A great new series on HBO — The Valley of Tears. An Israeli-made story of the 1973 Yom Kippur war, told from the perspective of three families and their sons and daughters at the front.
Jing and I visited old friends living in Tel Aviv, and went up to the Golan Heights. You see very quickly how Israel cannot give them back to Syria, no matter the rights and wrongs of their current occupation. Syria has been a perennnial enemy. If they owned the Golan Heights they would use them to fire down on the Sea of Galilee and the heart of Israel. It would not be long for the Palestinian cause to become reality — “Palestine free from the River to the Sea”.
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| Jing at the Golan Heights, 2015 |
These are tanks on the Golan Heights, right by the border with Syria, actual ones used in the Yom Kippur war. They were used in “The Valley of Tears” series, as-is, just with new engines. And there was an actual battle of the Valley of Tears.
I had thought that our friends living in Israel had mentioned the series to us a long while ago, but it was only released in November 2020.
Critics of Israel will hammer the series no doubt: one sided and demonised the Syrians. To which, sure; let’s see the same done by Egyptians or Syrians. Meantime, “Valley of Tears “ is gripping drama, beautifully done.. More about the effect of war on individuals than the grand political picture. A fine series.
