"A generation of lions"
"A generation of lions"IDF Spokesman's Unit

The Commander of the IDF's Givati Brigade, Col. Ofer Winter, was asked in a Memorial Day interview if the “Facebook and Youtube generation” is up to the job of protecting Israel from its enemies. He replied that during the fighting in Gaza, he did not see a “Facebook generation”: “I saw a generation of commanders, of lions, of fighters. I gathered my soldiers at the end of the war and I told them – our badge depicts a fox but we have lions here.”

"Memorial Day reminds me of three things,” Winter said. “One – that I despise war. Two – that I love life, my family and the Nation of Israel. Three – responsibility. My responsibility as a commander, for all of those warriors I took to battle and did bring back. The responsibility I bear for years, as I think about what I could have done differently. The responsibility to prepare the brigade for war and prevent any threat, and lastly – my responsibility to do all that I can to bring my soldiers back home safely.”

The commander, a son of religious Zionism, stressed humility as a necessary quality of a commander or leader. “Humility does not just mean modesty or bashfulness,” he explained. “The Torah says of the ultimate leader, Moshe, 'and the man, Moshe, was the most modest of men.' Humility is the ability of the leader to put his self aside and focus on what he serves – that is, the Nation of Israel; and that is the mission.

"Risking one's life is modesty. Going forward is modesty.”

By “going forward,” he added, he was referring to the IDF ethos in which a commander charges at the head of his troops. “Fear is man's nature; people want to live. The commander's wisdom is to exude confidencd to his soldiers. That is the only way to win – you go forward. When you feel that you represent the public – it is easier.”