IDF Chief of Staff Gen. Gadi Eizenkott met with Holocaust survivor Moshe Haelyon on Monday, ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

Arutz Sheva captured the visit. 

"Thank you for coming, as a gesture of respect to all the survivors," Haelyon began. "As Holocaust Day approaches, they always wake up and tell the survivors about the condition some of them are in. We live from year to year."

"Yigal Alon said that a nation that does not know its past, has a shallow present and a shadowy future," Eizenkot responded. "So learning the past is a component in the power and the understanding of why we do what we do." 

"We hope for the best," Haelyon responded.

"We hope for the best but we make sure our army is strong, so that this hope is accompanied by ability,” Eizenkot said. 

Yoni Kempinski

"The statement 'never again' is based on the state's strength, whose insurance is the IDF's ability," he continued. "And Moshe's story, which I learned in recent days, expresses this idea in the best way."

"He went from a concentration camp to the Land of Israel, the state of Israel, served in the army, became a regiment commander – and I imagine that when you were a teenager and dreamed dreams, you never dreamed that you would be a regiment commander."

"Not even after we were freed," Haelyon added. 

"Reality surpasses the imagination," Eizenkot concluded.