[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wij_kgm2f98]
Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi visits the Yad Vashem Museum to speak at a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony. The Chief of the General Staff recounts his father’s personal story as a Holocaust survivor and the way it has impacted his view of the IDF and the Jewish state.
Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi meets with Leah and Jacob Zamin, a pair of Holocaust survivors, on Holocaust Memorial Day. This meeting took place as part of the “Flower for a Survivor” Project in which 15,000 IDF soldiers from various units met with survivors all over the country.
The Flower for a Survivor project, which is taking place for its sixth consecutive year, is part of a bigger project dedicated to keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive. The project is being led by the Education and Youth Corps in conjunction with the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel.
Educating soldiers about the Holocaust is seen as a critical component for all IDF solders and serves as a means of strengthening the soldier’s sense of belonging to the Jewish State of Israel and the IDF.
April 10th, 2010
IDF Chief of the General Staff Expresses Condolences to Polish Military
The IDF Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi expressed his deepest condolences to the Polish military this evening, to its General Staff and to the family of the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, General Franciszek Gagor who was killed in the devastating plane crash today, April 10th 2010.
The Chief of the General Staff said: “Over the past three years, I met with the Chief of Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, General Gagor, a number of times, during personal meetings that took place between us, during a NATO conference in Brussels and in Warsaw, where he hosted me during the March of the Living. I met a commander, an amazing military man, who integrated his army in the NATO pact.
It especially touched my heart, his great interest in the journey of military officers to concentration camps in Poland in the framework of the Witnesses in Uniform program. We discussed this at length and it was very important to him that young IDF officers meet with young officers in the Polish Armed Forces and get to know the new generation who is educated about the Holocaust.
In the name of the Israel Defense Forces, in the name of the General Staff and myself, I share the grief felt by the Polish nation and the grief of the Polish military and its commanders.”
Bellow are pictures of the IDF Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi with General Gągor, former Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army during Ashkenazi’s visit to Poland in 2008.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtlyXq3qRgE]
