This week, on Wednesday, Israel will come to a standstill as most of the country will join Jews from around the world in marking, through fasting and prayer, ‘Yom Kippur’, Hebrew for the ‘Day of Atonement’. In addition to a Jewish plead for redemption of sins, many Israelis will also mark the 45th anniversary of the 1973′ Yom Kippur war, which saw a coalition of Arab states, led by Egypt and Syria, attack the state of Israel. The high death toll the Yom-Kippur-war exerted from the Jewish state has left a bitter reminder of the cost of an all-out-conflict. That said, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it also educated the Israeli leadership about the importance of executing pre-emptive strikes, in the face of imminent dangers. Netanyahu said that “This week we will mark, in synagogues and cemeteries, Yom Kippur, the holiest day of our people, and the day on which, 45 years ago, we absorbed a bloody attack that cost us thousands of victims. We must do everything to prevent war. Its victims destroy the lives of families and they are a gaping wound in the heart of the nation. However, if war is forced upon us, we must do everything to win with minimal losses. Forty-five years ago, intelligence erred by holding to a mistaken assessment regarding the war intentions of Egypt and Syria. When these intentions became clear beyond all doubt, and when the danger was on our very doorstep, the political leadership made a grievous mistake by not allowing a pre-emptive strike. We will never repeat this mistake.” To that end, the Israeli Prime Minister reiterated Jerusalem’s resolve to preserve its red-lines vis-a-vis Israel’s national security interests, among others, “to prevent” its enemies from arming themselves with advanced weaponry. According to the Israeli Prime Minister “Israel is constantly working to prevent our enemies from arming themselves with advanced weaponry. Our red lines are as sharp as ever and our determination to enforce them is stronger than ever.” The statement by Prime Minister Netanyahu came after Syrian reports, citing military sources, accused Israel, on Saturday night, of conducting a missile attack on the Damascus International Airport. While the Syrian reports only indicated that several of the Israeli missiles were shot down by Syrian air-defense systems, stopping short from revealing the target, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, claimed that the missile attack targeted an arms depot near the airport, where new weapons recently arrived for Iranian backed militias. In response to TV7’s request for comment, an IDF military spokeswoman said that Israel does not comment on foreign reports.
