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Misael Ortega
Professor Khadka
English 113B T/Th 11:00
30 April 2016
If you first dont succeed, dont try again
Throughout history there have been many issues around the world but the most
notorious is the feud between the Israeli people and the Arabic people. Their conflicts
have had almost every type of kill. The wars they have incurred have been memorable in
many ways but the one that caught my attention was the October War. The October War
has had different names given like Yom Kippur War, Arab-Israeli War, and October War.
However, before this conflict there have been six previous wars and they have all had
different army generals but the same outcomes that make Israel victorious. Israel is one of
the newest countries that resulted from World War II and the root of this conflict is the
fact that Israel was given land that the Arabs believed to be theirs. The October War had
brought many countries to back them up and even so the wars final destiny is on Israels
side. Although all the Arab neighbors back themselves up with each other, Israel has
come out victorious in most of their conflicts. Israels surrounding countries have
attacked them because they believe that Israel has their land, but Israel will defend it even
with its last breath.
The October War included Egypt and Syria backed up by the Soviet Union against
Israel backed up by the United States. It seemed that Egypt and Syria would take the win
and avenge the humiliating defeat from the Six Day War. The plan was thought out
perfectly because they struck on a Jewish religious holiday, Yom Kippur. This attack

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caught Israelis off guard but they managed to fight on and protect themselves. In the
small peace treaty that was formed after the October War, Israel gave back the Land they
had taken over from the Six Day War, Egypts response to this olive branch was to say
that they would remove the use of force.
Could the October War can be seen in many different ways but one of the things I
see is terrorism. According to Richard J. Payne in his book, Global Issues there are five
different types of terrorism: domestic terrorism, nationalist terrorism, religious terrorism,
state terrorism, and

global terrorism. But I will focus just on two

of them: nationalist terrorism and
religious terrorism. Nationalist terrorism
is closely associated with struggles for
political autonomy and independence.
Usually nationalist terrorism occurs as a

Different thinking

result of struggles for independence.

Religious terrorism grows out of

extreme fundamentalist religious groups that believe that God is on their side and that
their violence is divinely inspired and approved, therefore, religious terrorism occurs as a
result of religious extremism.
I consider this conflict as nationalist and religious terrorism because, in this case,
they are combined having a bit of both. Nationalist terrorism applies because both
countries had been given the opportunity to declare themselves independent. The Israelis
established themselves in Palestine, a land that has great historical importance to them
but Arabs also considered that land holy. The significance of the land of Palestine caused

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really terrifying chaos that still exists since. To this day they cannot find a solid solution.
Now the Palestine people are religious extremist who will do anything to regain control
of the land and they have shown that in many encounters with the Israelis. They also
showed a lot of this in the Yom Kippur War. They believe they are fulfilling their purpose
by sacrificing themselves to kill as many Israelis as they can.
Besides the October War, the Six Day War is a one that had many countries
involved against Israel and faced a humiliating defeat. This led to their fury and striking
again and again towards Israel.
I was curious to see how may people new about the October War so I decided to
interview some people from the ages of 16-30. This group surprised me because I asked a
few of them if they had heard of the October War and some of them knew it had
something to do with Israelis.. Many didnt know what it was but after I gave them a little
background they mentioned that it sounded like the six day war which included common
countries--the allies of Israel and Palestine. The Six Day War brought a lot of benefits to
Israel because they took over a huge amount of land after the
war. Although they do not have the land today they managed
to take it and it was a humiliating defeat towards the Arabs.
The United States relationship with the
October War was of huge help. Because in times of war
everyone need a supplier and United States was Israels
supplier. According to David Tal in his article A Tested Alliance: The American Airlift to
Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the USA had many things going on in that time and
it was a bit complicated for them at first to provide the help Israel needed. At this time

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President Nixon was the Commander in Chief and he had to deal with many conflicts,
four to be exact. At this time President Nixon had to deal with the Watergate Scandal and
basically took a lot of his time and attention. The second thing going on with President
Nixon was the fact that the Vice President Spiro Agnew had resigned and president Nixon
looked for someone to replace him. He later found
his replacement, Gerald Ford. Another reason was
because President Nixon was in a sensitive
relationship between the US and the Soviet Union.
Photo of President Nixon at
his desk

