What is the legacy of the fact that Israel made the first strike?
It seems like that left a huge scar on the Arab psyche. To this day, it’s a trauma they haven’t gotten over. It was the first major trial of arms of the post-colonial Arab world, and they failed at it. We’re dealing in a society based on honor and shame. It was a tremendous shame. And the Arabs were better equipped militarily? Yes. They should have done better. But in the next war [in 1973] they did better. Today, Israel is listed as one of the third or fourth military superpowers in the world. I’m an officer in this army and I’ll tell you, this is quite an army. Did the Arab states know what they were up against? They had no intelligence. The Israeli army is unlike any other army. We don’t salute one another, everyone’s on a first-name basis, it’s kind of hip and kind of fun to go off for two weeks and not change your underwear and bond and the whole thing. Very macho. And it’s a true meritocracy. And with all of our sophistication, with all of our massive firepower, with all of our é
