"If there will be a war, I am sure we will win"

Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi described his pride in the soldiers of the IDF in an interview with Israel Army Radio

"I think we understand our responsibility in the environment that we live in. The job of the IDF is to be prepared always, and if there will be a war – I am sure we will win." These words were spoken by the Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, in an interview Wednesday afternoon (Dec. 16) with Israel Army Radio during the broadcast of the Sherutrom IDF Soldiers Appreciation Day.

The Chief of the General Staff spoke about the activities of the IDF during Operation Cast Lead and emphasized that he is not aware of a single incident of a soldier taking arms and deliberately harming innocent civilians. "We know how other militaries fight, and knowing this, the mistakes we made were explicitly less grave than those of any other place in the world," he said. "I was proud to command the soldiers who fought there in extremely complex situations, there has been no war more righteous than this war, and Hamas placed itself in residential areas with the intent of preventing the IDF from using its power and harming them."

He continued to explain that "because of Operation Cast Lead we received a better security reality. From this mission we gained a strong advantage." That being said, he stressed: "We are not delusional and cannot be sure that this reality will be maintained for a long while."

Regarding the disclosure of insubordination which has come up of late in the IDF, Lt. Gen. Ashkenazi commented that "the soldiers will be taken care of with the full force of the law," and emphasized: "We cannot accept that kind of behavior, in the end it will have to be understood that the military cannot be divided."

The Chief of the General Staff explained that in those incidents of insubordination the soldiers did not take an active role in evacuating residents and that was a result of a fundamental perspective, and he said: "For matters dealing with civilians, we will know to use police officers who are more experienced and more mature, and we will use soldiers for missions of security when we can."

source: http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/today/09/12/1604.htm