The Jewish Story: Six Day War, part IV: The Waiting

being terrified but going ahead and doing what must be done says author appears Anthony that's courage the one who feels no fear is a fool and the one who lets fear rule him is a coward why I'd like to believe that I am NOT a fool and God forbid anyone should ever call me a coward I'm Rob Mike Feuer and this is the Jewish story so we are almost there you hear the clock tick unity the pressure mounting and in this episode we're going to walk right up to the brink of war and when I think about such a terrifying and awesome event I think a lot about the courage bound up with the needs of the hour courage is a fascinating idea to me I mean where does it come from this capacity within the human spirit to overcome what the rational mind tells you is a terrible chance of survival not only that but I think a lot about the courage embedded in our history about being Durance which it takes to consistently overcome the obstacles life puts in our way in pursuit of the things which we believe are most sacred and when I start do a little bit of research about what courage actually is I found that in Western culture the idea reaches its first crystallization in Plato's early writings and there he calls it a sort of endurance of the soul and you know despite the fact that we in the Greeks parted ways long ago if anybody makes the bridge it's certainly Plato and that's a very Jewish notion that courage is an endurance of the soul that that pure essence the embodiment of the divine element within human existence is what gives us the ability to overcome all the challenges physical emotional mental and even spiritual you know and of course it's not a surprise that the origin of the word in Latin is from coal right meaning heart that somehow courage means that you lead from the heart that the head will get itself wrapped up in fear sometimes and find itself paralyzed in the face of events in its ability to make a decision but you can rely on the heart to know and push forward another piece of what courage is or that I found in my research at least actually it comes from a completely different culture from the daodejing of Lao Tzu and he says from caring comes courage where do we get courage from when we feel that that which matters to us most is under threat think of the mother bear defending the Cubs think of the amazing things that were all capable of in the name of love is a very important idea because it tells us that the powers of the human spirit don't always find their most powerful focus within the mind sometimes like I said the heart has to lead the way and of course since this is the Jewish story I would be remiss if I didn't point out the origin of the word omens which is the Hebrew for courage and where it shows up first in our own tradition the omotchama Schnee going boo beatnik which nato meme then may i you Padre - this is pre sheet Genesis 25 3 if you want to look it up it's God's answer - rifki when she has unknownst to her twins in her stomach and she feels the ruckus going on in her womb and she goes to ask what's going on and she learns that two nations are in your womb two separate peoples shall issue from your body liudmila uma Emmett's the Ravi I'll vote here right and one people shall be mightier than the other they shall over come em mats and the older shall serve the younger now if you're familiar with this verse this verse is speaking about Jacob and a sub Yaakov Anissa before they were ever born it's the titanic struggle within the jewish soul and within that aspect of the world soul embodied by the jews between these two phases of what humanity might be i don't want to go too far with that right now if you're curious i believe i could find you a rather long discourse i've given on this idea but what i will point out is that it's significant to me that the first appearance of the word of the umma which means nation in modern hebrew Mutis nationalism in the umma is the nation the first appearance of the word legume and the root which becomes courage they come gather in the same verse which sets the stage for the national struggle that I'm Israel is still fighting to this very day here in the verse issues in the sense of struggle when people shall overcome the other and I think that gives us an idea of the essential Hebrew definition of courage it's the power to struggle no matter what the odds or situation it's that power to continue to strive even when every aspect of the rational mind tells you you have lost the game it's an inner fortitude it's really our inheritance from Avraham Avinu think about the courage it must have taken to stand on one side and declare God's unity while the whole world stood opposite him mired in the illusion of idolatry this type of courage is a readiness to enter the fray even when the odds are beyond grim it's a readiness that doesn't just help an individual or people to overcome ultimately is meant to serve as a moral compass for the world and that's because beyond simple perseverance or even deep care courage is ultimately a commitment to something larger and more important than whatever obstacles I may face and even larger and more important than myself and it's that commitment and the clarity of heart which it provides which allows us to weld individuals together into a people and gives those people a power to take actions which can create a whole new world the noose is closing around our necks these were the words that greeted foreign minister Abba Eban as he walked into the cabinet meeting of May 27th 1967 even saw that chief of staff you talk about being who was speaking when he entered was looking more than a little bit wild around the eyes he didn't know that her being had just recovered from nicotine poisoning that was the story put out to explain the minor nervous breakdown that ravine a chain smoker had suffered in the wake of Israel's failure to respond immediately to the closing of the straits he actually had to be moved from his