Yom Kippur Morning October 12, 2016; 10 Tishrei 5777

The Fifty-Fifth Reserve Paratroop Brigade was encountering surprisingly little resistance. The war had begun two days before. Israel had launched an attack on the Sinai Peninsula, seeking to break the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Hormuz, which had closed off shipping to Eilat. Israel had advised Jordan to stay out of the conflict, but King Hussein chose to attack. Israeli troops repelled the Jordanians and moved into Jerusalem the next day. Now, on June 7, the Defense Minister, Moshe Dayan, gave them the clearance to take the walled Old City. Nobody realized that Jordanian troops had by then pulled out of Jerusalem toward Jericho.

Colonel Mordechai (“Motta”) Gur prepared to obey the order. He got out of his half-track, which was parked overlooking the Lion’s Gate. Journalist Yossi Klein Halevi describes the scene:

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