The Canadian Military Chief General Walter. J Natynczyk visited Israel for 3 days and came to appreciate Israel's fight against terrorism.
The Canadian Chief of the Defense Staff, General Walter J. Natynczyk concluded a three day visit to Israel, where he understood Israel's responsibility to protect its citizens during operation Cast Lead. Regarding the Goldstone report, Natynczyk said, "I've got to look through the whole report and read it through myself. But I fully understand how when someone is attacked from houses, family houses, and so on, that there is a responsibility to protect oneself and protect civilians," and further remarked that "My impression of the Gaza Strip up to now has been through media reports. Now I got to actually see the size, the space, the context… It just puts into perspective many of the reports and also the operations that were conducted before."
General Natynczyk, arrived in Israel on Sunday for a visit during which he met with the Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
During his visit, the Canadian Chief of Staff went on a helicopter tour, and visited the Galilee division in northern community of Mitzpe Benaya, Israel's border with Syria and Lebanon and was briefed by senior Northern Command officers.
The general also visited the Southern Command and the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration in Erez. He was briefed on Operation Cast Lead as well as the different weapon systems used by the IDF.
At the end of his visit, General Natynczk toured the Tel-Nof Air Force base, where he was briefed on new Israeli technologies by senior officers in the Ministry of Defense Administration for Weaponry Research and Technology Development
The general also addressed that the Canadian military has come to understand the necessary actions that have to be taken while fighting terrorism and that there are similarities between Israel and Canada. "We really come to understand and appreciate what the Israeli forces have had to counter for quite some time." Natyncsk said and continued, "We're learning what we can, so we can adopt things from Israeli forces that will enable us to reduce risk to our people."
