A perspective on the War in Gaza (October 7, 2023)

I was a battalion physician in Sinai during the Yom Kippur War. Those who fought and survived the 1973 Yom Kippur War hoped that the bitter lessons of that war had been learned and that Israel would never experience a similar catastrophe. Tragically, one day after the 50th anniversary of that war, history repeated itself with the devastating Hamas attack of Oct. 7. The similarities between these events are chillingly striking.

The Yom Kippur War began with an attack by Egypt and Syria on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. There were many signs that war was imminent. Both countries visibly...