Gantz: ‘We will never again be helpless against our enemies’

IDF Chief of Staff marks Kristallnacht in Berlin, says "unlike the past, we face our enemies from a position of strength."

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Benny.Gantz.Berlin 370 (photo credit: IDF Spokesman)
Benny.Gantz.Berlin 370
(photo credit: IDF Spokesman)
The Jewish people will never be helpless again when facing enemies, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz said in Berlin on Saturday, during a Holocaust memorial speech.
Speaking at the Berlin- Grunewald station’s Track 17 memorial, used by the Nazis as a major deportation site to send Jews to concentration camps during the Second World War, Gantz said. “The State of Israel in 2013 is strong. The Jewish nation-state is a democratic and advanced country with a powerful military that deters [its enemies]. Today too, we are required to deal with hostile states and organizations that seek to harm us, but unlike the past, we face our enemies from a position of strength – stronger than ever before.”
“We won’t allow the horrors of the past to return, we will not allow those who seek our harm to raise their heads. We won’t be helpless when facing our enemies,” he said. “The nation of Israel will always have the most protective and skilled force. Against any threat, from any distance, we will be fortified and independent in our abilities to defend ourselves. We won’t bow our head before any danger that threatens the Jewish people in its land. The IDF is the Jewish people’s answer to the incinerators, gas chambers, the pits and the killings. The IDF is the revival of the Jewish people.”