’ farms near the Golan Heights. Then in April 1967 the Israeli air force destroyed six Syrian fighter jets (which had been supplied by the USSR), and subsequently the Syrians asked for Egypt’s support in retaliation under their defence pact.
The political brinkmanship was intensified when the USSR gave Egypt false information regarding an impending Israeli attack on Syria. Egypt responded by increasing troop and equipment numbers on its border with Israel by May 1967. President Nasser also asked the UN troops to withdraw from the Sinai, which they complied with. The stage had been set for another war with Israel.
The flames of this war would be stoked by inflammatory comments like what was said by an announcement of Voice of the Arabs radio station in May 1967, which said, “As of today, there no longer exists an international emergency force to protect Israel. We shall exercise patience no more. We shall not complain any more to the UN about Israel. The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence.”
Or perhaps just days after that proclamation, the Syrian Minister of Defence, Hafez Assad, said, “Our forces are now entirely ready not only to repulse the aggression, but to initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland. The Syrian army, with its finger on the trigger, is united....I, as a military man, believe that the time has come to enter into a battle of annihilation.”
Within days of these comments being made President Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran to all Israeli shipping. What followed was the signing of a defence pact in the end of May 1967 between Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, leading to the mobilisation of nearly 500,000 troops, 3000 tanks and 800 aircraft arrayed on the borders with Israel. This also included
Early in June 1967 the Israeli met and gave their consent to the Ministry of Defence to act against Egypt’s aggressive stance. On the morning of June 5th 1967, the Israeli air force sent almost all of their fighters and attack aircraft and attacked the Egyptian military airfields. Within a few hours, 180 Egyptian aircraft had been destroyed. The attack then moved towards Syrian and Jordanian targets. By the end of that first day the Israeli air force had destroyed around 350 Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian aircraft.
On June the 6th 1967, Israeli forces fought some tough pitched battles in Jerusalem and by the next day, Jerusalem was in the hands of Israel once more. During that time, vast mobile tank-based battles were being fought against the Egyptians in the Sinai desert and around the Golan Heights border with Syria.
The battles raged for a total of six days, and if it wasn’t for the interjection of the U.S.S.R with threats of nuclear retaliation and military involvement the Israeli forces could have attacked all three capital cities of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. By the 10th June 1967, Israel agreed to a ceasefire – having captured the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza, the Golan Heights and the entire West Bank from its enemies. Israel would give back the Sinai and the Golan Heights to Egypt and Syria to tighten the peace deals that were being made.
In the end. Israel fought to a standstill a million soldiers from Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq – of which nearly 21,000 would lose their lives. Standing against this vast number of enemy soldiers was only the 200,000 combined forces of the IDF, and around 800 of them gave their lives to defend their country.
Whilst a ceasefire was reached, the next few years would result in many clashes between the nations that had fought in the Six Day War, resulting in further casualties. The humiliation that the Arab nations felt at losing to Israel…again…meant that a repeat of the war was bound to happen sooner rather than later. The resulting Yom Kippur War in 1973 would have some very striking similarities to the current situation faced by Israel in 2023.
THE YOM KIPPUR WAR: 1973[4]
In the intervening years between 1967 and 1973, terrorism against Israel continued unabated, Egypt’s anti-Israel rhetoric also continued. Add to that the increased shipment of armaments for the Arabic militaries by the U.S.S.R, and the increasing power of the Arabic oil rich states – and Israel was feeling isolated and fearful that they could never live in peace.
During the middle of 1972, at the Munich Olympic Games, 11 Israeli athletes were kidnapped and murdered by Palestinian terrorists. The relentless march towards another Arab-Israeli war was following the drumbeat of the announcements of Anwar Sadat the Egyptian President that a war with Israel was imminent, and that he was prepared to send 1 million soldiers at the Israeli’s. By September 1973, King Hussein of Jordan met with Golda Meir, Israel’s Prime Minister, with the possible intention to war her of an impending attack.
Unfortunately for Israel, a series of intelligence blunders and miscommunications with Israel’s political leadership meant that the troops on the frontline were not informed of the possibility of an attack.
