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In the spring of 1967, following close to a decade of relative calm, Israel found itself poised for war against four of its Arab neighbors. According to all the military analysts and pundits, it was to be a lopsided match. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) consisted of 275,000 troops, compared to the 456,000 soldiers of the combined Iraqi, Syrian, Jordanian and Egyptian armies. The united Arab forces also had a decided edge with regards to weaponry and military equipment: they boasted more than double the amount of tanks, and close to four times the amount of combat aircraft. The three-week period preceding the Six-Day War was one of dread, shock and fright for the residents of the Holy Land.
With close to two and a half million Jews living in the tiny country, it had the highest concentration of Jews since pre-Holocaust Eastern Europe. So pessimistic was the outlook that the nations cemeteries and national parks were marked to become gravesites for the many who would surely perish in the course of the war.
However, despite all the prognostications, by the time the war ended, the territory under Israeli control had tripled in size. Jews returned to sites where their ancestors had lived for thousands of years, sites from which waves of terror were launched against them for so many years. The casualties and losses were painful, but minimal in comparison to all projections. The Jewish nation was miraculously victorious in the face of unbelievable odds.
History books speak of the Hundred Years War, the Thirty Years War, and many other long-fought battles. Here, in a matter of six short days, a nation managed to utterly rout not one, but four powerful enemies!
Jews across the globe thanked G‑d for the great miracles that happened. An incredible sense of pride and spiritual awakening gripped the Jewish people worldwide.
May 28th , 1967...Panic and confusionIsrael was celebrating its Independence Day when the Israeli government received word that Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser was moving heavy artillery into the Sinai Desert. Additionally, large numbers of Egyptian forces were crossing the Suez Canal into the Sinai Desert. The Egyptian government had put its army on alert for an upcoming war. Syria and Jordan, too, moved into a state of alert and announced that they would not sit by idly if Israel attacked Egypt.
On the next day, the Egyptians instructed the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF), whose stated role was to serve as a buffer between Israel and Egypt, to leave the Sinai Desert. UNEF complied with this directive. A week later, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli vessels and any ships that transported military equipment to Israel. Israel considered this move an act of war.
One week earlier, Israel had called up all army reservists for active duty. News of the pact between Egypt, Syria and Jordan, effectively creating a noose around Israel’s borders, brought home to a frightened Israeli public the reality of an impending war. The media began discussing the prospects of a war with much bloodshed. The term “second Holocaust” was bandied around.
On the 27th of May, the Israeli government began instructing its citizens to prepare themselves for war, offering self-defense primers. Bomb shelters were prepared, and students dug bunkers across the land.
Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol delivered a national radio address in an attempt to calm the populace. Instead, he projected confusion and hesitancy. The Israeli public was in shock over the lack of confidence their prime minister demonstrated. The nation’s panic thickened.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of righteous memory made the speech on May 28: “The G‑d of Israel Does Not Slumber”As foreign embassies called for their citizens to immediately evacuate from Israel, and foreign airlines were contemplating terminating their flights to Israel, the Israeli daily Yediot Achronot carried a surprisingly uplifting headline: “G‑d Is Watching over the Holy Land, and Salvation Is Near,” the headline screamed. The article contained the Rebbe’s message: “There is no reason to be afraid, and there is no reason to frighten others. I am displeased with the exaggerations being disseminated and the panicking of the citizens in Israel . . .”
Newspapers across Israel, from Haaretz to Al Hamishmar, carried uplifting headlines in the Rebbe’s name. The Rebbe’s reassuring talk at the Lag BaOmer parade reached the studios of Israel’s national radio, Kol Yisrael, and was broadcast with simultaneous translation from the original Yiddish to Hebrew.
The media also made note of the fact that the Rebbe urged all foreigners who were in Israel to remain there.
The Rebbe’s reassuring voice brought calm to many people. In an interview with Davar following the Six-Day War, Israeli President Zalman Shazar said: “I did not doubt for a moment that we would be triumphant. The Rebbe called me, and it was clear that he had full faith that we would be victorious.”
