It was in our power to cause the Arab governments to renounce

The words of Moshe Dayan are forged in the furnace of conflict and survival: “It was in our power to cause the Arab governments to renounce the policy of strength toward Israel by turning it into a demonstration of weakness.” In this single sentence lies the distilled wisdom of a soldier and statesman who lived in the crucible of one of the world’s most enduring struggles. His words are not about brute force alone, but about strategy, perception, and the ability to transform the enemy’s strength into its undoing.

Dayan, the one-eyed general of Israel, spoke as a man who had seen his nation surrounded by hostile powers, often outnumbered and outarmed. For Israel’s survival depended not only on weapons, but on will, cunning, and the mastery of appearances. The Arab states sought to project strength, but Dayan understood that if Israel could endure their pressure, resist their threats, and expose the cracks in their unity, what seemed formidable could be revealed as fragile. Thus, what began as a display of power could be transformed into a revelation of weakness.

History is filled with such reversals. Consider the tale of David and Goliath, where a giant’s size and armor terrified armies. Yet in his pride and overconfidence lay his downfall, for the small shepherd’s stone revealed the weakness hidden within that strength. Or recall the great Battle of Marathon, where the Persian Empire’s overwhelming numbers became a liability against the disciplined courage of the Athenians. Again and again, we see Dayan’s principle at work: what is meant to intimidate, when met with courage and resolve, can collapse into futility.

In Dayan’s own time, the Six-Day War of 1967 stands as a striking example. The Arab governments prepared for confrontation, projecting power and promising Israel’s destruction. Yet Israel’s swift and decisive strikes revealed not strength, but disarray. Air forces that should have overwhelmed were destroyed on the ground; armies that sought to crush were broken in days. What had been a boast of strength was unveiled as fragile, leaving the world astonished and the enemy humbled.

The deeper meaning of Dayan’s words is this: power is not only measured in numbers or weapons, but in perception and spirit. To endure, to remain steadfast, to expose the overreach of one’s foes—this is a higher kind of strength, for it transforms the battlefield itself. When one side shows that threats and force cannot break its will, the enemy’s display of power becomes an empty gesture, a hollow mask. True victory lies in this reversal, where strength dissolves into weakness, and fear into futility.

The lesson for us is eternal: when confronted with overwhelming opposition, do not despair at the sight of power. Remember that appearances deceive, and that strength often carries within it the seeds of its own collapse. If you stand firm, if you endure with courage, you may find that the force arrayed against you reveals its cracks. The weak may become strong, and the strong may falter. This is as true in personal life as in nations and empires.

Practical action lies in cultivating resilience. When you face opposition, do not surrender to fear. Hold steady, seek clarity, and wait for the moment when the tide turns. Study your adversary not only in their might but in their vulnerabilities. And above all, discipline yourself to transform pressure into patience, fear into courage, and threat into opportunity. In this way, you turn the strength of others into the revelation of their weakness.

So let Moshe Dayan’s words endure as a torch for future generations: that survival and victory do not lie only in matching power with power, but in the wisdom to transform the weapons of the enemy into their own undoing. For in the end, it is not always the mighty who prevail, but the steadfast, the cunning, and the unyielding—those who see beyond appearances, and turn the illusion of strength into the truth of weakness.