Defense Minister Shimon Peres has forced Israel into a less flexible posture by blocking any concessions proposed by Yitzhak Rabin.

In addition, the issuing of the Agranat Commission report and the return from the front of reservists mobilized for the war further fuels public clamor for a stronger defense posture.

Israel's lack of readiness for the war has stunned the nation, and exhausted and discredited the government.

Golda Meir forms a new coalition government only with great difficulty in March 1974; Rabin joins Meir's cabinet as minister of labor.