Vandals desecrated former defense minister Moshe Dayan\’s grave on Tuesday, on the 31st anniversary of his death.
The words "The minister of failure, on behalf of the fallen" were spray painted on the tombstone at the Nahalal cemetery in northern Israel\’s Jezreel Valley. The vandalism was discovered on Tuesday morning.
Tuesday marked the 31st anniversary of his passing on the secular calendar.
Police were investigating the incident.
Born on the famous Kibbutz Deganya, he participated in the invasion of Vichy-controlled Lebanon alongside the British in 1941, where he lost his left eye. He was in charge of the Israeli forces that fired on the Irgun ship Altalena in 1948, an event that, had it spiraled out of control, could have meant civil war in Israel between the Jewish Left and Right.
Later Dayan was chief of staff during the invasion of Egypt in 1956. Most famously, he was appointed defense minister just in time to participate in the victory of the Six Day War.
The 1973 Yom Kippur War was his most controversial moment, bringing him criticism from some and praise from others. Israel Radio suggested his action in the war may have been the cause for the vandals to desecrate his grave, in protest of the fallen soldiers. Leading up to the conflict, Dayan argued with then-prime minister Golda Meir over the need to mobilize troops, and he opposed a preemptive strike. When the surprise attack by Egyptian and Syrian forces came, it arrived like a hammer blow, knocking the IDF off balance for several days on both fronts.
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