Grandma's army

  A DIFFERENT WAR The idea for “Grandma’s Army” began when I had seven grandchildren in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) at the same time.   However, my family’s participation in the IDF started off   much earlier - when Israel barely had an army and I was decidedly not a grandma!   The war, in which my husband   took part, is   usually known as the Suez Crisis. It took place only eight years after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, and had far-reaching consequences - at both global and regional levels.  On regional levels, the war gave an impetus to the spread of pan-Arabic ideology, leading to the unification of Syria and Egypt and creating the UAR (United Arab Republic). On global levels it marked, not only the end of the British and French influence in the Middle East, but also the decline of the two European powers. It’s outcome was arguably one of the most significant episodes in post-1945 British history, highlighting Britain's declining status. Instead, the

  This past Monday, Jews celebrated the most solemn holy day in their calendar, Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). On the Sabbath day of October 6 th , 1973, as all of Israel came to a standstill to observe the High Holiday of Yom Kippur , Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a surprise attack against Israel, knowing she would be caught off-guard. In the first few critical days, the Egyptians had crossed the Suez Canal and were pushing Israeli forces back into the desert. In the Golan Heights, the Syrians had broken through the undermanned Israeli line and were advancing toward the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). Since the bulk of the Israel army is made up of 80% reservists, it took two days for them to mobilize and deploy. It was only the vastly outnumbered soldiers in the front and Israeli pilots that held the line and stalled the attackers. It was their heroism and sacrifice that “compensated” for the serious lack of sufficient equipment and supplies, and saved the country from bein