Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a guest at the meeting of the General Staff Forum held on Thursday (Apr. 14), held to mark the upcoming Passover holiday.
Also present at the meeting were Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz.
Lt. Gen. Gantz briefed Netanyahu and Barak on the key challenges and missions currently facing of the General Staff Forum.
"In recent weeks, the IDF faced various security challenges, the IDF is continually assessing the situation and knows very well how to respond to those challenges so that quiet will return to Israeli towns."
Lt. Gen. Gantz also gave Prime Minister Netanyahu a modest gift from the IDF - a photo from Netanyahu's service in the Sayeret Matkal.
"We are facing a range of threats that we have not seen in years"
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said:
"We are facing a range of threats that we have not seen in years, requiring fresh thinking from all of us on how to get results, how to make decisions in case of war, how to correctly build strength from the pool of resources and also the need, which is of course not discussed in the General Staff, to expand the pool of resources."
"On the eve of Passover, which is also a holiday about freedom, we must go back and remind ourselves that freedom is given only to those who know how to defend themselves. The General Staff, IDF and the security establishment are, at the end of the day, the bodies that protect the country and make freedom possible."
Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked the chief of staff and members of the General Staff Forum for the important work they do on a daily basis defending the state of Israel and its people and said that Israel's existence depends on the strength of the IDF.
"Our people, who in the past did not have the power to defend themselves, have produced the tools to repel enemies and defend their homes,."
Netanyhu referred to the many challenges that Israel faces, adding that he was confident in the IDF's ability to ensure safe lives for the residents of Israel. The prime minister wished all IDF soldiers and their families a happy Passover holiday.