Ashkenazi lights Hanukkah candles
Photo: Avihu Shapira
Reservists in North to IDF chief: Situation improved since war
Ashkenazi lights fifth Hanukkah candle with soldiers stationed along Lebanon border, tells them, 'It's our job to make sure Israel exists another 6,000 years'
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi lit the fifth Hanukkah candle on Tuesday with Carmeli Brigade reserve soldiers stationed along the Israel-Lebanon border.
After the ceremony, some of the soldiers told Ashkenazi that the brigade's level of preparedness had significantly improved since the Second Lebanon War and that the necessary lessons had been drawn. However, the soldiers said there was much more work to be done in this respect.
Ashkenazi, who was accompanied by Northern Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, said the army was continuing to implement the lessons from the war.
Earlier, the IDF chief told soldiers from the brigade's reconnaissance battalion, "I'm very pleased that it's quiet along the northern border and that the guesthouses are full, but we should not be under any illusions and we must remain vigilant.
"We have to be aware of the fact that challenges await us, because although 61 years have passed (since Israel's inception), some of our neighbors have yet to accept our right to exist here as a sovereeign state.
"It is our job to make sure that Israel exists not just for another 60 years, but for 6,000 years," he said.