command for a few days has even looked around the room he quickly sensed with the eye of a seasoned diplomat that he had returned to a house divided and that in many ways mirrored his own thoughts since his conversation with President Johnson little more than a day before even had traveled a third of the way around the world constantly buffeted by two thoughts on one hand the Americans had refused Israel's request for a joint US military liaison and even even suggestion of a press announcement which emphasized American commitment to Israeli security had been turned down and that left him with little doubt and in any fight to come Israel stood alone on the other hand the president's friendly welcome he's promised that quote the president the Congress and the country will support a plan to use enemy or all measures to open the Straits held out hope to him that the regatta plan was a viable international approach if they could break the blockade of the Straits to Tehran it even eyes the causes bail I would be removed and war could be headed off all together but just as he was leaving for the airport ABBA even received a visit from UN Ambassador Arthur Goldberg who as we've noted was not only the ambassador of the UN but as a close personal adviser of Johnson and it seemed to be at first an unofficial communication from one Zionist to another as it were Goldberg warned him against relying on what he called the rather impetuous remarks of Johnson's advisors who were pushing to break the blockade the Ambassador was convinced that no other nations in the end were going to join that Regatta plan and he told even bluntly because lives are going to be lost and your security is involved to tell your cabinet that the president's statement means a joint resolution of Congress and the president can't get such a resolution because of the Vietnam War or as President Johnson himself had said eppie Efron only two days before I Lyndon Johnson have to get congressional approval if I want to act as president of United States otherwise I'm just a six foot four Texan friend of Israel but then Goldberg gave the Foreign Minister a note from Secretary of State Dean Rusk clearly this wasn't entirely an unofficial visit its last line was meant to make the American position crystalline Israel will not be alone unless it decides to go alone the general feeling amongst Rusk Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and the other senior advisors was that Israel could and indeed must absorb the first blow in any coming conflict their estimation was that she would survive and even emerge victorious which is easy for them to say their fear was that a preemptive strike would bring the Soviet Union in on the side of the Arabs and that the u.s. then might be drawn in as well risking a direct super conflict which in 1967 was the bugbear of everybody's nightmares so Israel's only major ally at this point was actually tying her hands beasts were the thoughts swirling through even's mind as he was whisked off the plane and Tel Aviv and rushed straight into the cabinet meeting in his diary later the Prime Minister's military attache Israeli or called it the longest night the room filled with smoke and the smell of sweat as 18 cabinet ministers gathered through the night to discuss the fate of their nation on one side those who firmly opposed any pre-emptive strike led by the national religious party had hi Moshe Shapiro's who actually threatened to quit the government where the cabinet to vote for war on the other side was the army whose intelligence warned not only of inevitable war but of the disastrous consequences if they failed to strike first and now outside the streets were filled with the mothers and wives of mobilized soldiers even and heard them as the exodus car calling for Esquiva stepped down as defense minister and begging him to be replaced with Moshe Dayan and over everything hung the assessment that every day of hesitation drained the country of another 20 million dollars in mobilizing costs alone and once the war broke out would result in thousands of additional casualties the question on the table when he entered was whether to declare war that very night and as I said into the middle of it all stepped foreign minister Javad even his meeting with President Johnson was from many in the room the last hope for salvation and so he was greeted with urgent cries first even handed over the written protocols of all of his Washington meetings and then he proceeded to detail his understanding of their position which was in a nutshell hold fast and wait for President Johnson to come through on the Regatta plan even left ambassador Goldberg's warnings about the impossibility of gaming congressional approval off the record I mean after all they've been given off the record he focused rather on the president's firm commitment to breaking the blockade and his unequivocal opposition to an Israeli first strike in conclusion which is of course how he spoke the foreign minister recommended that the army hold fast for the few weeks who would take the muster international support for the regatta plan when he was done a representative the general staff left up to push back warning that beyond the costs of holding the mobilization to hesitate any longer would be to lose any remaining respect that Israel held in the eyes of the world but even cut him down with a few words there are no widows or orphans from prestige he said in his eyes the world would only respect them if they acted in self-defense and that meant not striking the first blow now The ministers began to chime in some questioned the army a certain Israel was too weak to fight the Arab world without American support hi Moshe Shapiro's declared I had more confidence in the American promises than I do in the IDF's ability to break the Egyptian army others declare that the IDF was their only hope Israel can only be saved by destroying Egypt's power said Minister of Transportation Moshe Carmel in a strikingly