Yom Kippur War shows its almost impossible to predict conflict, Rivlin says
The tragedy of the Yom Kippur War in which the nation was caught unprepared remains an open wound, President Reuven Rivlin said on Thursday at the memorial service on Mount Herzl Military Cemetery commemorating the 42nd anniversary of the war.A repeat of the 1973 war cannot be ruled out since it is “impossible” to predict when renewed conflict will arise, Rivlin said. In a reference to Israel’s ongoing preoccupation with the lessons learned from the Yom Kippur War in which so many lives were needlessly lost and so much heroism remained unrecognized, Rivlin said that it was not some futile investigation, but a matter of great significance that impacts on Israel’s existence as a society and a state.Even today, observed Rivlin, there is great relevance in studying the role of Israeli civil society, the relationship of the leadership to society and the heavy responsibility of the leadership and its public servants as well as the right of Israeli society to be critical of its leaders.