Editing Moshe Dayan (section)

===Escalation up to the Suez Crisis===
[[File:Dayan 9th Brigade 1956.jpg|thumb|Ramatkal Moshe Dayan and [[Avraham Yoffe]], commanding officer of the [[Oded Brigade|9th Oded Brigade]], at [[Sharm el-Sheikh]] after [[Operation Kadesh]]]]
Following the [[1955 Israeli legislative election|1955 elections]], Ben-Gurion resumed his dual role as prime minister and defence minister. Dayan, who believed in the inevitability of the "Second Round", argued for a preemptive attack on Israel's neighbours, particularly Egypt.<ref>Morris ''Border Wars''. p. 279.</ref> The two leaders thought war with Egypt could be achieved by provoking an Egyptian response to retaliation raids, which could then be used to justify an all-out attack. On 23 October 1955, Ben-Gurion instructed Dayan to prepare plans to capture [[Sharm al Sheikh]].

On the night of 27 October 1955, an IDF battalion attacked an Egyptian army post at [[Kuntilla]] ([[Operation Egged]]), killing 12 Egyptian soldiers.<ref>Morris ''Border Wars''. p. 359.</ref> On 2 November, [[al Sabha]], close to the [[DMZ]], was attacked, in [[Operation Volcano (Israeli raid)|Operation Volcano]] (''Mivtza Ha Ga'ash''), killing 81 Egyptian soldiers.<ref>Morris ''Border Wars''. p. 360.</ref> On 11 December, hoping an attack on Syria would provoke an Egyptian response, [[Operation Olive Leaves]]/Sea of Galilee (''Mivtza 'Alei Zayit/Kinneret'') was launched in which a number of Syrian positions on the eastern shore of the [[Sea of Galilee]] were destroyed. Forty-eight Syrian soldiers were killed as well as six civilians. The Egyptians did not react.

A Cabinet meeting on 15 December 1955 voted against further provocations and ruled that any retaliation attacks must have full Cabinet approval.<ref>Morris ''Border Wars''. pp. 280–282.</ref> The raids ceased for six months. There was one exception: On 5 April 1956, following two earlier incidents along the border with the Gaza Strip in which four Israeli soldiers were killed, the IDF shelled the centre of Gaza City with 120&nbsp;mm mortars. Fifty-eight civilians were killed, including 10 children. 4 Egyptian soldiers were also killed. It is not clear whether Dayan had Ben-Gurion's approval to shell the city. Egypt responded by resuming fedayeen attacks across the border, killing 14 Israelis during the period 11–17 April.<ref>Morris ''Border Wars''. pp. 371, 393–396.</ref>

During September–October 1956, as plans began to mature for the [[Suez Crisis|invasion of the Sinai Peninsula]], Dayan ordered a series of large-scale cross-border raids. On the night of 25 September, following a number of incidents including the machine-gunning of large gathering at [[Ramat Rachel]] in which four Israelis were killed, and the murder of a girl southwest of Jerusalem, the 890th Battalion attacked the [[Husan]] police station and nearby [[Arab Legion]] positions close to the armistice lines. Thirty-seven Legionnaires and National Guardsmen were killed as well as two civilians. Nine or ten paratroopers were killed, several in a road accident after the attack.<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars''. p. 396.</ref>

Following the killing of two workers near [[Even-Yehuda]], Dayan ordered a similar attack, Operation Samaria/''Mivtza Shomron,'' on the [[Qalqilya]] police station. The attack took place on the night of 10 October 1956 and involved several thousand IDF soldiers. During the fighting, Jordanian troops surrounded a paratroop company. The Israeli survivors only escaped under close air-cover from four [[Israeli Air Force|IAF]] aircraft. The Israelis suffered 18 killed and 68 wounded; 70–90 Jordanians were killed. In the aftermath, paratroop officers severely criticized Dayan for alleged tactical mistakes. It was the last time the IDF launched a reprisal raid at night.<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars''. pp. 397–399. "brigade-sized assault by paratroops with armour and artillery support".</ref>

As [[Israel Defense Forces]] [[Ramatkal|Chief of the General Staff]], Moshe Dayan personally commanded the Israeli forces fighting in the Sinai during the 1956 [[Suez Crisis]]. It was during his tenure as Chief of the General Staff that Dayan delivered his [[Death and eulogy of Roi Rotberg|famous eulogy of Ro'i Rutenberg]], a young Israeli resident of Kibbutz [[Nahal Oz]], killed by Egyptian soldiers who ambushed the kibbutz, in 1956. Dayan's words became famous quickly and has served as one of the most influential speeches in Israeli history since. In forceful terms, Dayan condemned the killing and said,
: "Early yesterday morning Roi was murdered. The quiet of the spring morning dazzled him and he did not see those waiting in ambush for him, at the edge of the furrow. Let us not cast the blame on the murderers today. Why should we declare their burning hatred for us? For eight years they have been sitting in the refugee camps in Gaza, and before their eyes we have been transforming the lands and the villages, where they and their fathers dwelt, into our estate. It is not among the [[Arabs]] in [[Gaza City|Gaza]], but in our own midst that we must seek Roi's blood. How did we shut our eyes and refuse to look squarely at our fate, and see, in all its brutality, the destiny of our generation? Have we forgotten that this group of young people dwelling at Nahal Oz is bearing the heavy gates of Gaza on its shoulders? Beyond the furrow of the border, a sea of hatred and desire for revenge is swelling, awaiting the day when serenity will dull our path, for the day when we will heed the ambassadors of malevolent hypocrisy who call upon us to lay down our arms. Roi's blood is crying out to us and only to us from his torn body. Although we have sworn a thousandfold that our blood shall not flow in vain, yesterday again we were tempted, we listened, we believed.
: We will make our reckoning with ourselves today; we are a generation that settles the land and without the steel helmet and the cannon's maw, we will not be able to plant a tree and build a home. Let us not be deterred from seeing the loathing that is inflaming and filling the lives of the hundreds of thousands of Arabs who live around us. Let us not avert our eyes lest our arms weaken. This is the fate of our generation. This is our life's choice – to be prepared and armed, strong and determined, lest the sword be stricken from our fist and our lives cut down. The young Roi who left Tel Aviv to build his home at the gates of Gaza to be a wall for us was blinded by the light in his heart and he did not see the flash of the sword. The yearning for peace deafened his ears and he did not hear the voice of murder waiting in ambush. The gates of Gaza weighed too heavily on his shoulders and overcame him."<ref>{{cite book |last= Shapira |first= Anita |title= Israel: A History |page= 271 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Nh9okmg63ssC&q=%22nahal+oz%22++%22Moshe+dayan%22+++yearning+for+peace&pg=PA271 |access-date= 23 September 2014 |isbn= 9781611683530 |year= 2012}}</ref>