Netanyahu criticises general over Holocaust remarks

“The comparison drawn in the words of the deputy chief of staff regarding events which characterised Nazi Germany 80 years ago is outrageous,” said Netanyahu.

“They do injustice to Israeli society and cause a belittling of the Holocaust,” the Israeli leader added. “The deputy chief of staff is an outstanding officer, but his remarks on this issue were utterly mistaken and unacceptable to me.” 

In an address delivered Wednesday on the eve of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, Major General Yair Golan said the commemoration “must bring us to reflect deeply on the nature of man, even when that man is ourselves”.

“If there is something that frightens me with the memory of the Holocaust, it is identifying horrifying processes that happened in Europe, and specifically in Germany, 70, 80 and 90 years ago, and finding testimony to them amongst us, today, in 2016,” he said.