O Jerusalem

 I can still recall our first encounter with any Jew, he was the Adjutant in NDA Khadakwasla Pune, Major Daniels, an impressive immaculate Gurkha officer whose persona was awe inspiring for all the Cadets. But that was not the reason to start reading up on history of Judaism and Israel, I chanced upon "Exodus" by Leon Uris in the library, quite a popular book, as number of cadets had drawn the book earlier. The book, some claim to be a propaganda by the state of Israel, kept me glued for the next couple of days despite the hectic schedule in the Academy. The heroic grit, determination, perseverance of the protagonist Ari Ben Canaan and David Ben Ami stood out and naturally we started to sympathise with the community which was reviled in "Merchant of Venice" in the character of Shylock, the money lender who demands pound of flesh against his debt.  The vivid description of the horrors of the holocaust  left us nauseated and as Indians having suffered the ignominy of a millennium of  subjugation at the hands of colonisers and marauders, we could empathise  with their lot. Interest aroused, the quest took me to "O Jerusalem", by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, having already read their "Freedom at Midnight" and "Is Paris Burning", the founding of Israel and the geo-strategic designs of the powers that be started to unravel a different dimension for the young adolescent impressionable mind.

The 1973 Yom Kippur War is a Military Historians delight, the surprise achieved by the Egyptians and Syrians is part of classic deception studies  and  the Israeli  counter offensive audacious armoured tactics  out-manouvred  the former driving them   almost on the verge of a total rout. Guess what, deja vu, exactly 50 years back, the Israelis have again been caught unawares but this time by Hamas, a terrorist organisation and not an Army. Any military man would tell you the difference in handling the two. This threat is not conventional and the battle has just begun, Israelis aren't going to take it lying down, their survival is at stake, that is what drives them. Raid on Entebbe and their tracking down of Nazi war criminals are a testimony to their resolve and mettle. “Fauda”, a very popular Netflix serial also depicts their prowess in handling terrorism in a  ruthlessly efficient manner. Intelligence failure at this scale primarily stems from complacency as was evident in both 9/11 Al Qaeda attacks on US twin Towers and 26/11 Mumbai attacks by LeT. 

Israel has defied all odds right from the time it came into existence, the vote in United Nations Resolution 181 itself was a close affair and then the day when Israel declared itself independent on 14 May 1948, it was attacked by five Arab nations swearing annihilation of the state. It not just survived but kept them at bay for another 19 years before 1967 Arab Israel conflict. Indians initially were circumspect not wanting to openly support them not wanting to antagonise the Arabs, vote bank being a major consideration. But gradually today Israel has become one of our major source of arms and technology. Today's India identifies itself with the Israelis cause, understands their plight having been at the receiving end of extremism in Kashmir and the North East. 

The bugles of war have been sounded, Israel has a tough task ahead, the enemy is faceless not fighting under any state flag, merged amongst thousand of civilians. A conventional war will not achieve the desired results, besides collateral damage, human rights and other issues also being raised.  An urban insurgency is even more challenging, the global attention will remain riveted for the next couple of weeks in this region, the Western support for Ukraine will be on the wane as Israel takes priority. The world will wait and watch how Israel overcomes this challenge.