Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

IDF chief at Auschwitz: You need only to be human to understand the Nazi genocide

Aviv Kochavi says Iranian Holocaust denial “is an additional reminder that such people must not be allowed to possess any sort of capability to develop lethal weapons.”

The “Arbeit Macht Frei” gate at Auschwitz. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
The “Arbeit Macht Frei” gate at Auschwitz. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi on Monday visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp in Poland, where he warned that Iranian Holocaust denial is an “additional reminder that such people must not be allowed to possess any sort of capability to develop lethal weapons.”

Accompanied by a delegation of commanders and officers from all Israeli military branches, Kochavi located the names of his relatives who were murdered during the Nazi era genocide, before taking part in a ceremony dedicated to Jewish heroism.

Referring to comments this week by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi that cast doubt on the veracity of the systematic murder of six million Jews, Kochavi said: “You do not need to be a historian or a researcher in order to understand the atrocities of the Holocaust. You need to be a human being. The pits full of skeletons and corpses and the crematoria cry out from the forests and the extermination camps.

“Any person who lies and denies the truth of this devastating and agonizing history is a person who easily lies today and will continue to do so in the future with no hesitation,” he added.

Iranian Holocaust denial “is an additional reminder” that Tehran cannot be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons, said Kochavi.

Many reservists were called up in the middle of the night for the surprise exercise, part of the military’s post-Oct. 7 testing of readiness.
The U.S. president said he would be willing to accept a 20-year freeze on Tehran’s nuclear program, but only with proper guarantees.
American forces hunted for Abu-Bilal al-Minuki for months over his killing of Christians, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
Those who mark “Nakba Day” are ignoring the real cause of the mass Arab migration in 1948, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.
Skirmishes to Israel’s north continue despite the announcement of a 45-day extension of the ceasefire.
“The name of the arch-terrorist Izz al-Din al-Haddad came up again and again” when speaking with the freed abductees, the IDF chief said.