Sermon Tone Analysis

Sixth Day War

At 7:10 a.m.

Israeli time, sixteen Israeli Air Force Fouga Magister training jets took off and pretended to be what they were not.

Flying routine flight paths and using routine radio frequencies, they looked to Arab radar operators like the normal morning Israeli combat air patrol.

At 7:15 a.m., another 183 aircraft—almost the entire Israeli combat fleet—roared into the air.

They headed west over the Mediterranean before diving low, which dropped them from Arab radar screens.

This was also nothing new: for two years, Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian radar had tracked Israeli aircraft—though never this many Israeli aircraft—taking off every morning on this same flight path, and then disappearing from their scopes before they returned to base.

But that morning, instead of going home, the Israeli armada of French-made Mirage and Super Mystere jets turned south toward Egypt, flying under strict radio silence and just sixty feet above the waves.

It was June 5, 1967, and the Six-Day War was about to begin.

The conflict, which would shape the Middle East as we know it today, had been simmering for months between Israel and its neighbors.

Outnumbered by the combined Arab armies, and surrounded by enemies on three sides and the deep blue Mediterranean on the fourth, Israel had resolved to strike first and win quickly.

That meant controlling the skies.

But the Israeli Air Force could pit only two hundred aircraft, almost all French models (the United States wouldn’t sell aircraft to the IAF until 1968), against six hundred Arab planes, including many Soviet-supplied MiG fighters.

Israeli leaders also worried over Egypt’s thirty Soviet-made Tu-16 Badger bombers, each of which could drop ten tons of bombs on Israeli cities.

Thus was born Operation Moked (“Focus”), a preemptive strike aimed at destroying the Arab air forces on the ground—and one of the most brilliant aerial operations in history.

The plan had been worked out and practiced for several years.

IAF pilots flew repeated practice missions against mock Egyptian airfields in the Negev Desert, while Israeli intelligence collected information on Egyptian dispositions and defenses.

Would all the effort pay off?

The answer would become clear minutes after the Israeli aerial armada banked over the Mediterranean and arrived over Egypt.

Jordanian radar operators, troubled by the unusual number of Israeli aircraft in the air that day, sent a coded warning to the Egyptians.

But the Egyptians had changed their codes the day before without bothering to inform the Jordanians.

Not that the warning would have made a huge difference.

“Rather than attacking at dawn, the IAF decided to wait for a couple of hours until 0745hrs, 0845hrs Egyptian time,” writes author Simon Dunstan .

“By this time, the morning mists over the Nile Delta had dispersed and the Egyptian dawn patrols had returned to base where the pilots were now having their breakfast, while many pilots and ground crew were still making their way to work.”

Meanwhile, the commanders of the Egyptian armed forces and air force were away from their posts on an inspection tour, flying aboard a transport as the Israeli aircraft came in (scared that their own antiaircraft gunners would mistake them for Israelis and blast them out of the skies, the commanders had ordered that Egyptian air defenses not fire on any aircraft while the transport plane was in the air).

The Israeli aircraft climbed to nine thousand feet as they approached their targets: ten Egyptian airfields where the aircraft were neatly parked in rows, wingtip to wingtip.

Almost totally unhindered by Egyptian interceptors and flak, the Israeli aircraft, in flights of four, made three to four passes each with bombs and cannon.

First hit were the runways so planes couldn’t take off, followed by Egyptian bombers, and then other aircraft.

It was here that the Israelis deployed a secret weapon: the “concrete dibber” bombs, the first specialized anti-runway weapons.

Based on a French design, the bombs were braked by parachute, and then a rocket motor slammed them into the runway, creating a crater that made it impossible for Egyptian aircraft to take off.

The first wave lasted just eighty minutes.

Then there was a respite, but only for ten minutes.

Then second wave came in to strike an additional fourteen airfields.

The Egyptians could have been forgiven for thinking Israel had secretly managed to amass a huge air force.

The truth was that Israeli ground crews had practiced the rearming and refueling of returning aircraft in less than eight minutes, which allowed the strike aircraft of the first wave to fly in the second.

After 170 minutes—just under three hours—Egypt had lost 293 of its nearly five hundred aircraft, including all of its Soviet-made Tu-16 and Il-28 bombers that had threatened Israeli cities, as well as 185 MiG fighters.

The Israelis lost nineteen aircraft, mostly to ground fire.

The day still wasn’t over for the Israeli Air Force.

At 12:45 p.m. on June 5, the IAF turned its attention to the other Arab air forces.