historical reference anyone who says we can't stand alone is saying that we can't exist here finance minister pin Costas up here didn't take a clear stance he only added a grim warning it's hard to create a state he said but easy to lose one and then you got alone put his finger on the raw nerve underlying their debate does anyone around this table he said really think that we should let the enemy strike first just to prove to the world that they started it and if you've been reading the news for the last I don't know the year you know that this question hasn't gone away it was there in 73 in Lebanon it's there in Gaza now we wouldn't have allowed a massive army dedicated to our destruction to position itself on our northern border if there weren't a huge element in our national psyche which wants the world to believe were right and is willing to take terrible blows to prove it so now remember courage is more than the ability to push through fear it's a clarity of heart which allows for right action in complex situations so the cabinet was split the army was decided for war and Prime Minister lady ash coal needed to make a decision at 4:00 in the morning worn out and depressed he called a recess in order to give everyone a few hours of sleep before voting and the Prime Minister dismissed his colleagues with the following words we must decide in whose hands we will place this generation into fates America's or into chuvakin that was the Soviet ambassador now it's noteworthy of the Cold War context that he mentioned America and the Soviets and left the United Nations out but it's even more noteworthy and frankly to me heartbreaking to hear whose hands were missing from that evaluation meet America Russia lay on Israel where is God now I know it may sound like we finally reached decision time but once again s goal Saved by the Bell during the recess to top-secret telegrams arrived from Washington the first was basically repetition of Alba evens report that the president was willing to pursue quote any and all means in his power to reopen the Straits and the other was a warning hand-deliver by the American ambassador himself it read it is essential that Israel not take any pre-emptive military action and thereby make itself responsible for the initiation of hostilities pre-emptive action by Israel would make it impossible for the Friends of Israel to stand at your side those words were enough to tip the balance when the ministers saw them upon reconvening the evenly split and though Prime Minister SQL actually sided with those in favor of declaring war the decision was taken to wait for up to three weeks for the u.s. to act on its promises and so our luck picks on while the cabinet was debating the country was gripped by a sense of siege many who could leave did leave the grim jokes about a sign hung up in Lord International Airport which read last one out please turn off the lights those who remain dug in often literally winders were taped as reinforcement against bomb blasts sandbags were filled on street corners Niharika disha the religious burial societies began consecrating parks in tel aviv as emergency cemeteries and timber yards had been instructed to ready coffin boards for the expected tens of thousands of dead in the midst of all these grim preparations the announcement was made that Prime Minister Eshkol was going to address the nation as cold made the decision when he left the cabinet meeting knowing that despite his exhaustion despite the cold which he suffered despite his lack of skill as a public speaker the people of Israel needed leadership now this was a generation which had been raised on the speeches of Angkorian and Menachem Bagan who had witnessed Churchill's famous declaration a defiant courage after the defeat at Dunkirk we shall go to the end whatever the cost may be we shall fight on the beaches we shall fight in the fields and in the streets we shall fight in the Hills we shall never surrender and it's in moments like these that national courage finds its voice but unfortunately for the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who tuned in to hear the address lay the Eshkol had more or less lost his amidst the costs and the shuffling of papers astragal sought to explain the situation to the nation he described the massing Arab armies in the blockade of a lot attempting then to explain the government's decision to wait on the american-led a regatta plan as he spoke the Prime Minister seemed to come more confused never a dynamic speaker began to mumble seeming to lose his place or perhaps even his train of thought and as he struggled his coffin grew worse until finally was half-hearted phrases about responsible decision-making national unity he signed off the nation was stunned news stories later would tell the story of how Arabs rejoice while the soldiers in the trenches of Israel smashed their radios and broke down into tears aside from the disastrous delivery which shook the confidence of everyone listening the nation was horrified that Israel had actually placed its fate in the hands of another country it is amazing wrote calmness is EV shift the next day how a people who suffered a Holocaust is willing to believe and endanger itself once again the calls were s Cole's resignation mushroomed and the day after the speech Haaretz at the time Israel's leading daily paper wrote the following if we could truly believe the ESCO was capable of navigating the ship of state in these crucial days we would willingly follow him but we have no such belief after his radio address last night the proposal that ben-gurion be entrusted with the Premiership and Moshe Dayan with the Ministry of Defence seems to us a wise one the failed speech was only the beginning for the Prime Minister his day was about to go from bad to worse leaving the broadcast studio Asheville headed for the pit as the Tel Aviv headquarters of the General Staff was known he now had to inform the army of the results of the cabinet deliberations and