Annual memorial service for Moshe Dayan held in Nahalal

Service for former defense minister, IDF chief of staff held with few attendees. Amid recent criticism of Dayan's Yom Kippur War conduct, IDF officers stress his contribution to peace with Egypt

Yoav Zitun|Published: 10.01.13 , 23:46

The annual memorial service for the late Moshe Dayan, former defense minister and IDF chief of staff, was held at the Nahalal cemetery Tuesday.

Twenty four people attended the service, including IDF and Defense Ministry representatives, his second wife Rachel and his nephew Major-General (res.) Uzi Dayan, but many of his living relatives were absent.

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His daughter, former MK Yael Dayan, was en-route to the memorial, but was forced to turn back due to health problems, and none of his grandchildren attended.

Brigadier-General Noam Tivon (Photo: Yoav Zitun)

Photo: Yoav Zitun

In addition, no Knesset or government representative arrived at the ceremony. During the first 20 years following his passing, hundreds of people paid their respects at the late general's gravesite, among them many politicians.

"If a war in which Syria and Egypt surprise us ends in the military victory of our forces, it indicates they can't overpower us. One cannot strip away Dayan's rights. That war has bolstered Israel's iron wall," Uzi Dayan said at the service.

Mj.-Gen Mordechai Baron condemned "hate and enmity delivered at Dayan recently," referring to accusations regarding Dayan's conduct in the 1973 Yom Kippur War .

"The intelligence failures were everyone's fault, including the top echelon and the press. Not just Dayan's," Baron stressed, adding that "on the third day of the war Dayan told Golda (Meir, then prime minister) – it's time to stop lying and tell people the truth."

IDF representative, Brigadier-General Noam Tivon, said that "the days after the war were the hardest in Dayan's life… he did some real soul searching and was one of the key figures to promote the peace agreement with Egypt."

Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein noted that as foreign minister, between 1977 and 1979, Dayan devoted every moment to promoting peace with Egypt.