The IDF started the 46th anniversary of the 1967 war on Wednesday morning with a “live” blow-by-blow account of events on the ground, tweeting each air strike at the exact time it occurred 46 years ago, starting with the airforce morning attack on the Arab airfields.
@IDF1967 “is an official Israel Defense Forces account that is aimed at retweeting the events of the Six Day War in live time,” an army spokesman told AFP.
The account was tweeting key events in the battle against the armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria that took place from June 5 to 10, 1967, including pictures and videos, the army said.
The tweets are for the most part in Hebrew, with some translated into English.
“In response to repeated provocations by Egypt, the State of Israel and the IDF are going to war. We will not sit idly as the enemy forces tighten the noose around our necks,” the opening tweet said around 8:00 AM (0500 GMT) when Israel landed its first pre-emptive air strike 46 years ago.
By Wednesday afternoon, @IDF1967 had more than 1,000 followers, many retweeting pictures of Israeli soldiers and tanks in the Sinai, and other battle footage.
The microblogging project began as Israel and the Palestinians separately marked the start of the 1967 war, when Israeli forces seized Gaza, Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem, with the Palestinians mourning it as the “naksa,” or the setback.