In light of the upcoming Holocaust Remembrance Day, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz held a special conference at the Yad Vashem memorial museum in Jerusalem, affirming that Israel must not only defend its own borders but must also serve to protect Jews around the world.

“The Holocaust was the darkest period in Jewish history,” Gantz stated.  “Let us not forget that our enemies wanted to eradicate the Jewish people long before the creation of the state of Israel, just as they do now.”

“But today the situation is different,” he asserted, “because today the state of Israel and the Israeli army are capable of dealing with, and defeating, all forces that threaten the existence of the Jewish people.”

“We must not only defend the borders of Israel and the citizens of Israel, but Jews around the world,” Gantz continued. “We must look around and pay attention to every place where Jews are being harmed simply for being Jewish.”

“If a Jew is beaten on his way out of a synagogue in Kiev; if Jewish children in Toulouse are murdered in cold blood; if in India, Thailand and Georgia hostile elements try to harm Israeli and Jewish targets – we must stand firmer than ever,” he stated. 

“We must remain steadfast in the face of both new and old anti-Semitism. The state of Israel must fulfill its purpose of providing a safe haven for every Jewish person wherever he or she might be, where all our people can live without fear; a safe, national home defended by its military and capable of overcoming all threats.”

The seminar focused on keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive within Israeli society, and in the army, specifically. Following Gantz’s remarks ceremony was then held at the museum’s Hall of Names.