That very same day, thousands of miles away in Brooklyn, New York, more than 20,000 children and adults gathered on the streets to celebrate the festive day of Lag BaOmer and Jewish unity. In his address to the gathering, the Lubavitcher Rebbe spoke forcefully about the situation in Israel. The Rebbe emphatically declared: “G‑d is guarding them and sending them His blessings and salvation in extraordinary measure. The people of Israel will emerge from the current situation with remarkable success.” ........He concluded by saying, “G‑d will extract the Jewish nation from all hardships with His full, open, holy and outstretched hand, and will bring them peace and tranquility . . .”
By 7:30 AM, two hundred Israeli Air Force (IAF) planes were in the air, heading towards Egyptian airbases. Though flying very low, so as not to be detected by the scores of Arab radar sites, a Jordanian radar facility detected an unusually large number of aircraft heading towards the sea. The officer on duty immediately sent a message, Inab, the codeword for war, to Jordan military headquarters in Amman. The message was encoded and passed on to Egypts defense minister in Cairo. Miraculously, however, the Egyptian coding frequencies had been changed the previous day, and the Jordanians had not been updated. That morning, with the element of surprise in their favor, the IAF obliterated six Egyptian airfieldstwo in Egypt proper and four in the Sinai Desertdestroying 204 Egyptian planes, half of their air force. Though Egypt had sufficient anti-aircraft ammunition to destroy all the attacking Israeli planes, miraculously, no order was given for these missiles to be launched. The Israelis accomplished their mission with practically no resistance.
The total air superiority achieved on the first day of the war drastically reduced the enemies combat abilities.
In the spring of 1967, the Arab capitals paraded their arms and openly spoke of overrunning the Land of Israel and casting its inhabitants into the sea. The international media was almost unanimous in its belief that the small Jewish state, outflanked and outgunned by its enemies, stood little chance of survival. It seemed that, for the second time in a generation, the world was going to stand by and allow the enemies of the Jewish people to slaughter them in the millions.
On Iyar 26 (June 5, 1967), Israel launched preemptive strikes on its southern and northern frontiers. In just six days, the Jewish army defeated five Arab armies on three fronts and liberated territories of its promised homeland amounting to an area greater than its own size, including the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount (see Today in Jewish History for Iyar 28).
The openly miraculous nature of Israels victory spawned a global awakening of the Jewish soul, fueling the already present and growing teshuvah movement of return to G‑d and Jewish traditions. The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, called it a moment of biblical proportions, an opportunity the likes of which has not been granted for thousands of years. Many thousands of Jews flocked to put on tefillin and pray at the newly liberated Western Wall of the Temple Mount.
IAF planes and pilots had now been involved in almost constant battle for twenty-four hours. The pilots were weary, and the aircraft low on ammunition and fuel. Inexplicably, the enemy did not take advantage of this weakness. Though in control of extensive forces in the Sinai Desert, and certainly capable of mounting a ferocious counterattack, Egyptian leaders were reduced to giving incoherent and disorganized instructions to their troops.
Israeli troops pressed on in the Sinai front. After capturing the Egyptian eastern outpost Abu-Ageila the day earlier, they now approached the heavily defended Kusseima outpost. As the Israelis drew near, they heard massive explosions. When they arrived they saw that the Egyptians, for no apparent reason, had destroyed their equipment and abandoned the base! As the day continued, it became clear that the Egyptians were hastily abandoning many of their outposts, some with all their supplies left behind.
Political pressure mounts as leading nations call upon Israel to accept a ceasefire proposed by King Hussein of Jordan. At the last moment, this ceasefire was nixed by the unwillingness of King Hussein to comply with the terms of the ceasefire he himself initiated! Indeed, the hearts of kings and rulers are in the hand of G‑d. This allowed the IDF to finish the task of completely annihilating the enemys military infrastructure, and to bring the Old City of Jerusalem under Israeli control.
The Old City had been under Jordanian control since 1948. For nineteen years Jews had been banned from visiting its holy sites, including the Western Wall, where Jews had prayed for thousands of years. On this day Jerusalem was reunited, and once again a united Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish people.
