"The Shoah was the darkest period in the history of mankind and Judaism," IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said on Monday, "But we mustn't forget that even before (the Holocaust) and after it there were those who sought to erase Jacob's descendents from the face of the planet."

Speaking at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Gantz stressed that "today the situation is completely different. We are facing these threats with an army that can handle everything."

Gantz addressed the recent attacks on the Jewish community around the world, saying: "If in Kiev a Jew is beaten when leaving a synagogue, and in Toulouse children are murdered in cold blood; if in Georgia and Thailand they try to attack Israeli targets – we must remain steadfast and fulfill Israel's destiny as a safe harbor for all Jews wherever they may be."

The IDF chief added that the Holocaust museum depicts the "long struggle of the Jewish people for security, prior to the Shoah; the Jew-hatred and blood libels, the racist laws, pogroms and inquisitions.

"The richest vocabulary cannot describe the scope of the horrors committed. We, the commanders of the IDF, are obliged to remember these atrocities in order to gain the power to deal with today's challenges. This place and its mission is a never-ending fountain from which we draw our enormous strengths," he said.