Syrian and Jordanian airfields were hit, as was the Iraqi H3 airbase.

The Syrian lost two-thirds of their air force, with fifty-seven planes destroyed on the ground, while Jordan lost all of its twenty-eight aircraft.

By the end of the 1967 war, the Arabs had lost 450 aircraft, compared to forty-six of Israel’s.

Six hours or so after the first IAF aircraft had soared into the morning sky, Israel had won the Six-Day War.

Not that the tank crews and paratroopers on the ground wouldn’t face some hard fighting in the Sinai, the Golan and Jerusalem.

But destroying the Arab air forces didn’t just mean that Israeli troops could operate without air attack; it also meant that Israeli aircraft could relentlessly bomb and strafe Arab ground troops, which turned the Egyptian retreat from Sinai into a rout.

Insignificant

"Our aim is the full restoration of the rights of the Palestinian people.

In other words, we aim at the destruction of the State of Israel.

The immediate aim: perfection of Arab military might.

The national aim: the eradication of Israel."

– President Nasser of Egypt, November 18, 1965

"Brothers, it is our duty to prepare for the final battle in Palestine."

– Nasser, Palestine Day, 1967

"Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel.

The Arab people want to fight . . .

The mining of Sharm el Sheikh is a confrontation with Israel.

Adopting this measure obligates us to be ready to embark on a general war with Israel."

– Nasser, May 27, 1967

"We will not accept any ... coexistence with Israel.

... Today the issue is not the establishment of peace between the Arab states and Israel ....

The war with Israel is in effect since 1948."

– Nasser, May 28, 1967

May 19, 1967: "This is our chance Arabs, to deal Israel a mortal blow of annihilation, to blot out its entire presence in our holy land"

May 22, 1967: "The Arab people is firmly resolved to wipe Israel off the map"

Wipe you and your family off the map, to wipe from existence.

Mountain lions detect vulnerabilities in their prey and attack the weakest — the young, the sick, the injured.

Studies have confirmed this instinctive cruelty.

It’s how the mountain lion lives, following the scent of suffering and feasting on whatever he finds.

The enemy of your hope and happiness hunts with that same instinct, with a cold-hearted and ruthless hunger for the weak or hurting.

Satan prowls like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour

And because he’s clever, he spends a lot of his time among the suffering.

He lies in wait with lies, wanting to consume the fragile and vulnerable.

Peter knew what it felt like for Satan to pounce on him in difficult circumstances, to find himself suddenly gasping and drowning in temptation, to lack the strength to fight and to be overcome.

He abandoned and denied Jesus on the night he died — not once, but three times (Luke 22:60).

Like a wounded or sick infant deer pitifully trying to escape a mountain lion, the once confident and strong Peter became the defenseless prey.

But before Jesus hung on the cross, he had prayed for Peter, that his faith would not fail, and that his ministry would rise again from the ashes of fear and defeat.

Peter had learned that Satan loved to hunt among the hurting, but he also learned that God arms us to fight well, even in pain and weakness.

God plants invincible truths in our vulnerable hearts, and then guards our faith with his infinite power

Sometimes the unfortunate actions and unkind comments of others can diminish our feelings of self-worth.

Young people are often on the receiving end of harsh criticism from peers, teachers, and even parents.

Many adults experience the emotional turmoil that follows personal rejection or fractured relationships.

Some worry that they are simply “not good enough,” a feeling that may be reinforced by carping comments from unkind and unthinking spouses.

The adversary knows that if he can prevent us from recognizing our divine potential, he will have scored a major victory.

The spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places are only too happy to make trouble for believers, when given the chance.

But the helmet of salvation is hard and resistant to everything that rains down upon it from the air.

A jubilant soul doesn’t become despondent.

It is the one who is downcast who is at risk.

Discouragement is unbelief, but unbelief is faith in the power of Satan.

Once you begin to believe in unbelief, everything goes wrong.

So, in faith and confidence, pull the helmet of salvation tightly down upon your head, and lay hold of the sword of the Spirit!

The Helmet Of Salvation

The Believer's Sanity - A soldier used a helmet to protect his head because if his head was wounded, he wouldn't be able to think.

Every believer needs to have the mind of Christ under the control of Almighty God.

When a person is saved, for the first time he has his right mind.

A person withoof the Spirit ut the Lord Jesus Christ has a form of insanity.

They do not operate with the mind that God made them to have.

The most important thing for you to have at all times is an assurance of your salvation.

Do you know that you are saved?

If you aren't, then you cannot win the battle.

Intimidate