Hebron, a holy city that houses the resting place of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs. A city which in its recent past had boasted a sizable Jewish population and fifty-eight synagogues. But for some time now, Jews had been banned from living in this city, and its synagogues were destroyed. The IDF entering Hebron found white sheets hanging from the windows, and an Arab population surrendering peacefully. The war in the West Bank was concluded. Israel now had full control over the entire region.
After suffering significant casualties in the offensive to overtake the Golan Heights, Commander Musa Kleins platoon had only twenty-five men at his disposal. But they continued upwards.
When they reached Tel Fakhr, Klein ordered his men to charge the position, unaware that it was one of the most heavily fortified Syrian positions. It had bunkers, trenches and a double row of wire, along with an arsenal of antitank guns, machine guns and 82mm mortars. The handful of IDF soldiers were worse off than sitting ducks . . .
Syrian Captain Ahmad Ibrahim Khalili gave his men instructions not to fire until the Israelis reached the wire. In no time at all, however, it was too late. In the Syrians own words: The Jews are already inside, and weve taken heavy casualties. Commander Klein and his men were victorious, and continued up the Heights.
/QUOTE]
June 10 , 1967 (day six ) Golan Heights taken.
The Israelis were originally reluctant to invade the Golan Heights. It would be an uphill battle against a well-entrenched and fortified position, protected by an army of 75,000 Syrian troops. The Syrian troops and munitions were entrenched in deep bunkers which were immune to air attack. One noted Israeli general estimated that such a battle would cost the Israelis 30,000 lives. Incredibly, though, after only seven hours of heavy fighting on June 9th, IDF commanders established strongholds in the northern and central sectors of the Golan. The next morning dawned with the Israeli forces apprehensively awaiting another day of fierce fighting. The Syrians, however, had other plans. In a sudden panic, before the Israelis even approached their positions, they pulled out of the Golan and fled in total chaos, leaving most of their weaponry behind. The moutaintops that were strategically utilized to murder Jews in the Holy Land were now in the hands of the Israelis.
The final offensive was completed and, on that day, a ceasefire was signed.
June 14th , 1967... The wailing wall once again becomes the prevailing wall....
A euphoric and relieved Israeli population now awaited the day when they would once again be allowed to visit the Western Wall, the Kotel, in the Old City of Jerusalem. On the holiday of Shavuot, the holy site was opened for civilians. More than 200,000 came; they cried, prayed, and thanked G-d for His incredible miracles and salvation.
On the very next day, the Chabad-Lubavitch tefillin booth was established in the plaza facing the Wall. In its first year alone, one and a half million people donned tefillin at the Wall. The booth, now a permanent fixture of the Western Wall, is manned daily from shortly after dawn until dusk.
My favorite stories are the multitude of testimonies of angel sightings.
Miracles in the Six-Day War | Godssecret's Weblog
Reports of supernatural and angelic interventions on Israels behalf came from both the Israelis and the Arabs. The prophet Zechariah had foretold that in the end times, God will defend Israel and send His angels to fight for and with His people. Zechariah 12:8 In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the House of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.
A story is told of a small Jewish community, Pekiin under siege by Arabs who were determined to wipe them out. However, they encountered huge strange beings with flaming swords, and they ran away in great fear, as the astonished village rabbi watched them.
Gershon Salomon joined the IDF, he led a company in the Golan Heights. In 1958, in a battle with the Syrian Army, Mr. Salomon was injured accidently when, in the heat and confusion of battle, he was run over by a tank. Syrian soldiers are trained to shoot ”again” any wounded Israeli soldiers. When they were about to shoot ”again” Mr. Salomon, they all suddenly ran away. Later these Syrians soldiers reported to UN officers that they had seen thousands of angels around this IDF officer and had, therefore, fled. It was at this time that Mr. Salomon heard the voice of G-d speaking to him that He was not yet finished with him. Gershon Salomon understood this as a divine call to consecrate himself to the work of the Temple Mount.
