Like every Yom Kippur, and this time even more so on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the war, we were exposed to the chanting of the mantra about Prime Minister Golda Meir's responsibility for the outbreak of the war. It is alleged that it received peace signals – some say peace proposals – and did not test them in negotiations, thereby ostensibly choosing a war that brought Israel to the brink of oblivion.
Many naively hold this claim. Few hold it on the premonition, absurd ideological assumption that we alone are the perpetrators of war with the Arabs by coming here. But for many on the "dovish" side of our political discourse, this claim serves as a weapon to deter their "hawkish" opponents: too firm a stand on Israel's needs and values (David Ben-Gurion, Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir and Menachem Begin are prominent examples) will, they claim, lead to the brink of destruction. We had better be humble and do what is asked of us, otherwise our fate will be the same as that of Israel in 1973.
Netanyahu is now being criticized for the alliance that may be forged with Saudi Arabia and the United States, because they fear that it will "bury" the Palestinian issue. According to the cliché of the "doves," if we insist on our strategic needs vis-à-vis the Palestinians, and do not allow them to abuse the state in order to fight against us, we will all be Golda, whom the "doves" in Israel have managed to hate on many. In other words, we will bring ourselves, God forbid, to the brink of destruction.
In this kitschy theater of destruction, Golda was cast as the evil witch, combined with distorting her socioeconomic path with a truncated quote from her words that the "Panthers" are not nice. However, the facts and their assessment are completely different from the manipulative painting presented to us.
First, Israel achieved a decisive strategic victory in the Yom Kippur War. Under the best conditions, Egypt has proven its military weakness, stemming from its difficulty in coping with the challenges of modernity. Prior to that, there had been three military victories (1948, 1956, 1970-1967), but it was not until 1973 that Egypt, the Arab leader, suffered a decisive strategic defeat, until it was finally (not immediately) forced to completely change its national strategy. A few years passed after the defeat of 1973, and only at their conclusion, in 1977, did Egypt realize that Sinai would be returned to it only in a separate peace with Israel.
Second, as Mordechai Gazit, Hagai Soref, Yoav Gelber, and more recently Dan Schifften have shown (in a long essay about to be published), Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's political moves in the years preceding October 73 were nothing but part of Egypt's struggle against Israel against the Arabs. Schifften conclusively proves that these moves did not at all preclude Sadat's strategic decision to establish a separate peace with Israel, and that this decision did not take place before 1977. Begin, along with Moshe Dayan, rightly exploited the results of Israel's strategic victory under Golda (and with it Dayan).
For many on the "dovish" side of our political discourse, the claim that Prime Minister Golda Meir was responsible for the outbreak of war serves as a weapon to deter their "hawkish" opponents: too firm a stand on Israel's needs and values will, they claim, lead to the brink of destruction
The delegitimization ceremony that takes place here every autumn for Golda must be understood in its internal political context.
The Yom Kippur War led to a victory for the "doves" in the labor movement. Until then, they had been an influential minority, yet a minority. Gradually from 1974, and even more so from 1977, they took over the labor movement. With the Oslo Accords in 1994, they completely eliminated their "hawkish" rivals. The movement dying before our eyes today is the new Greek labor movement that emerged gradually from the mid-70s. The routine of ceremonies for the expulsion of the "witch" that take place here ahead of Yom Kippur is intended to ensure the burial of the political outlook of Ben-Gurion and his two successors, Eshkol and Golda.
Extricating ourselves from this poor propaganda is a condition for the future revival of the labor movement and, more importantly, a condition for the health of strategic thought for all of us.
Correcting a mistake: I claimed on air that MK and retired Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot threatened civil war. I made a mistake because he was mixed up with another public figure, and I apologize for that.
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