Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz saluted the heroism of past Jewish generations, and expressed his confidence in Israel’s strength, at the closing ceremonies for Holocaust Remembrance Day on Thursday evening.

Speaking at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai before roughly 4,000 people, including ministers, Knesset members, and mayors from the South, he said that across the generations Jews were always “few against many, besieged and weary.” He took the occasion to “salute the heroism of the generations and fill ourselves with pride for all we have accomplished in 64 years.”

Gantz acknowledged that Israel is facing significant challenges today, just as it did at its inception. “It is not inconceivable that once again we will face, like a few decades ago, multiple challenges on every front,” he said.

Despite the adversity, Gantz said he was confident in Israel’s ability to defend itself. “We know that we now have a strong, determined army able to banish any threat from our region,” he said.

Speaking at a closing ceremony held at Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot in the North, Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat echoed Prime Minister Netanyahu’s statements on Iran at Yad Vashem the previous night.

“We must not shy away from telling the truth, even if it is not easy. Today as then, there are those who want to destroy the Jewish people. We must not underestimate the degree of danger of a nuclear Iran,” she said. (© 2012 THE TIMES OF ISRAEL 04/19/12)