Personal Recollections of Rona Hart

I remember sleeping on the floor, in my clothes, thinking there would be bound to be more air raids during the night, and the radio playing Psalms, I remember someone singing “Esa eynei…” (I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills…)

Chaim Herzog spoke in English on Kol Yisrael. He was brilliant. A calm, sensible voice. He said that if he had the choice of being an Egyptian pilot or on the ground in Tel Aviv, he would choose to be on the ground in Tel Aviv, for reasons of personal survival.

And we listened to Egyptian radio. They had a commentator we nicknamed Ibn Fred, who spoke rather poor Hebrew. He was trying to make us give up. There would be martial music and then he would say “our forces are advancing, Rehovot (or wherever) is in our hands” and “Give up now, we are coming for your women and your children, because there is no mercy in war.”

From the order of the places that were supposedly falling into Egyptian hands, we could tell they were advancing backwards, if at all. A little light relief was obtained when Fred said the Egyptian forces were advancing “on all brassieres”, instead of “on all fronts”, as he confused chaziot with chazitot! Anyone could do it.

– Rona Hart