IDF General Staff holds meeting at Yad Vashem ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day

Military generals took part in a memorial ceremony at the Yad Vashem Hall of Names, together with former President Shimon Peres.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
IDF General Staff holds meeting at Yad Vashem ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, April 13, 2015 (photo credit: IDF SPOKESMAN’S UNIT)
IDF General Staff holds meeting at Yad Vashem ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, April 13, 2015
(photo credit: IDF SPOKESMAN’S UNIT)
The IDF General Staff met at the Yad Vashem memorial museum in Jerusalem on Monday ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day this week.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot led the meeting, which also marked 70 years since the victory of the Allies over the Nazis in World War II.
Military generals took part in a memorial ceremony at Yad Vashem’s Hall of Names, together with former president Shimon Peres.
“Here, in the Hall of Names, photographs surround us, and in their silence, they tell us what we can never understand. They tell us about lives that were cut off, families, friends, children, and faces that froze in time. Their names are not etched in their handwriting, but their memories cannot be erased by anyone,” Eisenkot said.
“We, the members of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Force, stand here today, bow our heads, and remember the six million who perished. Six million, whose only sin was to be born as Jews,” Eisenkot said.
“Out of the disaster, the survivors came to the Land of Israel, and fought for the establishment of a state that would be the sole home for the Jewish people. They swore that being Jewish will never again be a reason to persecute them, but rather, a common cause that will light up hope,” he added.
“Today too our enemies try to rise up against us. We stand ready and call on them not to test our power. We can take pride in our military might, which provides security to the citizens and residents of the State of Israel and ensures the existence of the country.”