Itongadol.- IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz alluded to modern threats facing Israel while marking Holocaust Remembrance Day at the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland on Monday, stating that "there is no weapon or evil intention that can stand against the army of the Jewish people."
Gantz\’s address came as part of the March of the Living, in which tens of thousands of people from Israel and around the world took part in a memorial in which students march from Auschwitz to Birkenau.
Thousands gathered for the March of the Living on April 8, 2013. The March of the Living a 3-kilometre walk from Auschwitz to Birkenau, is a silent tribute to all victims of the Holocaust.
"Each and every one of you – Members of our nation and its friends, Jewish and non-Jewish alike – you are the living proof of the victory of light; Victory of morality; the triumph of Israel. That from the destruction of the Holocaust we grew stronger as a nation and as a people," Gantz stated.
Gantz warned that "in light of the Holocaust and the thousands of years struggle for Jewish survival, we know better than to make light of the existential threats against Israel."
The IDF chief concluded that, "As a military force at the cutting edge of modern technology and operational capabilities, we know full well that enemies who attempt to harm our civilians – are asking for their own demise."
President Shimon Peres sent a message to the participants of the march before it began. "There are marches which are measured by the length of the journey, there are marches which are measured by time," he said. "You came on a march which cannot be compared, it is a march from the lowest point to the highest peak. The lowest point is the actions of the Nazis. There was no atrocity like it in history."
"The distance is not that great it happened 74 years ago," he emphasized.
"They (Jews persecuted in the Holocaust) live within us, we live with what happened to them," he continued. Moving on to what Peres described as the "peak" he said, "In a short time, in three years the greatest miracle occurred. The peak, the redemption of the State of Israel."
"March," the president urged the participants. "With your legs goes the whole nation. Lower your head in their memory, raise your head for the state of Israel."
Gantz visited the Holocaust monument at Krakow\’s Jewish ghetto on Monday, before leading the March of Living memorial event.
During its visit, the IDF delegation encountered another Israeli delegation, from the Justice Ministry, which was being led by a survivor of the Birkenau death camp.
IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai, who is with the military delegation, related the ensuing meeting in a column published by the website of Channel 2 news.
"The survivor shook the chief of staff\’s hand, and asked, \’Where were you 65 years ago?\’" wrote Mordechai.
"We lowered our heads. A chill went through us, and this time, it wasn\’t because of the freezing cold. We ask this of ourselves too. The heart grows wider with the understanding that we will be here far longer than the next 65 years. We won\’t let these questions be asked again," he added.
Mordechai wrote that "here, on the ground of Birkenau, after 30 years of service, most of it in the field, I feel full of purpose and pride. The IDF\’s presence here is testimony, that from the fire, ash, and war, we grew, and turned into a powerful nation."
648