THE YOM KIPPUR WAR, 1973

Day of Atonement

On 6 October 1973 Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack against the Jewish state of Israel. It was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the Jewish year. The war was brief, but it was hard fought in its early stages when the combined forces of Egypt and Syria, armed with Soviet weapons, nearly overwhelmed the Israeli forces. It was only with the resupply of Israeli weapons by the United States and the U.S. warning to the Soviet Union to stay out of the conflict that Israeli forces rallied and the Arab states were defeated.

The Oil Weapon

In response to the support for Israel from the United States and other Western European powers, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), dominated by the Arab states, employed the "oil weapon," an embargo on the export of oil from the Middle East to those nations they deemed sympathetic to Israel. The result was a sharp decline in the availability of oil and a corresponding increase in prices of oil and related products. Gasoline soared in price and heating fuel was not only expensive but scarce. Americans faced new inflation as well as lower temperatures in their homes and workplaces and lower driving speeds on their highways.

Response by U.S. Jews

All Americans were inconvenienced by the results of the conflict, but U.S. Jews were emotionally overwhelmed by the war. Since 1967 they had increasingly identified themselves with the existence of the Jewish state. The near destruction of Israel at this time once again triggered nightmares of the Holocaust. That the attack took place on the holy day of Yom Kippur only added insult to the threat of the extinction of the Jewish state. As in the Six-Day War in 1967 there was an outpouring of financial and political support for Israel from the Jewish community. They also looked for support from other Americans.

Christian Ambivalence

The U.S. Christian community was divided in its response, to the consternation of many Jews. While the National Council of Catholic Bishops quickly expressed its support of the right of Israel to exist and urged negotiations for peace, the bishops did not condemn the Arabs' violation of the cease-fire they had signed in 1967. Nor did the bishops condemn the obvious Arab aggression and the Arab unwillingness to recognize Israel's legitimacy. In the midst of the conflict the executive committee of the National Council of Churches did ask for an end to the fighting, but it also asked the outside powers, meaning the Soviet Union and the United States, to refrain from sending more arms into the region. As Jewish observers to the executive committee's meeting remarked, this overlooked the Arabs' surprise attack and ignored the fact that the Soviets had already supplied the arms which were now being used against Israel. Without immediate U.S. military supplies Israel would fall.

Evenhanded Controversy

This same call for peace and negotiation without recognizing and condemning Arab aggression was evident in several of the Mainline Protestant denominations, such as the Disciples of Christ, the United Church of Christ, and some of their agencies. While they supported the existence of Israel, as expressed in United Nations Resolution 242, they also asked that attention be paid to the issues of the Palestinians and did not condemn the Egyptian-Syrian violation of the cease-fire those nations had signed six years earlier. The more liberal Protestant denominations frequently expressed their concern about Palestinian refugees and access of all religious communities to Jerusalem; according to some U.S. Jews, the liberal protestants seemed to ignore the threats to Israel's very existence.

Conservative Support

American Jews took comfort from the many religious leaders, regional religious councils, and Christian publications, Protestant and Catholic, black and white, who not only expressed strong support for Israel but criticized the Arab role in the war and insisted the Arabs were responsible for the oil crisis that followed. Some of that support came from the more conservative Evangelical groups and individuals who now aligned themselves openly with the Jewish state and its control of Jerusalem. The First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, headed by the conservative Reverend W. A. Criswell, took out a full-page newspaper advertisement encouraging Christians to support Israel through their letters and contributions to the Jewish Welfare Federation.

Commitment and Reconsideration

The Yom Kippur War solidified U.S. Jews' identification with Israel and strengthened their commitment to and work for the existence of the Jewish state. Their intensified commitment to Israel also caused many Jews to reconsider their allies. While they continued to share social goals with liberal Protestants, Jews questioned whether these Protestants fully understood the meaning of Israel to Jews. This became most evident in the growing distance between Jews and the black community. Previously the two groups had been allied in the civil rights struggle, but now some blacks displayed anti-Semitism, as exemplified by the prominent Rev. Jesse Jackson openly embracing Yasser Arafat, who was pledged to the destruction of Israel. Social and religious conservatives, however, championed not only Israel but also supported Jewish control of Jerusalem. Jews were forced to ask themselves, who were their real friends?

Source:

Judith Hershcopf Banki, Christian Responses to the Yom Kippur War: Implications for Christian-Jewish Relations (New York: Jewish Committee, n.d.).

Yom Kippur war. So-called because on this day in 1973 (6 Oct.) Egypt and Syria attacked Israeli positions in the Sinai peninsula and on the Golan heights.

Yom Kippur War see Arab-Israeli Wars .