The Tanks of Tammuz and The Seventh Day: The emergence of opposite poles of Israeli identity after the Six Day War

Abstract

The Six Day War generated two books that can be added to the pantheon of literary works that have shaped Israeli identity: Soldiers' Talk (Si'ah lohamim) and Shabtai Teveth's The Tanks of Tammuz (Hasufim ba-tzariah). Over the years these books came to symbolize key paradigms in the public discourse – the former representing the figure of the anguished soldier who “shoots and weeps,” and the latter reflecting the cult of generals, with all the arrogance, intoxication with power, and scorn for the enemy associated with it. This article presents a comparative analysis of the two books, arguing that they indicate totally different ways of processing the abrupt transition from the anxiety of the “waiting period” before the war to the euphoria after the rapid victory.