“The Arabs were surprised; the fear of the Jews fell upon them. In Hevron, and in Shechem, in Jenin and in Jericho the Arabs were heavily armed. There was not even one small Arab village without arms. With great haste, the Arabs, however, hid their weapons and didn’t consider using them. They raised their hands up, and flew white flags of surrender from every edifice. The fear of G-d fell upon hundreds of thousands of proud Arabs, who were filled with hatred and loathing for Israel. Only yesterday, they had sworn to fight until their last drop of blood.”
Yisrael, a cab driver who was drafted to fight in the 6-Day War as part of the paratroop unit assigned with conquering the Straits of Tiran, told the following upon his return:
“The Israeli soldiers didn’t have to parachute out of the Nord airplanes which took them to the Tiran Straits. They landed like spoiled tourists in the airport, because the Egyptian regiment which was on guard there fled before the Israeli trips were visible on the horizon. After landing, I was sent with another reserves soldier, an electrician, to patrol the area. When we had distanced ourselves two kilometers, an Egyptian half track appeared before us filled with soldiers and mounted with machine guns on every side. We had only light weapons with a few bullets that couldn’t stop the half track for a second. We couldn’t turn back, so we stood there in despair, waited for the first shot, and for lack of a better idea, aimed our guns at them.
But the shots didn’t come.
The half track came to a halt, and we decided to cautiously approach it. We found 18 armed soldiers inside sitting with guns in hand, with a petrified look on their faces. They looked at us with great fear as though begging for mercy. I shouted ‘Hands up!’ As we were marching them and I had returned to a state of calm, I asked the Egyptian sergeant next to me, ‘Tell me, why didn’t you shoot at us?’ He answered, ‘I don’t know. My arms froze – they became paralyzed. My whole body was paralyzed, and I don’t know why.’
It turned out that these soldiers didn’t know that the Straits of Tiran were already in Israeli hands; why didn’t they elminiate us? I don’t have an answer. How can one say that G-d didn’t help us.”
Haaretz Newspaper’s Bottom Line
Following his blow-by-blow analysis, the military correspondent for the secular Haaretz Newspaper summed up the 6-Day War with the admission: “Even a non-religious person must admit this war was fought with help from heaven.”
A German journalist summarized: “Nothing like this has happened in history. A force including a 1000 tanks, hundreds of artillery cannons, many rockets and fighter jets, and a hundred thousand soldiers armed from head to toe was destroyed in two days in an area covering hundreds of kilometers filled with reinforced outposts and installations. And this victory was carried out by a force that lost many soldiers and much equipment, positions, and vehicles. No military logic or natural cause can explain this monumental occurrence.”
An Israeli military historian recorded that during the 1973 Yom Kippur war, an Israeli soldier in the Sinai took captive an Egyptian column and led them to where the Israeli troops were. The Egyptian commander was asked why he and his men gave themselves up to the lone Israeli soldier. He responded with surprise; ”One soldier? There were thousands of them.” He said that as they neared the Israeli lines, the ”soldiers” began disappearing. The Israeli soldier reported that he was by himself when the Egyptian commander and his men surrendered to him. He was totally unaware of the ”thousands of soldiers” the Egyptian soldiers saw with him, since he himself did not see them. Psalm 91:10-11 promises that ”No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling, For He shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.”
The documentary shows an eye witness account; Commander David Yinni, during the 1973 Yom Kippur war, preparing to retreat from the Syrian army, when he realised that he and his men were trapped in the middle of a minefield. He ordered his men to clear the mines using their bayonets, crawl on the ground and dig 30 inches deep, carefully disengaging the mines. The slightest mistake and they were in peril of being blown up. One of his men prayed. Suddenly, a windstorm came upon them. It was so strong that it lifted up their tanks and rocked them. By the time the storm moved on, it had literally blown 30 inches of topsoil off. The Israeli soldiers could see every single mine and quickly made their escape.
God’s protection over Israel is also for nations and people who believe in Him and worship Him as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
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