he knew they weren't going to be happening and he wasn't wrong with our own hands we've destroyed our most powerful weapon the enemy's fear of us shouted general or else ruin when he heard the decision we will have to pay a far higher price in the future for something that we in any case have to do now the people of Israel are ready to wait a just war the people understand and feel that they have to pay the price the problem is not the Straits the problem is the survival of the people of Israel Sharon was seconded by all others present they all agreed that the government was abandoning its historic duty and endangering the state the argument grew so heated that Colonel Israeli or later recorded that there was more than one moment in which he feared the Prime Minister might be ousted by his own army or else collapse in the face of physical and mental exhaustion but the truth is as the days of head will prove as coal was made of far sterner stuff than any of them guessed he'd taken his decision and he was going to carry it through it is not politically diplomatically and even morally logical to start a war he declared we now have to restrain ourselves and to maintain our forces for a week or two or even longer he went on to outline the regatta plan and the sizing America's commitment to breaking the blockade and warned of the vast losses financial material human the Israel might suffer in war I understand you commanders are discontented but maturity dictates that we stand up to this test in two weeks the Straits will still be closed and we'll be in a worse situation charge made a general you Shia Gabi SHhhh chief of the Southern Command more of our men will die then the chief of Central Command Major General losing our keys added another concern problem lies not with us but with the younger generation they'll never understand why the idea did not attack and then finally Major General Aaron Yariv chief of intelligence made the most pointed accusation Israel cannot expect anybody else to do its dirty work we alone can break the stranglehold tightening around us ESCO absorbed their blows for over an hour but like I said he stood his ground he reminded the generals the IDF had not been created for waging Wars of choice and that the mere presence of Egyptian army and Sinai was insufficient grounds for a pre-emptive attack deterrence means having patience insisted endurance and in the end the Prime Minister prevailed and with him by the way Israeli democracy it takes a vast personal courage to stand up to such an assault I wonder if ash Cole had a sense that the fate of civil government altogether in Israel hung in the balance I mean the original commander album eupbs assertion that quote the IDF was created to defend the state but the government is not letting the army carry out its mission a mission that the people want that might have been the beginning of the end as soon as the military sees the government as an pediment to achieving its mission no matter how noble or necessary that mission may be the clock is ticking on democratic governance but as I said Asheville prevailed and the countdown of the waiting period continued if we look at it closely the weeks between May 23rd and the Straits a trend were closed and June 5th when war finally broke out they can teach us much about the nature of both international diplomacy and national fortitude first we can't forget the Cold War because the American Soviet struggle is playing out all over the world through its proxies and at this point the Middle East is only really beginning to fall in line with that division from the outset the Americans had seen this crisis as made in the USSR as the CIA director Richard Helms said in a brief note prepared for the White House on May 23rd unrest and tension are and have been exceptionally useful to the Soviets in their attempt to erode Western influence in the Middle East at the end of the waiting period the Egyptians had completely hitched their wagons to the Soviets by June 2nd field marshal abdel hakim imir deputy supreme commander of egypt's armed forces was writing to his troops in view of the strong position of the government of the Soviet Union and its readiness to intervene immediately if any big power should go to war against Egypt it is no longer to be expected under any circumstances that the United States government should join in a military adventure on Israel's side accordingly and here's the key I have completed my plans and issued my orders for the organization of the operation meaning Egypt was willing to go to war because it felt the Soviet Union had its back I mean even the rhetoric coming out of Moscow had taken a violent turn attacking quote the reckless activity initiated by war mongering circles in Israel and warning of grave consequences that result from any Israeli aggression so that's the Cold War meanwhile the organs of international diplomacy had rolled over and played dead already when Secretary General Ruth on acquiesce to Egypt's expulsion of the UN's emergency force in Sinai of course and it was never to revive never survive that is until after Israel won the war and it came time to rollback her achievements by the beginning of June the Secretary had all but given up efforts at mediation between Israel and Egypt and the Soviets obstructed any Security Council efforts to do the same meanwhile IDF intelligence reported that yet another Egyptian armoured division had entered the Sinai not only that but that the Sudanese Iraqi and Kuwaiti troops were all in route to the front the Syrian forces were poised to invade the Galil furthermore units of the Palestine Liberation Army had taken up those former UN emergency forest positions along the Gaza border when they were questioned by reporters about the potential fate that Israelis could expect after the Arabs won the coming war which they all expected would be quick PLO chairman Ahmad Shikari replied the following those who survived will remain in Palestine I estimate that none of