David Tal mentioned that the were under a slogan

Negotiations, not confrontation, this basically meant they stood neutral from the
previous conflicts. Nixon didnt wanted this war to be the blaze to initiate the two
superpowers (United States & Soviet Union) to continue with the fight. The third reason
why it was complicated for the United States to put hands in the matter was the fact that
Egypt and the United States were starting a new relationship, and this war involved Egypt
being against Israel.
Without the United States to back up Israel, the October War would have been a
more traumatic story to remember. Golda Meir, Israels then Prime Minister expressed
desperate emotions when living those moments. She said, Each hour that passed was
like a century for me. Her desperate calls seem to have been when the United States was
delaying with the supplies. David Tal mentions many reasons why the USAs response
delayed the support. Some reasons was because like mentioned before they didnt want
the Arabs to discover that the USA was helping Israel, for the reason being that they
controlled most of the oil. So they didnt want an Arab Oil Embargo to happen because

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besides that Nixons other concern was that more Arab States would join if they found
out the US was helping. Nixon at that time told the US National Security Advisor then,
Henry Kissinger, We dont want to be so pro-Israel Now Nixon said this basically on
day six when the war began.
David Tal summarizes the actions that were happening from October six (the
beginning of the war) to October 12. That was basically the delay, about 6 days but by the
expression that Golda Meir stated seemed like the time was infinite. Throughout this time
period the United States was changing opinions with every action of the war. They
provided weapons but always reminded the
Israelis to move forward and finish the war fast.
US excuse for not actually helping them more
physically was the results given by 1967 when
Israel defeated the Arabs and took their land.
Now in the few days that were fought, the Arabs

Providence & American Air

Power 1

seem to have changed their attacking skills and it seemed enough. The mentality of the
US was just to provide weapons, supplies, food, and planes. But it all had to be done
discreetly.
The job that the US National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger was trying to do
was to keep the US clean. So when Israels ambassador to the US, Simcha Dinitz, asked
desperately and urged Kissinger to send immediate assistance, Kissinger tried to make it
seem clear that Israel would have to pick up its supplies in American soil. In John
Jeffersons article he mentions how Nixon later on ordered that supplies be sent directly
to Israel, the reason for this was that Israel had threaten to use Nuclear weapons, and

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Nixon wanted to prevent that. Of course Israel never struck with nuclear weapons. But
when that was put as an option, the countries who participated in the October War would
actually have to be careful because they might have woken up the tension between the
true nuclear power, the US and the Soviet Union. Nixons plan to prevent this was a
priority or the Soviet union would have most likely sent nuclear weapons to Egypt and
Syria to fight back.
The United States had some consequences after all the help they provided
secretly. After the Arabs found out that Israel had allies in the west, Arab oil producers
in the Middle East declared a selective boycott against consuming countries, including
the United States, said John Jefferson, author of Henry Kissinger and the Yom Kippur
War. The United States sooner or later had to be seen as allies with Israel, they werent
going to stay clean forever. After this Nixon finally released the promised arms because
there was nothing holding the US back, the Oil embargo
was done against them so mind as well finish the job right.
Now the United states was able to help out Israel but the
USA as a result from this had its first Oil Crisis. The price
range was drastic it went from three dollar a barrel to
twelve dollars a barrel by March 1974 world wide, and since US had to suffer more the
The 1973 Arab Oil
Embargo 1

price was higher for them. The Organization of the

Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was basically who controlled most of the oil
formed originally by five countries later joined by nine more. These were allied with
Syria and Egypt so the intensions were clear against US.

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The US had many treaties going on before this war, the October War. It was trying
to have a better relationship with Egypt. It wasnt trying to have conflicts with Arab
countries because of its preventions with the Oil embargo. President Nixon had his main
problem in Washington D.C., the Watergate scandal. Beside that the Vice President had
left because he had personal issues to deal with. The fact was that even if they wouldnt
have helped Israel with the war, somehow it was going to sabotage the plans they had. So
at least they were able to help a country fight back against two much greater counties.
The October War is proof that a country that seems weak cannot be bullied by its
surrounding countries. Although all the Arab neighbors back themselves up with each
other, Israel has come out victorious in most of their conflicts. They have been going on
and off for decades and have lost many lives, but they havent gotten together to come to
a better solution. They need to try and work things out and see the situation on a different
perspective, this will help save many lives from both countries.

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Work Cited
Jefferson, John. "Henry Kissinger and the Yom Kippur War." Digest of Middle East
Studies, 14.1 (2005): 32-49. May18 2016
MLJ staff, Palestine-Israeli Relations,2011. April 29 2016
Richard J. Payne, Global Terrorism, April 28 2016
Tal, David. "A Tested Alliance: The American Airlift to Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur
War." Israel Studies, 19.3 (2014): 29-54. May 18 2016.