Why Does Egypt Celebrate October 6?
And why it matters for the future of the Middle East
October 6 was the original October 7.
In Egypt, October 6 is celebrated as Armed Forces Day. Every town has an October 6 Street, and there is even an October 6 City. Understanding why explains much about the Arab-Israeli conflict: October 6 is the day when Egypt, Syria, and 10 other countries launched a surprise attack on Israel on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur.
The Pan-Arab armies lost the war, and despite initial minimal gains, they were pushed back to approximately the pre-war lines within 20 days. The IDF was an hour's drive from Cairo. Despite outnumbering the Israelis, the attackers lost men and materiel at an 8-to-1 ratio—a catastrophe. But as dictatorships, they lied and sold the loss of 20,000 men for no gains, despite their rank perfidy, as a victory. You take what you can get. October 6 was the high-water mark of the 30 year Pan-Arab attempt to ethnically cleanse the Middle East of Jews.
The reality that Israel was invulnerable to conventional conquest, even when using every dirty trick to gain an edge, led the eliminationists toward asymmetrical warfare—i.e., the Soviet-backed nationalist terrorism of the PLO, PFLP, etc. Over the 40 years that followed, this was gradually neutered, petering out in the Second Intifada.
However, the Iran-sponsored Islamist resurgence followed. Fifty years and one day later, October 7 became the high-water mark of the Islamist attempt to wipe out the Jews, with Hamas' ironically named "Al Aqsa Flood." The secular Pan-Arabists peaked on October 6; the Islamists on October 7.
Like the Egyptians in 1973, Hamas had a few good hours, and no doubt they will name cities in honor of that day. But their plan to destroy Israel via radical Islam ended that day at noon—just as the Egyptians and Syrians failed 50 years before. Maybe, after 120 years of disfiguring and immiserating their own societies to try to defeat the Jews, the Muslims of the Middle East will reconsider their honor war against the Jews.
Or maybe not, but then they will keep losing, and this time there will be no doubt to anyone about who won.
Meanwhile the warmongers of the Free Palestine cult will fight to the last Palestinian, just as Iran is fighting to the last Lebanese. Any time some anti-Israel propagandist in legacy media refers to the cult as "peace activists" it makes me chuckle. One of the greatest lies underpinning the death of journalism.
One of the reasons they celebrate October 6th is it was the 1st time ever that they caught the IDF napping. Crossing the Suez was like D-Day to them. I was at a briefing given by an Egyptian general shortly after the war and he was asked that tough question. His focus was on the successful assault across the canal. When you finally win one you treat it big regardless of the end result.