This is a caricature drawing of Srulik, the cartoon figure depicting the typical Sabra drawn by the Israeli cartoon artist Dosh (the nickname of Kariel Gardosh). Srulik, who represents Israel, has a determined look on his face. He is wearing a tallit, a shofar hangs out of his belt (resembling a pistol from the Wild West), and he has army boots on his feet. In each hand, he holds what appears to be the end of a gun, one representing Syria and the other Egypt. He has successfully managed to twist the guns that were pointing at Israel back towards Syria and Egypt. The headline reads, “The Day of Judgment!” The image was published in the Ma’ariv newspaper and was also distributed to the soldiers fighting in the Yom Kippur War.
There is a lot of imagery used in the cartoon referencing the timing of the war. The title “The Day of Judgement” not only refers to the ability of the Israeli army to defeat the invading forces but also to the fact that the war began on Yom Kippur, also named the Day of Judgement. The fact that Srulik is wearing a tallit and carrying a shofar is another reference to Yom Kippur and the fact that many soldiers came to the front directly from synagogue.
Srulik is wearing a defiant expression, giving a strong impression that he, and by implication, the Israeli army, are confident of victory. The cartoon appeared in the newspaper Ma’ariv five days after the outbreak of the war. The surprise attack of the Arab armies on the holy day of Yom Kippur and the many casualties caused huge public demoralisation. By this point in the war, Israel had launched a counter-offensive and belief in Israel’s victory was beginning to grow. However, Israelis were still extremely anxious, mistrusted the military and the government who had been caught unawares, and had serious doubts concerning IDF victory.
With the benefit of hindsight, the total public confidence in the army that had prevailed throughout the early decades of the State of Israel began to crumble at this point. The 1973 Yom Kippur War came very close to realising the destruction of the State of Israel and demonstrated just how unprepared for war the country was. Nevertheless, from a purely military point of view, the war was a victory for Israel, despite the fact that in Egyptian consciousness and Israeli perception, the war was perceived as an Arab victory.
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Kariel Gardosh (Dosh) - Kariel Gardosh, nicknamed Dosh was a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Israel in 1948. He joined the staff of the newspaper Ma'ariv in 1953 and was to become one of Israel's most important social critics and political cartoonists. In 1956, Dosh created the character of Srulik who became the symbol of the Sabras and the State of Israel. The National Library holds the Gardosh archive, which includes thousands of cartoons that trace the life of the country for Israel's first fifty years of existence.