October 6th 1973 was a holy day for the Jewish people – it was Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement – which is a biblical celebration of forgiveness of sins. So many of the frontline troops had been stood down or were not even on their posts. Syria would attack from the north across the Golan Heights, and Egypt would attack across the Suez Canal into the Sinai Peninsula. On the Golan Heights a mere 180 Israeli tanks faced a Syrian force of 1400 tanks. In the southern front the situation was more dire, with around 500 Israeli soldiers and three tanks facing the combined arms of Egypt with around 600,000 soldiers, 2000 tanks and 550 aircraft.
Arabic, Muslim and Middle Eastern nations of Iraq, Morocco, Libya, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Algeria were supplying arms or soldiers to the fight within the first few days of the war. It is interesting to note that Jordan refused to enter the war properly and only sent 100 tanks and some artillery units to the Syrian front. The only ‘friend’ that Israel seemed to have during the Yom Kippur War was the US, who sent a continual stream of military supplies to Israel for the duration of the war. The British, who had at first pushed the idea of the Israeli/Jewish homeland had become extremely reluctant to help Israel since the Suez Crisis.
The attack not only surprised Israel, but it caught it totally off guard, and it took several days for the Israeli Defence Forces to make a counterattack on the southern and northern fronts. But the Israeli forces fought back vigorously. Between the 12th and 14th of October, over 1000 Israeli and Egyptian tanks fought one of the greatest tank versus tank battles in history. At one point 250 Egyptian tanks were destroyed within a 2-hour period. The Egyptian loses were significant in the air as well, with the Israeli Air Force downing nearly 200 Egyptian aircraft (and over 300 Arab nation aircraft by the end of the war). By the end of the 14th of October the Egyptian forces had been routed and forced back beyond the Suez Canal, and the Israeli forces were on their way to Cairo by the 18th of October.
On the northern front, the battles on the Golan Heights had been fierce, with the outnumbered Israeli forces standing their ground against their Syrian foes. By October 22nd, Israel held complete control of the Golan Heights once more. And like their southern front, the Israeli forces began to move on the Syrian capital of Damascus.
It was by the 22nd that the United Nations, with the US and the U.S.S.R threatening each other with war, that a ceasefire was offered and accepted by all the nations involved. It was a costly war for all nations involved – the Arabic coalition would lose around 19,000 soldiers and airmen, whilst the Israelis would lose a combined 2688 soldiers and airmen. The Yom Kippur War would serve as the catalyst for peace negotiations between Egypt and Israel, and later on, Jordan as well. It would be an ongoing process that would take several decades to achieve, to the pint that by 2023, with the horrific Hamas attacks on Israel, both Egypt and Jordan are peaceful neighbours with Israel.
ACTIONS AGAINST TERRORISM
Since the Jewish migration back into their ancient homeland in the late 1800’s, the Jewish people have faced Arabic terrorism. Prior to the formation of the state of Israel in 1948 there was no ‘military’ force to defend them, rather it was a collection of ‘security’ forces that protected villages, farms and kibbutz from Arabic attacks. From 1948 onwards there has been a systematic use of terror against the Israeli population (be they Jewish, Arab, Druze or Bedouin), often backed by nations like U.S.S.R (Russia now), Egypt, Syria, Iran and the like. This section will outline some of the most significant responses of the IDF to protect the people of Israel from being slaughtered by terrorists. There are, or have been, at least 10 Palestinian terrorist organisations, like Hamas, the PLO, Palestine Islamic Jihad and Fatah - that are from the Sunni sect of Islam. Hezbollah is a Lebanese terrorist organisation with its religious foundation in the Shi’ite sect of Islam.
Operation Litani – 1978[5]: PLO terrorists came through southern Lebanon and attacked an Israeli bus. In the end 35 civilians were killed, including 13 children. The IDF moved into southern Lebanon and attacked terrorist positions and camps. It was a short campaign aimed at relieving the pressure felt by Israel on the Lebanese border.
