Tension began building in the north in the spring of 1967, initially set off by Syrian efforts to divert water from the upper reaches of the Jordan River, an important water source for Israel was well. In a series of exchanges, Syrian troops on the Golan fired on Israeli tractors in the demilitarized zone below, and began shelling our argicultural settlements in the Galilee, while we responded with tank fire and then air power, scrambling our jets and shooting down six Syrian MiG-21s.
The first indication that we might be headed toward war came as I returned to university for the spring term, and trouble began brewing in the south. Ben- Gurion had by now retired as prime minister. His successor was the undeniably thoughtful, if far less charismatic, Levi Eshkol. During Israel’s Independence Day parade on May 15, he received word that Egypt had moved thousands of troops into the Sinai, nearer to the border with Israel. Then, with the Soviets warned Nasser of what they said were Israeli plans for a preemptive strike against Syria, he went further expelling the United Nations force put in place after the 1956 war. On May 23, he closed the Straits of Tiran, Israel’s trading gateway to the Red Sea and the source of virtually all our oil imports.
I was told to report to Sayeret Matkal the following day, as part of the first group of reservists called up. When I reached the base, Uzi Yairi, who was now in charge of the unit, organized us into four teams. He put me in command of one of them. We were told to prepare ourselves to helicopter into the Sinai, attack a series of Egyptian air bases and put the runways out of commission. My team’s target was the base at Gebel Libni, not far from where I’d placed, and recently failed to defuse, our first intelligence intercept.
With each passing day, war looked more likely, and there was no confidence we would win without a costly struggle. In 1948, Arab attacks had killed about 170 people in Tel Aviv. Now, word got out that a park in the center of the city had been set aside to allow for the burial of as many as 5,000. With Israel’s military commanders pressing Eshkol to take the initiative and launch a preemptive strike, he delivered a radio address at the end of May, intended to reassure the country the situation was under control. But due to last-minute, handwritten changes to his typescript, he faltered while reading it. He sounded
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