Historian who helped win Yom Kippur War speaks at Oxford Chabad Society Shabbat Dinner

Historian who helped win Yom Kippur War speaks at Oxford University Chabad Society Shabbat Dinner

Oxford University Chabad Society hosted one of the world’s most distinguished historians, Sir Alistair Horne, who Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that "A Savage War of Peace" was his favourite bedside reading, and that one of Horne's earlier books, "To Lose a Battle: France 1940," guided his war strategy against the Egyptian 3^rd army which turned the Yom Kippur war around for Israel.

Horne, who is a fellow of St Antony’s College in Oxford, was invited by Rabbi Eli Brackman, director of the OU Chabad Society, to join a Shabbat dinner at the Slager Chabad Jewish student centre, and speak about his recent book on Henry Kissinger and the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

Sir Alistair, who had attended a Passover Seder before but never attended a Shabbat dinner, commented “I enjoyed the evening – it was flattering to be asked to speak at the Chabad Society and to be invited to don a Yamukkah. You assembled a good audience”.

Sir Alistair spoke to close to a hundred students at the Chabad Society’s American themed Shabbat dinner, serving American beer and cuisine, on the complex subject of Henry Kissinger. He explained that Kissinger was criticised by the Israelis for not doing enough for Israel, distrusted by the Russians for being Jewish, reflecting the historic anti-semitism that was part of Russian society, and equally distrusted by the Arabs for being Jewish.

Horne claimed that Kissinger was certain that Israel would turn the war around and defeat the Arabs within 72 hours of being attacked. His concern was not that Israel might lose the war but on the contrary Israel might repeat a victory of 1967 in the Six Day War with another crushing humiliating defeat of the Arab armies. He felt this had to be prevented.

This analyses of Kissinger’s views during the Yom Kippur War proved controversial to the large and diverse audience at the Chabad Society and raised many questions about the double standard of Henry Kissinger and American foreign policy since it appears they had no similar demands of the Arab armies to desist from attacking Israel in the midst of war but was concerned about preventing Israel from achieving an absolute victory.

The justification Horne gave for this was that a humiliating defeat of the Arab armies in Cairo and Damascus would have precipitated another round of fighting in a short period of time. He claimed that the fact is there has been no fighting between Egypt, Syria and Israel in 35 years, which is fifty percent longer than the period there was no fighting in Europe between the First and Second World Wars.

Horne began his talk by conceding that he was persona non- grata in Israel for some time, as he was in the British army in the 1940’s and tried to prevent the establishment of the State of Israel at the time but he says that Israel has changed their views on him and he is currently very respected there, most likely due to the fact that his book helped Israel win the Yom Kippur War. Horne is concerned about anti-Semitism in the UK and has a poor moral view of the British people, claiming counterfactually that he believes if Britain would have been conquered by the Nazis in the Second World War most people would have collaborated, as in other countries.

Sam Kleiner, Marshall Scholar at St Antony’s College, said that Horne’s lecture was the best event he has had in Oxford so far.