Operation Peace For Galilee – 1982-85[6]: Between 1978 and 1982 several back and forth exchanges between Israel and PLO terrorists who shelled civilian areas with artillery occurred. The PLO had been kicked out of Jordan and many of its forces had resettled in the southern regions of Lebanon. It was well known by the Lebanese leadership that members of the PLO had murdered, raped and tortured Lebanese civilians. Lebanon didn’t want a war with Israel and had signed a peace treaty with Israel by 1983. The regular attacks on Israeli settlements and villages increased the tensions along the border with Lebanon. This escalated in June of 1982 when the PLO tried to assassinate Israel’s Ambassador to Britain. The IDF retaliated and in response the PLO (using rockets provided by the U.S.S.R) shelled civilian areas of the Galilee region of Israel. Israel had enough and invaded southern Lebanon with the intension of forcing the PLO out of the region. There was bitter fighting in the area of Beirut, where over 4000 PLO terrorists had created a network of tunnels and infrastructure under civilian buildings (much like Hamas has done in Gaza in 2023). By September of 1982, a multinational force arrived to assist the PLO in leaving Lebanon. Israeli forces stayed behind in Lebanon to help the South Lebanese Army keep the peace within the region and wouldn’t leave until 1985, except for a small force of soldiers in a narrow band along the border that would remain in place until the year 2000.
The First Intifada – 1987-93[7]: The First Intifada (means uprising) started with a series of violent clashes and accidents were Israeli’s and Palestinians were killed. The PLO along with Muslim leadership in the Gazan mosques stirred up the people with revenge on their minds. The UN had shown that the reports of Israeli killings and targeting of Palestinian civilians were false. During the years of the ‘Intifada’, the PLO would release leaflets out into the Gaza strip, in which they would outline how violence towards the Israeli’s could be acted out. During this period of clashes, 16 Israeli civilians and 11 soldiers were killed, with 1400 civilians wounded along with 1700 IDF personnel. Over 1000 Palestinians were killed in the violence pushed by the PLO. The PLO did not limit its violence to the Israeli’s – it would seek out Palestinians who they deemed to be collaborators with the Israeli’s (this included any Palestinian who worked for Israel’s Palestinian Administration Dept). PLO death squads would eventually kill more of their own people that the clashes with the IDF did – they did it through stabbings, shooting, hacked with axes, and having acid poured over them while alive. This brutality would become a pattern of Palestinian ‘resistance’ with Israel.
Recent Terrorist Actions[8]: Between the year 2000 and now (2023) there were many terrorist incidents and actions against Israel. Hundreds and hundreds of Israeli civilians and soldiers have been killed through suicide bombings, shelling civilian areas with rockets, kidnappings, the destruction of property and the targeting of IDF personnel and bases. These actions have culminated in the single deadliest attack on its civilian populace in Israel since its independence in 1948. And it is the single largest massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust.
We can see that Israel has never had peace, and it will never have peace until Jesus the Messiah returns and makes his capital on Mount Zion, in Jerusalem. The next part will explore the prophecies of the role that Israel will play in the times leading up to the Second Coming Of Jesus.
[1] Jewish Virtual Library, (nd), Israel’s Wars & Operations: The War of Independence, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/israeli-war-of-independence
[2] Jewish Virtual Library, (nd), Israel’s Wars & Operations: The Sinai-Suez Campaign, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-sinai-suez-campaign
[3] Jewish Virtual Library, (nd), Israel’s Wars & Operations: The Six Day War - 1967, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-six-day-war#google_vignette
[4] Jewish Virtual Library, (nd), Israel’s Wars & Operations: The Yom Kippur War r - 1973, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-yom-kippur-war
[5] Jewish Virtual Library, (nd), Operation Litani, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/operation-litani
[6] Jewish Virtual Library, (nd), First Lebanon War, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/first-lebanon-war
[7] Jewish Virtual Library, (nd), The First Intifada, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/first-intifada
[8] Jewish Virtual Library, (nd), Israel’s Wars & Operations, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/israel-s-wars-and-operations