Memories of four of Israel's wars - opinion

“It is evil things we shall be fighting against: brute force, bad faith, injustice, oppression, and persecution.” – British prime minister Neville Chamberlain, 1939

Because of my advanced age, as a nonagenarian it is inevitable that I have lived through many wars. 

It was in World War II, as a young child, that the horror of war was first brought home to me. The youngest of five siblings, my world was shattered when my two brothers joined the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) and disappeared from my life – Phil to Papua, New Guinea; Athol first to Canada for training, then to London to join the RAF (Royal Air Force); my sister Bobbie (Roberta) to Queensland to work with radar in the AWAS (Australian Women’s Army Service).

My brother Athol was never to return – shot down over Tobruk by Rommel’s forces. It was his 30th and last flight – if he had survived, he was to be sent back to Australia as an instructor. We never had any closure, as his body was never found – officially “Missing, presumed dead.” My mother went on looking for him the rest of her life, imagining he’d been taken prisoner and had lost his memory. She never stopped searching the faces of young men we passed in the street. 

My best friend Esme was playing at my house when her father came to get her. His son Roger was a Japanese prisoner of war and when they surrendered, her family rejoiced that he would be coming home; but on the last day, they beheaded all their prisoners. 

Esme’s father and my father had never met before, but I still remember them hugging and sobbing for the beloved sons they would never see again.

THE SIX DAY WAR – June 10, 1967

This was a miracle, ending in a decisive victory for Israel. In Australia, we read about the capture of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Old City of Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. Responding to the mobilization of its Arab neighbors on the morning of June 5, Israel staged an air assault that destroyed 90% of Egypt’s air force on the tarmac, and a similar attack on the Syrian air force. An eastern front was also opened on June 5, when Jordan began shelling west Jerusalem and was faced with a crushing Israeli counter-attack. 

On June 9, Israel attacked the Golan Heights, capturing it from Syria after heavy fighting. It was a decisive victory for Israel. Although still in Australia and not yet even considering aliyah, we rejoiced with the Jewish community at the miracle of Israel’s victory over evil, while mourning those who fell in its defense.

YOM KIPPUR WAR – October 6, 1973

On October 6, 1973, I was in synagogue. Like everyone else in the women’s section, I was suddenly puzzled when we saw men entering and talking quietly. Suddenly, our menfolk were removing their prayer shawls and leaving to waiting jeeps outside. We later learned from prime minister Golda Meir’s broadcast that shortly before 2 p.m., the armies of Egypt and Syria started an offensive against Israel, launching a series of air, armored, and artillery attacks in Sinai and the Golan Heights. 

My husband and I had made aliyah only two years earlier with our four children. I had come very reluctantly, heartbroken at leaving my elderly mother, siblings, a comfortable lifestyle, my writing career… all behind me in Melbourne. But something also happened to me on that fateful day. I suddenly stopped thinking just of me. I saw a nation drawing together – a family, and we were part of it. 

We mourned together every Israeli soldier who fell; we rejoiced together the smallest victories – it was no longer “them and us”:. I became bonded to this brave little land that has captured my soul and never let it go. 

A ceasefire was accepted by Israel and Egypt on the 17th day of the war, but shooting continued at the Suez Canal front. The Agranat Commission was established to examine the intelligence failure that led to the surprise attack on the holiest day of the Jewish year.

‘PEACE FOR GALILEE’ – 1982

This was a war I was personally involved in for a very brief stint. Working for the World Zionist Press Service, I went to Lebanon as a war correspondent with my editor Dan Leon and photographer Douglas Guthrie to write a series of articles, “Voices of Lebanon,” which were distributed free in several languages to newspapers around the world. Only the Jewish newspapers published them. 

It was in Lebanon that I understood the meaning of duplicity. Foreign media were photographing war damage so old that sometimes trees were growing out of them, and ascribing it to Israel. At the same time, across the road, wonderful Israeli soldiers were watering cherry trees in the orchards from where the residents had fled, so that the trees wouldn’t die. 

When I asked a German and a Swedish TV team why they didn’t film that, they replied: “No, that’s not what our editors want.”

SIMCHAT TORAH – October 7, 2023

The most horrifying war of all. We were taken completely by surprise – no intelligence warning at all. Eventually I suppose we will be informed of how such a thing happened. Didn’t we learn anything from the Yom Kippur War in 1973? The images from the massacre by Hamas will never leave our consciousness. The depths of their bestiality and depravity will remain with us forever. 

I have six grandsons serving somewhere, and a 67-year-old son-in-law, a doctor, tending the wounded at some army base. 

I can’t sleep, so I watch the TV news in the middle of the night, praying hard for our captives in Gaza. Like everyone else, I feel so helpless and afraid for family members living in areas where rockets are falling. 

All we can do is pray.

“In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers.” – Neville Chamberlain, 1938 ❖

The writer is the author of 14 books. She can be contacted at dwaysman@gmail.com