them will survive president Abdul Rahman Muhammad RF of Iraq was no less clear the existence of Israel is an error that must be rectified this is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948 our goal is clear to wipe Israel off the face of the map we shall God willing meet in Tel Aviv and Haifa air preparations for war actually climax quite early on May 30th when King Hussein of Jordan last of the moderates but if you recall undermined by Israel's actions before the war broke out signed the mutual defense pact with Egypt a pact that placed his army directly under Cairo's command he returned from Cairo to Amman with a troop of Egyptian commandos ready for action and declared quote all of the Arab armies now surround Israel and these words were no exaggeration by June 1st Israel faced armies totaling some four hundred and sixty-five thousand men nearly three thousand tanks eight hundred and ten planes all staged on three fronts this is a force several times the size of the IBF now many subsequent historians have tried to undermine the image of David and Goliath which is so central to the way in which Israel perceives this battle and point out that despite those numbers many of the Arab armies were ill-equipped poorly trained and perhaps not ready for battle on one hand I don't have access to the first-hand documents and I know enough to know that there's always two sides to every story but I'll point out something very simple whatever a historian in 1998 or 2003 etc is able to glean from their analysis of the documents was unavailable to much of the Israeli populace and even to the intelligence of the IDF the assumption was that they were facing destruction and in case they didn't believe it the very day on which the mutual defense pact was signed Nasser made the following declaration to the Egyptian popular council we are ready to settle the problem of Palestine it is we who will decide the time in the place of the battle and we will not leave the decision to Israel as was the case in 1948 meanwhile the blockade of the straits of Tehran had begun to take its toll adding shortages of oil and essential food items to the mental and financial strain of mobilization for a few more days after that fateful cabinet meeting Prime Minister Eshkol pinned all his hopes on President Johnson's promises of an International Regatta but sooner rather than later news reached him that the plan had foundered at sea nations who at first seemed supportive written the dodge the Canadians had quickly backed off fearing the economic and political results of backing Israel especially considering the power of the Middle Eastern oil producers the truth finally struck home final proof of the regatta plans failure came in the form of an exchange of messages between Prime Minister Eshkol and President Johnson the Prime Minister wired the White House welcoming Jonathan's pledge to open the Straits by all and every means and he reminded him that Israel fully expected that that meant any Egyptian attempt to block the international convoy would be answered with naval power the president quickly instructed his advisors to inform Israeli ambassador album Harmon that the United States could and would in no way fulfill such a commitment meaning that the international plan was dead in the water the Ambassador pleaded with the Americans asked him to recall foreign minister Abba Eban 'z fateful move when he'd restrained his own government from war on the strength of Johnson's word what you've told me now will be received with great bitterness in Israel he said and will certainly generate momentum for unilateral move the Israeli public cannot stand it any longer and that was true on the very day of the exchange of those messages IDF operations chief Ezra Weitzman burst into the prime minister's office and shouted if you give the order Jewish history will market was a great leader if you don't it will never forgive you in that moment justice minister Yago simcha Shapiro who was present burst out into tears at this point a school finally gave in to pressure and accepted the need for a national unity government opposition leader Menachem Begin Zaha and ben-gurion 's Rafi party joined the new government and both agreed on the condition that Moshe Dayan become defense minister the coalition now counted for a hundred and eleven out of the hundred and twenty seats and Knesset an unprecedented display of national consensus though s goal gave up in the title defense minister he didn't abandon his determination to set policy on these crucial questions and therefore he extracted from Diana promised not to approve any operations beyond the general war plan sanctioned by the Cabinet and as a further counterweight to Dayan Ashkelon listen.you Galia dean the IDF's legendary second chief of staff as his special advisor on defense well as soon as he took his seat they on wanted to attack at once but the Prime Minister was still determined to maximize American sympathy exhausting every diplomatic channel he met once again with the IDF general staff on June 2nd urging restraint and was again a greeted with harsh words from our weak Sharon who told him that he was kowtow to the powers we want to survive here we have to stand up for our rights her own declared undaunted the Prime Minister mind him that this very same cow towing at to Israel the arms it now needed to defend itself and then he said words which will echo down through time in a country of two million souls we have to ask ourselves if we have to fight every ten years will we have an ally to help us can we consult with an ally today and tomorrow say we thumb our noses at you in reality unbeknownst to the army Ashkelon dejan had already agreed in principle they would attack the following Monday June 5th the goals were to be eliminating Egypt's Air Force and its military presence east of the Midland Gibby passes in the Sinai there would be no advance the Suez Canal no probe into the West Bank or up onto the Golan plateau now