14. Israeli Government’s Penny Pinching Costs It Dearly
In 1973, it was well known that Egypt planned to attack Israeli forces in the Sinai Peninsula. Israel relied on a small standing military, that would get fleshed at wartime with a rapid mobilization of civilian reservists. However, such mobilizations were disruptive and expensive, and the civilians taken from their daily occupations could not be kept in uniform for long. The Egyptians used that, and months before their planned attack, tricked the Israelis into believing that an attack was imminent, causing Israel to declare an expensive emergency mobilization. However, no attack came.
When the Egyptians began preparing for the real attack a few months later, the Israeli government, burned once by a false alarm, was reluctant to call another mobilization. So when the Egyptians attacked on October 6th, 1973, Israel was caught off guard. The Israeli Defense Forces sustained high casualties, as the Egyptians secured a beachhead in the Sinai. The IDF eventually clawed its way back up, encircled an Egyptian army weeks later, and prevailed. However, their early setbacks and high casualties were a direct result of their government’s attempt to save some money.
