Moshe Dayan

Yom Kippur War (1973)

After Golda Meir became Prime Minister in 1969 following the death of Levi Eshkol, Dayan remained Minister of Defense. He was still in that post when the Yom Kippur War began catastrophically on October 6, 1973. As the most high-ranking official responsible for military planning, and in particular for examining the intelligence apparatus, it is of little doubt that Dayan, who became the symbol of victorious complacency following the Six-Day War, bears a part of responsibility for the Israeli leadership having missed the signs for the upcoming war. In the hours preceding the war, Dayan opted for not carrying out a full mobilization or carrying out a preemptive strike against the Egyptians and the Syrians; he assumed that Israel would be able to win easily even if the Arabs had attacked and did not want Israel to appear as the aggressor.

Related Topics:
Golda Meir - 1969 - Yom Kippur War - October 6 - 1973

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Following the heavy defeats of the first two days, Dayan's views experienced a radical turn; he was close to announcing "the downfall of the "Third Temple" at a news conference, but was luckily forbidden to speak by Meir. He also began to speak openly of using weapons of mass destruction against the Arabs.

Related Topics:
Temple - Weapons of mass destruction

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To Dayan's credit, he had managed to recover his self-control and direct Israel's fighting during the rest of the war. Although the Agranat Committee Report published after the war did not lay substantial responsibility on the political layer to which Moshe Dayan belonged, a wave of public protests led to the resignation of both him and Golda Meir.

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