all they waited was a final impression of the American stance which was to be delivered by Mossad chief mérimée due to return from Washington that very night when the cabinet met on Sunday June 4th it was clear that decision time had arrived uncertainty still hung over that vital question whether the United States would condemn or condone a preemptive strike and no one knew for sure how far the Soviets would be willing to go in their reaction but one thing was clear the time for waiting was over the unbearable strain the mounting cost and the erosion of the last shreds of Israeli deterrence were forcing their hands and as our ichirin had shouted the Prime Minister less than a week before the problem at hand was the survival of the people of Israel now lady ASCO wasn't flying completely blind in regard to the u.s. though the messages which he received receiving came through multiple channels and they were complex and even somewhat contradictory Mossad head Mara Meade had returned from Washington with an important information immediate met with more than 30 American intelligence and security experts including Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Richard Helms the director of the CIA and in every meeting a me did his best to be as provocative as possible telling Americans that he intended to go back and recommend war and what he found was that there was no strong American opposition to unilateral Israeli military action least amongst the professional class on the contrary in his joint meeting with Helms and McNamara a meet was received warmly they listened closely to his explanation of why Israel had to strike first and now and they raised no objections I read you loud and clear is what McNamara had to say his evaluation was confirmed once again by UN Ambassador Arthur Goldberg who quietly told to me that the president knew they had no choice and one has to defend themselves but for Prime Minister Levi Eshkol the real vindication came from Supreme Court justice Abe Fortas another Jewish friend of Johnson he told epi Efron director of the mission at the Israeli embassy ash : even did a great service to Israel by giving the u.s. a chance to explore options other than Israeli force if they had not done so it would have been difficult to secure the president sympathy in considering the coming 50 years a special relationship between the two nations those are words that carry real weight Amit's report together with the rapidly disintegrating situation where enough to convince Foreign Minister Alba even who led the opposition to the war that the time had finally come it was enough for him that the United States appeared to be staunchly behind in Israeli attack now oddly enough a meet himself seemed to balk at the last minute recommending that they send a ship through the Straits first to draw Egyptian fire and thus technically avoid shooting the first shot but he was shut down by defense minister Moshe Dayan whoever ways to the Egyptians to start the war has got to know that we'll lose the Land of Israel and his voice raised to a shout as he added it's lunacy to wait hi Moshe Shapiro's a continued all-out sighting Bangor Ian's doctrine of never going to war without an ally amongst the great powers but Diane dismissed this as well then let Bank green go and find us an ally I'm not sure we'll still be alive ugalla loans words were the last amongst the minister and he counseled against further delays closing with these fateful words the world will condemn us but we will survive finally the Prime Minister rose to speak for almost three weeks he'd played for time chased diplomatic fantasies resisted enormous pressure from within his government suffered relentless scorn from the press in the public Nash coal may have lacked the charisma ben-gurion or Diane's heroic flair but it takes a certain type of leader who can stand steadfast in such a situation and now in this final moment the knowledge that Israel had done all it could have proven that war was the only choice created consensus in his cabinet and ultimately in the nation others might have relished the moment taking their time to review the painful but necessary process of the previous week's in pointing out that it was his temperance which had won the support of a superpower support that was going to prove crucial not only in the coming days of wars but in its aftermath but that wasn't lately Eshkol he said simply I'm convinced that today we must give the order to the IDF to choose the time and manner in which to act and with that the discussion was over the following proposal was presented for a vote it is therefore decided to launch a military strike aimed at liberating Israel from encirclement and preventing the impending assault by the United Arab armies 12 ministers voted in favor and at first two against from the left-wing party ma palm but Eskil insisted on another round and they subsequently changed the positions providing him with the unity he had striven for and so after three unbearable weeks the waiting period was over Israel had decided to go it alone I want to thank a few folks reply sign off on it thank all the folks who give their hard-earned money help make this show possible to keep it out there free and widely available I want to encourage you to join them and go right now to my website at www.utahparentcenter.org put your money where your here's our people if that's a little bit too much you can also contact me at Rob Mike Feuer at gmail.com or at Facebook Rob Mike Feuer and I'm happy to share with you the details about how you can dedicate a show in honor or someone who's with you today or the memory of those who pass I also want to thank the land of Israel that's the Land of Israel dot-com for creating a platform that allows me to meet so many amazing people want to thank the partes Institute dar es org not al revealing an educational institution that gives me the pillage of teaching so many fantastic views I want to thank you for listening I'm ruff my foyer