Dr. Hossam Badrawi Official Website
A group of young people gathered around me after my lecture in which I spoke about the great October victory and said that the sixth day of October is the greatest day of my life, because he who has not lived the humiliation of defeat (67) cannot taste the beauty and value of 73.
I was in the Bachelor of Medicine in Qasr Al-Ainy, and each of us had a brother, father, friend or relative in the army who fought for the country’s dignity.
One of the young men who was born 35 years after this day told me:
“It is not so strong, Doctor Hossam. There are books that say that Egypt did not win this battle in the first place. Who do we believe?”
Another said: “You did not say that about a war (56) and it came out in the end, with its consent, not victory, and Israel occupied Sinai after that, had it not been for America’s intervention.”
I said: This is an incorrect statement, because the outcome of a war battle is known by those who imposed their will on the other, in (56) Egypt imposed its will on England, France and Israel, and every country uses its armies and diplomacy to achieve the purpose. At the end of the war, Egypt imposed its control over the Suez Canal and regained the Sinai, so the result of the war was a victory for Egypt, and the resignation of the Prime Minister of Great Britain.
As for (73), we basically believed, and the whole world knows, the impossibility of crossing the Canal and breaching the Bar-Lev Line, which was considered at the time the strongest lines of defense in the history of world wars, with the technological and strategic superiority of Israeli aviation. It was the world’s belief that this was an end situation that would not change.
What happened in the end is the crossing of our forces with wise organization and leadership, changing the stable military situation, and then negotiating from a position of strength and not defeat.. All that happened after that was the opening of the Suez Canal to global navigation, the return of the displaced people of Port Said, Ismailia and Suez, and the restoration of Sinai. The October War was part of an integrated strategy to restore dignity and land.
They said: “But the number of our forces in Sinai has been determined, and the restoration of Sinai is considered deficient….”
I said: “You and I go to (Sharm el-Sheikh) and (Saint Catherine), and until the start of ISIS terrorism, we used to go to Arish and roam in Sinai as we wanted. Every gain has a price, and we must understand that and realize that the Golan is still under absolute occupation after fifty years, and that the East Bank is the same. Indeed, Israel brazenly announced the annexation of the Golan to it, and the world began to recognize Israel’s ownership, and here America is declaring that as well.
Do not let the frustrated, who see nothing but defeat, transfer their negative energy to you.. Egypt has won, a war and negotiation, and we have changed a geographical and historical reality.
They said: “Why do we only read rumors and verbal outbursts in the media that make us really doubt the large number of outbidding?”
I said: “You have a right, and you have a duty… The truth. I agree with you that media outbidding and blowing up victory and hiding mistakes are like angels and Superman questioning the facts.”
But we must also search, read the memoirs of our heroes and enemies, and make up our minds. The truth is that our army and our people won after defeat, and we did not surrender, and we regained the land after (6) years of occupation.
The truth is that the army sought the highest qualifications from civil society, so its performance level rose, and science entered its flanks, and that the people, despite their anxiety and impatience, and the internal migration of a quarter of its population, supported its soldiers and overcame their pain and triumphed.
I would like to remind you once again that October (6) is actually the greatest day in my life, as we were surprised that our army crossed and achieved a victory, and my feeling of pride and pride will not be forgotten. Everyone volunteered according to their abilities, and Egypt actually won.
Another young man said: “Is the Golan very important to Syria? And why did Israel announce its annexation of the occupied lands?
I said: The Golan is a strategy for Syria, and if Syria is able to do so, I think that several cities inside occupied Palestine can be threatened. But your question made me remind you that every time I read a statement about the Arab lands that are still under the Israeli occupation, I find them decreasing in the memory of the daily and periodic media, as it no longer mentions the West Bank, the Golan, and recently all of Jerusalem, almost Umm al-Rashrash (Eilat) in Egypt and the sources of the Jordan River and villages from southern Lebanon and the rest The villages and valleys of Palestine, on which the Israeli settlements expanded and expanded – I say almost – are unfortunately forgotten by the media.
What I concluded from that discussion was expressed by the writer Mai Azzam in her wonderful entry on the War of 73 in her article:
“Egypt’s youth do not have feelings or memories about the October War, and society must create them. Memory is the bearer of feelings, and it is what shapes our thoughts and our identity and determines our behavior. Today’s youth do not realize the extent of the courage and determination of their fathers, officers and soldiers, those who were faithful to the promise of liberating Sinai and gave their lives A sacrifice for the homeland, and these young people would not have enjoyed the beaches of Sharm el-Sheikh and others in Sinai without these sacrifices. The Allied countries, led by America, are keen to create these feelings and memories in the hearts of their youth. The cinema there has presented, and still is, hundreds of films about the two world wars. These films contribute to the formation of young people’s feelings and memories about their country’s past and their victories, as well as determine their future bias.
I add to this important speech that whoever lived and remembers October 73, he must now be over fifty years old, and teaching the October War in education curricula must be based on a scientific vision and not rhetorical judgments with bids that make students not believe the facts after that.
There are tournaments that are not often talked about, such as the heroism of the Egyptian people, whose army returned with a cruel and humiliating defeat in 67, which forced the country’s president to resign, as a result of the failure. The people did not accept the resignation as a symbol of their failure to accept defeat. so what? Jokes and mockery of the Egyptian army in the whole world, and the Arab countries, and suddenly the Egyptian military uniform became the field of underestimation in word and deed, and the emigration of citizens living on the canal line into the country by the millions.
Here, a civilized metal appeared for the Egyptian people, who resisted the negative wave directed at the army and raised its morale. Every holder of an educated certificate participated in the army without knowing the time of his departure for civil life. The people accepted the immigrants of their homeland, and this people restored their prestige and position to their army.
this is
A battle that no one talks about and no memories of.
The people of Egypt revived their army after the defeat, and the army of Egypt revived its people with its victory in October.
